steel grade

[baz p]

Hi people ,

what grade steel would you recommend for the enzo trapper, would it be the 01, or the D2 or maybe even the SS the reason is i am going to purchase 1 and cant make my mind up on what type to go for, as i understand the 01 is the most widely used and the D2 holds the edge longest but harder to maintain than the 01

so as you can gather i have hit a brick wall,

 

[Xunil]

You more or less summarised it yourself.

If low maintenance is your goal then go for the stainless option.

Keep in mind that pretty much all stainless steels have a much lower sideways sheer point than carbon steels - I read recently that RWL34 was supposedly twice as strong as a couple of other stainless steels in sheer, but even if that were true it still puts it way behind all of the carbons.

Basically O1 takes a good edge and is easy to keep sharp. D2 takes a good edge and holds it for longer than O1 but is more difficult to resharpen. Its most salient feature is wear/abrasion resistance and this is what makes it more difficult to sharpen. It is also just a bit more brittle than O1 at high hardness.

It all boils down to what you want from your knife, but you should also keep in mind that the whole sharpening issue is only ever a problem if you let your edge get way past the point where you should have touched it up.

Most folks wait until their knife is blunt before they do anything to it. Strop often, and you will find that, with practice, you can get away with using stones or other abrasives only a few times per year.

A strop should be your mainstay and if you use it after (or even during) each outing you keep the edge ticking over nicely without having to go back to stones.

Unless you have a need for stainless then either of the carbons are a great choice, but unless your sharpening is bang on I'd suggest you stick to O1.

 

[beasty]

Xunil summed it up very well (especially regarding stropping). I have seen pics of nasty chips out of D2 blades, its brittleness is due to its high chromium content which almost reaches stainless steel levels but this makes it more resistant to corrosion than O1.
Personally i would go with O1, it may lose an edge faster than D2 but it will keep it a lot longer than most other common knife steels found in commercial knives. As long as you can keep it dry O1 is a great choice.

 

[robin wood]

If you can't decide buy a mora clipper in carbon and another stainless, that cost you £20. Use them for a few months and see which you enjoy most then your will know which enzo to spend your money on and be sure that you will still get full use out of the clippers, even folks with lots of expensive knives end up using their clippers plenty.

 

[baz p]

thanks for that folks........my arm has been twisted...........01 it is

all i have to do now is buy it