A lot has been written about 8Cr13MoV vs D2, here we try and demystify things a bit. Reading the information on our knives you will often see a reference to the type of steel that the blade is made of. There are many knife steels out there. Honey Badger Knives launched using only one knife steel called 8Cr13MoV.
The 8Cr13MoV vs D2 debate
8Cr13MoV is comparable to the Japanese AUS-8 but containing slightly higher carbon content. Working closely with our factory the heat treating of this steel has been perfected resulting in excellent performance for the price. This steel is quite corrosion resistant and sharpens easily. Our customers have told us that it holds an edge really well and it is easy to restore the edge when it finally dulls.
Some folks look down upon 8Cr13MoV due to it’s prevalence in affordable knives, but the fact of the matter is that for the price, it performs well and above what might be expected specially when correctly heat treated at the factory. The reason it is so prevalent is that it does a good job. Certainly you can find cheaper steels, but for performance per dollar 8Cr13MoV is one of the best options. As the name implies it has 0.80% Carbon, 0.40% Manganese, 13% Chromium, 0.20 Nickel, 0.10% Vanadium, 0.15% Molybdenum, and has a typical Rockwell of 58-59.
By using 8Cr13MoV we have managed to produce a range of feature rich knives at very affordable prices.
See all of our 8Cr13MoV knives here.
D2 steel is a tool steel often referred to as “semi-stainless” as it falls just short of the required amount of chromium (13%) to qualify as full stainless yet it still provides a good amount of resistance to corrosion. On the flip side D2 steel is much harder and as a result holds its edge a little better. That said, it’s not as tough as many other steels and is tougher to sharpen. The only reason we started producing select models using D2 steel is that many of our customers requested the same knives but using a higher end steel.
See all of our D2 knives here .
Which should you choose? It comes down to personal preference. We have very large numbers of very happy owners across both steel types. Our D2 models are quite a bit more expensive than their 8Cr13MoV counterparts. Only you can decide which offers better value.
How to Tune Your Honey Badger Knife
If you’re a first time buyer then you probably would not notice any difference in performance between the two. In this instance maybe a plan would be to get yourself one of the 8Cr13MoV models and then if you like the look and feel of the knife make your next purchase one in D2.
The D2 blades hardness is approximately HRC 59-60.
The 8Cr13MoV blades hardness is approximately HRC 56-58.
