Western Active Honey Badger
8Cr13MoV vs D2 Steel what’s the difference?
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.
Can’t say enough about my experience with honey badger. Knife was sharp out of the box and arrived quick. When I mistakenly ran my knife through the dryer I lost some parts and thought I would be buying a new one, when I contact customer service, they not only sent me the parts I needed but also helped me identify parts I didn’t know I was missing. All within the hour. Really can’t say enough, honey badger customer service is probably the best I’ve ever experienced
Just got my 1st knife yesterday, and I must say, from the ones I looked at and investigated, Honey Badger stood out for me and I am extremely happy with my choice.
Only handled one and it was a great blade!
I had to leave a review. They are a knife company
Superb Craftsmanship and design, Excellent EDC Knife!
Honey badger has some great knives give them a follow on instagram too.
The large drop point is my jam!! How perfectly this knife is engineered and appointed is almost an enigma to me! How did they get it to be so good and so budget friendly?
Honey Badger Knives are top notch for quality.
I do not own a a Honey Badger knife at the moment but I’ve heard nothing but good about these guys! I’m a beginning knife enthusiast and I live for the more budget friendly and on the occasion one that is more expensive for my collection. I’m adding all knives from different brands and if I won a knife from Honey Badger then they will have a spot in my collection and hopefully grow with the other brands I have now. Here’s to winning giveaways 🤘
I live in south Africa and love the Honey Badger knifes, excellent product competitive with ANY top tier name brands, parts and warrantee available easily. I will NEVER buy another top tier knife from abroad!!
Great quality at a great price point, replacement parts and ways to customize your knife. What more could you ask for?
honey badger has really good high quality knifes. i was gifted one, and since then i have it in my pocket all the time. once i lost it, so i told my family that who ever finds it gets 20 ILS
I love honey badger knives design.
Best pocket knife I’ve owned. Have carried all the major brands for years. And great options in other brands, but what impressed with this brand is truly the quality of the blade, fit and finish. This is a gentleman’s/grown up’s knife though. Thin super sharp blade. If you use a knife as a screw driver and to jam into hard things, look elsewhere.
Just bought the honeybadger knife HB1017 flipper medium and I am well satisfied with it except for the lock bar. When you close the blade the release nub has a sharp edge that hits the end of your thumb. I filed the edge off without a problem but I feel this should be addressed by the designer.
Nice looking knife!
Great knives at a reasonable price
Honey Badger knives are obviously built from quality, reliably sound materials to withstand vast and rugged conditions while simultaneously flaunting a full array of blade/handle shapes and designs ranging from more tried and true classic looks to more unexpected, innovative and eye-catching, yet still finding itself repeatedly snug in that go-to, forget-anything-but-this-one, even-running-way-too-late, oh-no-H0£¥ §H%actually-all-those-knife spot
Excellent quality and value!
Great looking knife
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