Boker Plus Strike steels

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Ruger 44 Redhawk

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Feb 19, 2021
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Just curious if anyone has opinions or experience with Boker's steel. I would love to get a Boker Plus Strike at some point but they offer a couple different steel choices now, AUS8, D2 and S30V. Just wondering if anyone knows how their D2 and S30V compare to others and is there a reason to avoid one over the other. In other words, S30V supposedly has a tendency to chip (I know heat treat plays a factor) and D2 is a semi-stainless tool steel. I've never owned a knife in D2 but have several in S30V. Just curious what you all think.
 
Ruger 44 Redhawk said:
Just curious if anyone has opinions or experience with Boker's steel. I would love to get a Boker Plus Strike at some point but they offer a couple different steel choices now, AUS8, D2 and S30V. Just wondering if anyone knows how their D2 and S30V compare to others and is there a reason to avoid one over the other. In other words, S30V supposedly has a tendency to chip (I know heat treat plays a factor) and D2 is a semi-stainless tool steel. I've never owned a knife in D2 but have several in S30V. Just curious what you all think.
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I can't directly compare Boker D2 to Boker CPMS30V but I consider D2 in general to be a mid tier steel for a budget steel price. I have a boker mini kalashnikov and strike in D2 and they are great. I have a Civivi in D2 also and love it. D2 exceeds my expectations for edge retention for the price point. So to me the reason to buy D2 is to get a good steel for low price.

I don't own any s30v knives but judging by all the research I've done it seems to be just between what I would call a mid tier steel and a high end steel. I would always err on the side of getting the best steel I could get. However D2 is available in many more blade styles and colors than the s30v model so it depends on what you want.

Knifesteelnerds charts shows s30v having an edge retention rating of 6 and toughness of 4. D2 they show edge retention of 5 and toughness of 3.5.
 
these are made in Taiwan last I paid attention. not to lump all makers in Taiwan together, but most do a decent heat treatment. sure boker does some quality checks occasionally.

ive played with their aus8 and d2 in these knives. I found the aus8 a tad soft based on sharpening, compared to cold steel in the past offerings. nothing too bad though. I've found it better than crkt aus8.

d2 I'm not a fan of much. hard to get sharp compared to other steels. so im biased. not as good as Bucks as an example.. similar to many Chinese makers d2. there's is okay at best in examples I own.
 
Bought the strike in s30v sheepsfoot blade. It is going back due to the following reasons:

1) don't like the blade shape at all

2) extremely slow/lazy to open. I believe this is due to the bladeops springs. I have a strike from bladehq and I think they must use different springs because that one opens fast, comparable to a kalashnikov.

Re d2 steel on boker autos,

1) my strike d2 tanto partially serrated blade is thick. I have beat the crap out of it and it has never chipped. I Reprofiled it to 30 degrees on spyderco triangle sharpener using diamond rods then made a 40 mocrobevel. Note that diamond rods were used for reprofiling only and that took a while for such a thick blade but not bad. I would not try reprofiling with the spyderco medium rods it would take forever. It stays sharp. Spring is strong. From baldeHQ. Very happy with it.

2) my kalashnikov regular size D2 Bowie blade has seen barely any use and it has one chip already. I think if a micro bevel was added it would be ok but have not tried it yet so that is just a guess. After I sharpen it I maybe will update this thread. The blade is very thin on this Bowie shaped blade. Bladehq source fwiw. Opening is fast as expected with kalashnikov. Both Bowie blades came extremely sharp fwiw.

3) my kalashnikov d2 XXL monster size Bowie blade has seen almost no use and it has one chip already. Same comments about microbevel and thin blade as #2 above. Bladehq source fwiw. Opening is fast but it's a massive blade so not as fast as regular size. I would say opening speed/force is identical to bladehq-sourced strike. A hair less than regular kalashnikov.

4) my mini kalashnikov d2 tanto partially serrated has an extremely thick blade. It opens fast just like the bladehq-sourced strike, and xxl kalashnikov. A hair less fast than kalashnikov regular size. I have started reprofiling it but even with diamond rods I'm not done yet. It is really a thick blade. So jury is still out on this knife until I can get a 30 degree bevel plus a 40 degree microbevel.

Hope this info is of some help. All this is subject to change as I use them more. I would say I love the strike D2 w/tanto blade. So much so it finds more pocket time than my delica hap40 knife which costs 3 times more. Just the fun of opening it and the great in the hand feel is why probably. For blade shape for these boker autos I absolutely love the Bowie the best. But if it continues to chip after adding a microbevel I may feel differently.

A non comparable d2 data point fwiw is the civivi asticus 3.7"? Blade in hollow grind. It is thinner than boker bowie blade I woudl say and zero chipping with moderate use and very easy to sharpen using regular rods on triangle sharpener. Some quick strokes on the white rods makes it shaving sharp. A big caveat though is this one came dull and I sharpened with triangle sharpener at 30 degrees (very little) then 40 degree microbevel. With normal medium and fine rods it was a breeze to sharpen. I did not use diamond rods on it. Similar to 154CM in terms of sharpening effort for me on that Civivi blade. I believe all these are ingot D2 not CPM but I'm not sure on that and perhaps someone can correct me if they know more about that.
 
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I have a Boker Rold in D2. I love it. It came with a wicked sharp edge. In fact, it's one of the few knives that I have not had to sharpen yet. I have not batoned it yet. My experience with any tool steel has been extremely positive. 5160, D2, S7 all excellent in my opinion. I have no S30v or above. But it is supposed to be even better yet. I don't think you can go wrong or make a bad choice.
 
I only have two knives with D2. The Boker Strike and a SOG Terminus. I noticed that when I lowered the edge angles it took quite a bit longer to do on the Boker. I'm certainly not an expert so I don't know if this means the Boker D2 has a higher Rockwell hardness than SOG D2. But thats how it seems to me. Or it simply could be that the factory angles were different to start with.
The SOG is also cryo D2 whereas the Boker is not. That could certainly make a difference in hardness. Just my observations.
 
Ruger 44 Redhawk said:
Just curious if anyone has opinions or experience with Boker's steel. I would love to get a Boker Plus Strike at some point but they offer a couple different steel choices now, AUS8, D2 and S30V. Just wondering if anyone knows how their D2 and S30V compare to others and is there a reason to avoid one over the other. In other words, S30V supposedly has a tendency to chip (I know heat treat plays a factor) and D2 is a semi-stainless tool steel. I've never owned a knife in D2 but have several in S30V. Just curious what you all think.
Click to expand...
I don't have a Boker in S30V, but I do have the Strike in D2. So I can't speak on the S30V. I have the Blade HQ Strike Desert Warrior with a copper coated blade. So no issues with corrosion. Not sure what the hardness is, but I would guess it's around 60. It does take a bit longer to sharpen than most other steels. Other than that I would say it's pretty good. Nice edge retention and no problem with chipping. Hope this helps.
 
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