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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 09-17-2015, 06:12 PM
MTDuke MTDuke is offline
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A2/d2

I haven't been on KN in a while.....working on shop and making knives. Yesterday I happened on to a metal shop going out of business and picked up a few things. Rockwell hardness tester, surface grinder, hydraulic press, and a new Baldor buffer. 1k$ for the works I thought worked out well.

My question for the group concerns what I might do with about 300# of a2 and d2 steel they let me salvage from scrap (yes, free). It's big stuff, like 2 inches thick x various. There is a good amount of o1 as well but all of it is big stuff.

What would you do with this stuff? Slice it up? Make dies for press?
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Old 09-17-2015, 06:22 PM
MTDuke MTDuke is offline
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Old 09-17-2015, 06:46 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Since you have a hydraulic press now you could squash out the A2 and O1but I don't think I'd bother with the D2 for making knives. Or, you could use the D2 and A2 for dies and tools but I wouldn't waste the O1 that way.

You have so much weight there that it might be smarter to sell it on eBay or for scrap. It's possible you could get back a fair amount of your investment that way ...


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Old 09-17-2015, 10:34 PM
MTDuke MTDuke is offline
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Ray,

You dont like D2? Seems to be all kinds of opinions out there on the web but I have not used it myself.
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Old 09-18-2015, 08:21 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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D2 makes a good blade if the heat treatment is done just right but it can't be done right in a forge. There are many manufacturers of D2 so the formula varies quite a bit and that calls for variance in the heat treat which means getting it right for blades requires careful testing. Finally, D2 is about as difficult to forge as anything you can find. So, while it does make a good blade there are many other steels that make better blades with much less hassle. Except for 2% of chromium D2 would be classed as a stainless - and its heat treatment is typical of stainless - and therefore is not forge friendly ....


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Old 09-18-2015, 09:00 AM
MTDuke MTDuke is offline
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Thanks Ray. I have a Paragon furnace and now a hardness tester so I might do some experimenting.

Having the tester has been a real eye opener for me. My heat treatments on KNOWN steels have been right on so far including both carbon and stainless but I have played with some steels of unknown origin and its been hit and miss. I know its repeated again and again on the webs to use known steels but there is nothing like seeing the results first hand.
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Old 09-18-2015, 09:25 AM
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Hunter10139 Hunter10139 is offline
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On top of all that Ray said about D-2, I have a buddy who has a D-2 knife and its not the best of steels IMO. Rusts almost like a typical carbon steel and is harder to sharpen. Also, doesn't seem to hold its edge as well as many quality stainless knives. However, this is just my opinion and I'm sure that there are many people out there who like D-2.


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Old 09-18-2015, 10:48 AM
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That reminds me of an old saying about D2 knives that goes "D2 is hard to sharpen and takes a crappy edge but holds it forever" ....


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Old 09-18-2015, 11:25 PM
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TexasJack TexasJack is offline
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A lot of good knives have been made with D2, but it's frustrating stuff. Also, for reasons I don't begin to understand, it is nearly impossible to polish.

The late Bob Engnath had this to say about it:
"D-2 offers another air hardening tool steel, but with 12% chrome and excellent, if not superb, wear resistance. The resistance also holds true in both sawing and grinding, even while the steel is fully annealed. While using belts up at a faster rate than average, D-2 is not particularly hard to grind with fresh belts. Using old belts causes enough heat to work harden the steel. D-2 anneals at somewhat higher temperature than A-2 and will not take a true, mirror polish. Definitely a steel for the advanced craftsman. It's major drawback is the orange peel appearance of the surface when finished to a high gloss. One knife maker is often quoted as saying that D-2 takes a lousy edge and holds it forever. Often found as surplus wood plainer blades. D-4 and D-7 are also good cutlery alloys, but darn hard to find in the right sizes. Air hardening steels can work harden while you're grinding them if you get the stock too hot. This doesn't mean much on the grinder, but when you try to file a guard notch, the file will just slide."


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