Family photo

Pic I’ve needed to take for a few weeks, since I got the EDCF stockman.

My 3 Queens (huh… sounds like a song title don’t it?); 

• The stockman, 
• A Cocobolo handled 4–1/4” lockback(used to be a swing guard klockback but I don;t like the guards on those so I took ot off, and later added a thumb stud— its the smoothest lockback Ive ever had and opens beautifully with the stud.) I’ve carried if off and on for a while(the few years I’ve had it), but this style/shape has never clicked with me much…
• The third is a large toothpick in carved stag bone(fake stag antler). Its a pain to carry since its so long(around 5.5”!), and its so slim its hard to grip to do anything you might want the long blade for… And the blade is so thin and narrow, I worry about its durrability. Never been used much, although it was my steak knife at home for a while. It now lives in my fishing kit, as a cleaning and long but un flexible fillet knife.

All are in D2 steel. D2 is a carbon tool steel, but a fancy/odd one, its a high alloy and Almost Stainless steel… It will still patina and color like more basic carbon steels but takes forever to do it.. It is also a tougher alloy than most carbon, and most low end/common stainless steels, hanving great wear resistance…. Means longer edge holding, but also harder sharpening.  

Its really popular stuff for those that like longer edge holding of higher end stainless steels, but can still patina/color like carbons…  I personally see no gain in it since it makes it harder to sharpen and maintain an edge(doesn’t matter if it holds an edge twice as long if it takes twice as lon/as much work to sharpen it!) and it takes forever to get any color…

I’d worry about it rusting in a wetter climate.(patina is the “stain” that people wanted rid of with stainless steels, so they would stay shiny… but patina on steels is an oxide layer that coats the steel and protects from red oxide forming; Rust. Clean carbon steels rust easier than stainless steels, but stainless tends to rust easier than patina’d carbon steels…   D2 is a carbon that doesn’t patina easilly… so if its humid out, I figure its gonna rust… )

All things considered, it just seems a bad combo of features, with no gains over either a good carbon or a good stainless.

Having said all that, its mainly just concept… The steel does get good and sharp and stay that way for a lot of use, and I don’t have much trouble sharpening it… It works good and I don;t have any practical/applicable complaints. 🙂