Originally Posted By: jzmtl
Originally Posted By: sodak
Originally Posted By: jzmtl
D2 is a high carbide tool steel, of course it'll be more abrasion resistant (i.e. rope and cardboard), but it's not nearly as tough and edge will not be as stable.

Also Moras are sharpened at 20~25°, if you do that with D2 all the carbide would fall out.

I usually go less, about 15 on the secondary bevel, with a 20 deg microbevel at the edge, and D2 holds that just fine on animals and abrasive cutting such as cardboard. I go even lower on CPM M4 and 52100 with no problems, and the cutting efficiency is just insane, these knives are a real pleasure to use, and sharpen up in under a minute, including the D2 knife.

Again, I'm not bashing Moras. I'm not worshipping them either. They are a very good value for around $10 - $30. But a lot of folks claim that more expensive knives don't cut any better, and that is simply not true. Doziers, for example, cut much better, but are also more expensive.

As for the steels, much depends on the heat treat. 1095, for example, at the mid to upper 50's on the HRC scale, is a fair performer, edge holding on the lower end of acceptable for me. If you take the EXACT same steel, and heat treat it correctly up to 65 HRC, it truly becomes a super steel in terms of edge holding, bested by very few. It is incredible what range of capabilities this steel has.


When I said 20~25° I meant inclusive, at 10° per side D2 will not hold up nearly as well.

At 65HRC it's going to be too brittle, perhaps for a small slicing only folder but any field work will see the edge chip like ice.


I agree, 65 rc sounds way too brittle to be of much use, sounds like glass.