D2 or D3 ?

[Johnch]

I am going to make a couple of knife blades

As my friend has a machine shop and the know how to , I am going to let him do the heat treating
He offered and IMO starting out , for me letting him do it will be a good idea for my first time making a blade LOL
Sure I made 3 knives already , but I bought ready to use blades and added the handle


Also he has scrap D2 and D3 tool steel I can use

Knife #1 ... I am planning on making a knife to use all around 3 1/2" - 4" (about ) blade with a full sized handle for normal day to day use
Knife #2 ... I want a knife with a 1 3/4" - 2" blade for field dressing deer and all other game , I find a longer blade just gets in the way more than it is ever used


So witch steel of the 2 should be better ?

Thanks
John

[country gent]

Either will hold a good edge I have only worked with D2 in stamping dies making forms and punches. It is impact resistant, abrasive resistant, and holds up very well, On the plus side. Its is also harder to machine grind and sharpen. No sure on rust resistance. There are steel supply sights that give the properties of tool steels and machining them. You might check them for info.

[rking22]

D2 is a known quality knife steel with heartbeat specs for the thin section, not sure about D3. D2 is almost as corrosion resistant as stainless, but will rust if neglected. Way too much concern on that topic, to my mind. It can be a major pain to sharpen, depending on the heat treat, but generally I like D2 knives much better than average stainless. Without good heat treat facilities, you are better off with 1095 or 5160 type steels. D2 porky heattreated is not pleasing, I had one. Pay attention to Country Gents post, D2 is abrasion resistant, very. That good quality makes it a slow process to grind a blade!

[country gent]

When grinding the d series tool steel die insert we had a lick of copper handy .Make a couple passes with the surface grinder then set the block if copper on it to pull the heat out. S7, 4140, and most of the other tool steels are easier to grind and finish easier. Also you may want to stress relieve the D series before working it.

[roverboy]

A friend at work made a blade out of D2 and I heat treated it for him till it wouldn't attract a magnet. I think about 1600 degrees. Its called normalizing. Then we surface ground it to get it to the thickness he wanted. Made a really nice blade.