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Other brands seem to offer D2 in China made knives. The brands and the market seem to think it's a step up from other steels.

I don't think I've ever seen it offered from Byrd. There is probably a reason for this. I hope someone can offer some insight.

IIRC (and probably don't but too lazy to use the search function this morning) Sal said something at one time about not being impressed with the Chinese made steel purported to be D2. I'll admit that the D2 I've received in things like the Steel Will CutJack or some Civvivi products hasn't impressed me with being any better than the 8CrMov in the Byrd line. I have a hunch part of the "mass extinction" even with the Byrd line may result in new products in a new steel but that's just speculation on my part and probably wishful thinking as well.

Most D2, especially chinese, in production knives is nothing all that great. It rusts, the toughness is poor, often low edge stability so You need higher edge angles. Much prefer decent XCrXXMoV steels, especially 9Cr18MMoV than crappy D2.

Thanks for your thoughts. You're probably right that it isn't much better.

I know that some steel isn't used in China when the factory says they have a hard time working with the steel.

The window for proper D2 heat treat is a very narrow window of about 50 degrees. Probably difficult for mass production to maintain such tolerances. Definitely not up to Dozier D2 heat treat standards.

horzuff wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 29, 2023 7:37 am

Most D2, especially chinese, in production knives is nothing all that great. It rusts, the toughness is poor, often low edge stability so You need higher edge angles. Much prefer decent XCrXXMoV steels, especially 9Cr18MMoV than crappy D2.

There have certainly been issues with Chinese D2. Edge retention tends to vary. While generally a significant improvement over 8Cr13Mov, it almost never matches expectations based on American knives in D2.

Some of that seems to be sensitivity in heat treatment versus mass-production budget heat-treating. However, there may also be issues with the steel itself, such as inconsistent vanadium content. Whether it is an issue with the steel itself or just a response to that perception, some of the Chinese companies specializing in D2 have started importing Bohler K110 as an alternative.

Coincidentally, some of the companies importing K110 already seem to be among the better manufacturers when it comes to Chinese D2. Petrified Fish is probably the best example. What they can do with Chinese D2 in a $30 knife is impressive. While you won't find them at Walmart, the existence of these sorts of knives (along with Sencut, Kizer's Laconic line, etc.) make 8Cr13Mov very hard to justify in the 2020s.

Even setting aside these issues, I do prefer more corrosion resistance. I'm much happier with 9Cr18Mov, 10Cr15CoMov, N690, 14C28N, etc. There was some talk about upgrades a while back in this forum but it seems to still be out on the horizon. I'd love to see Byrd and budget Spyderco models with better stainless.