Recommendation for a D2 blade

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SteadyD

SteadyD

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I’m planning to do a bit of a comparison on D2 from different makers for my own interests. I have a QSP Penguin and a Lionsteel Mini in D2 already. I plan to get a Rat in D2 as well. Any recommendations for one more knife in D2 to use in my “testing”? Thanks all!
 
I am a total bottom feeder when it comes to price. I love D2, it is hard, and it is found on the lower priced G10 Chinese knives. I don't see a real reason to pay three times as much for S35VN or the other botique steels, good as they are, if I can find the same knife model for far less with D2

I am curious how Bestech D2 compares

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this was $35.00 delivered before President Trump slapped tariffs on all things Chinese. These CH knives are good knives.

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And let me recommend Ganzo. They make knives that are well made, and well constructed for the price point with D2 blades. I have one of these, and for $29.99 delivered, no complaints what so ever.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3631781121...xK6psVEMZt0VjpiVKh9Ijt+zVL4=|tkp:BFBMptil5cJg


It is my opinion that well established steels, such as D2, are not heavily promoted because they are not as profitable as proprietary steels. I am an avid reader of knifenerds, and you know, D2 is a great performer.


All About D2 Steel – Development, Use in Knives, and Properties


Knife Steels Rated by a Metallurgist – Toughness, Edge Retention, and Corrosion Resistance
 
 
The ganzo fh41 was a great knife. Loved mine. Both of them. I give them away as gifts. Ganzo gets their D2 VERY hard according the the testing luvthemknives has had done.
I've got a steel will shaula that's a good knife too. And the cutjack mini had great ergos with terrible action and a bad clip....

But I'd find a civivi or kizer in D2. They are 2 of the bigger china brands.
 
Just be careful buying Chinese. I have one Chinese knife that was advertised to be D2 steel which either isn't D2 or is very poorly heat treated. It's way too soft to be properly heat treated D2. It was cheap enough that I'm not even really upset about it, but it was a good lesson.

Also, one other thing to be aware of is that the Chinese do not restrict themselves to doing knockoffs of U.S. designs. There are also documented situations where they are doing knockoffs of other Chinese made knives.

Saw one situation where a guy sent a knife off to be tested and it turned out to be a knockoff of the Chinese knife he thought it was and also found that had a different blade steel than what was stamped on it. Oddly enough, the scales which were advertised as Titanium actually turned out to be Titanium.
 
JohnKSa said:
Just be careful buying Chinese. I have one Chinese knife that was advertised to be D2 steel which either isn't D2 or is very poorly heat treated. It's way too soft to be properly heat treated D2. It was cheap enough that I'm not even really upset about it, but it was a good lesson.

Also, one other thing to be aware of is that the Chinese do not restrict themselves to doing knockoffs of U.S. designs. There are also documented situations where they are doing knockoffs of other Chinese made knives.

Saw one situation where a guy sent a knife off to be tested and it turned out to be a knockoff of the Chinese knife he thought it was and also found that had a different blade steel than what was stamped on it. Oddly enough, the scales which were advertised as Titanium actually turned out to be Titanium.
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Sal at Spyderco has mentioned that there are plenty of steel manufacturers in China who will happily stamp whatever steel name you want on a blade and that their in-house testing has convinced them that lots of steels listed as D2 simply aren’t. I will only be buying D2 blades from reputable manufacturers, no doubt.
 
True story about Chinese fake knives.

When the RR has me out of town and I'm bored or another one of the guys wants to go check out the local gun/pawn shops...

I found a TOPS steel eagle at a pawn shop one day. The price should've been the tip off that something was wrong. I looked at one online and it had all the correct factory stamps!

So, there I was thinking I got a great deal on a cool knife. Get home from work, start checking it out and see a huge difference that I totally missed.

The saw teeth didn't look like a saw, they looked like spines. Sent emails and pics to TOPS and they said "congrats, you have a Chinese forgery".
 
I had a Kershaw Outcast that I gave to my son. Years of light use, hasn't needed much sharpening after I had the edge profile altered. No rust on it, it's a good large blade knife/machete type tool.
 
Are you just looking for folders?

I'd never worked with d2 so I finally grabbed a cold steel leather neck when I found a sale. For a couple 20 dollars bills I've been impressed.
 
hso said:
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/KA...yote-tan-plain-blade-steel-blue-zytel-handles

View attachment 1091254

You at least know that when they say it is D2 it is D2.
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I carried one of those on the Saturday float trip with two of my grandsons + one of their friends. I consider that particular knife to be one of the great values available today. Taiwan is NOT China. When it comes to China sourced knives, it's always a hard pass from me. Not only do I not trust anything from there, I refuse to support their economy in any way.
 
Boattale said:
I carried one of those on the Saturday float trip with two of my grandsons + one of their friends. I consider that particular knife to be one of the great values available today. Taiwan is NOT China. When it comes to China sourced knives, it's always a hard pass from me. Not only do I not trust anything from there, I refuse to support their economy in any way.
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I only buy American made knives. Well, and a single Fox knife from Italy. Though i think my Ka-Bar machete is from Taiwan.

My lathe is from Taiwan, as are a couple of my MAC precision measuring tools. Quality is pretty good. Not USA quality, but leaps and bounds ahead of chinese products.
 
BigBlue 94 said:
I only buy American made knives. Well, and a single Fox knife from Italy. Though i think my Ka-Bar machete is from Taiwan.

My lathe is from Taiwan, as are a couple of my MAC precision measuring tools. Quality is pretty good. Not USA quality, but leaps and bounds ahead of chinese products.
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2 Opinels from France, 1 Lionsteel from Italy (along with a set of 4 AG Russell steak knives also from Italy), a Bruckmann from Germany, 4 Moras from Sweden, 6 SAK from Switzerland, 2 Dozier/Kabars from Taiwan. All of the rest are USA made.

No China
 
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Yeah moras, opineld, and Saks are great. I like us made stuff as well, otherwise.

Some of the cold steel stuff is Taiwan, also united like cutlery does their hobbit stuff there and quality is good
 
I have a kershaw highball XL that is D2 and I used it one day working on field tile. It had to cut some corrugated pipe, some poly water line, and various packaging and I wasn't super impressed with the edge holding on it. Not horrible, but nothing to write home about. Might be interesting to see how kershaw stacks up against the others.
To be honest I've always liked kershaws designs but the handful of them I'm sharpened for folks over the years have always seemed to form an excessive burr and needed careful stropping or a micro bevel to really get sharp.
 
My daughter got me this KA-BAR Dozier Folding Hunter last Christmas. Really like the overall fit and finish build, the D2 blade, and how ergonomic the knife is.
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