D2 Tool Steel in stock
Yes, for hard use where you accept a little rust risk. D2 is an air-hardening tool steel running 58 to 62 HRC with 1.4 to 1.6% carbon and 11 to 13% chromium. It holds an edge very well for its price, resists rust better than true carbon steel but is not stainless, and it is moderately tough rather than exceptionally so.
D2 carries a lot of carbon and enough chromium to be called semi-stainless, but most of that chromium is locked into carbides rather than free in the steel matrix. That is the whole story of D2 in one sentence: the carbides give it wear resistance, and taking the chromium out of solution costs it corrosion resistance.
Add roughly 0.7 to 1.0% molybdenum and about 1% vanadium and you have a high-carbide steel that stays sharp a long time and grinds slowly.
Edge retention is very good to excellent for the money, which is why D2 has stayed popular for decades on hard-use folders and fixed blades. Toughness is moderate: it is more brittle than 14C28N or MagnaCut and will chip if it is ground thin and used hard.
It will stain and spot if you neglect it. Not rust through, but the semi-stainless label is doing real work. Wipe it dry after wet jobs and it will look after itself.
D2 fights back on a stone. The vanadium and chromium carbides are harder than common aluminum-oxide abrasives, so a plain waterstone works slowly. Diamond or ceramic makes a real difference.
A micro-bevel a couple of degrees steeper than your main angle is the standard trick for stopping D2 chipping without losing much cutting performance.
The grid below shows D2 Tool Steel listings from Civivi and Böker Plus, chosen from the catalog when this answer was written. Each one carries D2 Tool Steel in its own specification table, and its price is read from the live catalog every time the site is built.
The full reference entry, with the published composition and hardness range and every listing we carry in it, is D2 Tool Steel in the Steel Lab.
