# D2 tool steel?



## indiglofish61 (Nov 13, 2016)

Has does anyone know about this D2tool steel for knives, is it a good steel for knives like in hardness, keeping a sharp edge? I haven't seen it in any chefs knives, I seen it in a pocket style knife.


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## foody518 (Aug 6, 2015)

Coincidentally, I've also got a pocket knife made of D2 

According to this steel chart http://zknives.com/knives/steels/sld.shtml on Hitachi's SLD which is also lists D2 as an equivalent (different name and producer, effectively same composition). In which case there are a couple of examples of this for kitchen knives - Yoshikane, Masashi, (maybe Konosuke HD? Can someone confirm?), Yoshihiro's got an SLD line too.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I find it difficult to sharpen


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

I've worked quite a bit with D2.

Have had the forged fired up since the fall weather change. I find the D2 easy to screw up when annealing. Being that D2 is air quenched the requirements are different. For my needs, it requires another furnace, and still needs packing. I assume this is the reason why it is not so popular for kitchen blades.

  The tempering is also different. I've got buddies who are adamant by going for a hardness and toughness/durability by  with a lower hardness . I'm in this group.

  Then there are guys who swear on maximum hardness. This I find harder to sharpen. There's a pretty large gray area there. Max hardness around 350 deg. and the hardness I prefer around 925-950 deg.

  I'm not up on the specs of commercially produced blades using D2. I'm pretty sure they use a vacuum to temper. I know I've been asked to repeat sharpen blades by people who bought the commercial blanks available online.

  With all that, sharpening should be few and far between. When I'm ask to repeatedly resharpen a gift I've given someone, the enemy is usually due to them not knowing the difference between sharpening and honing. Believe it or not, I know many experienced Chefs who are in the habit of picking up a steel to try to sharpen a blade. I personally feel steels are useless, unproductive and usually to harsh for the normal application.

Just my 2 cents.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

SLD by the accounts I've heard is a better steel, more fine grained and easier to sharpen.

Heat treat is always a factor, and when done right D2 and its variants hold an edge very well.


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## scott livesey (Jan 25, 2013)

D2 is a tool steel developed to be used to make punches and dies. I do not use it, as there are other steels easier to use to make a good blade. this link will give some information about the steel and tests of D2 knives http://www.cliffstamp.com/knives/reviews/blade_materials.html#T_D2


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