A2 Tool Steel Knife

This is one of the most wear resistant tool steels.

A2 tool steel knife.

O1 is a small step below a2 in terms of blade steel performance. Cpm 10v steel cpm stands for crucible particle metallurgy which is a brand name. I have sharpening ocd though and i maintain knife edges. It has wear resistance intermediate between the oil hardening tool steels o1 and the high carbon chromium tool steels d2.

A2 has been used in knives for many years because of its ubiquity as a tool steel. Good edge retention toughness and sharpenability d2 has been a popular knife tool steel dating back to wwii and for good reason. With slightly decreased. That means a2 is common easy to get and affordable.

Bark river knives. Because it offers a combination of good toughness along with moderate wear resistance it has been widely used for many years in variety of cold work applications which require fairly. A2 is a mid range air hardening tool steel it s known for its good toughness its tougher than d2 steel or m2 steel and it has a wear resistance in between o1 steel and d2 it s used for punches and dies chuck jaws cutting tools for woodworking tooling for plastic injection dowel pins hammers industrial knives and gage. Popular a2 steel knives.

I found claims that harry morseth began using a2 in the 1930 s 9 10 but i found this somewhat questionable because a2 would have either been brand new or non existent at that time. A2 tool steel is a versatile air hardening tool steel that is characterized by good toughness and excellent dimensional stability in heat treatment a2 is intermediate in wear resistance between o1 oil hardening tool steel and d2 high carbon high chromium tool steel. Often used for combat knives. Benefiting from 0 2 percent vanadium content w 2 holds an edge well and is reasonably tough.

Keep your blade oiled as d2 is prone to rusting and corrosion. A2 is an air hardening medium alloy tool steel which is heat treatable to hrc 60 62. This is one of those most ubiquitous steels in knives. But if my a2 knife has been used at all a quick strop is all it ever needs to maintain a wicked edge.

Tougher than d2 but less wear resistant. Bark river knife tool over the past few years has started making more and more of their models available in a variety of steels including a2 the old standby cpm 3v and many more. When it comes to steel choices we are fortunate to have a lot of options be it stainless good old tool steels or the new breed of super steels.