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D2 - 1.2379
D3 - 1.2080 or Richard Carr 23s
D2 is a semi-stainless steel with a content of 14% chrome. I have used this myself for all my knife making career and in fact D2 is one of the most produced knife steels for industry. I have done a lot of heat treatment on this steel to get an optimum heat treatment for edge retention. I harden the full blade so it will not have a differential hardness. This is because in the past I have put a differential hardness on knives but the softer steel does marr and rust much more than the hardened D2 edge area.
It is quite a difficult steel to learn to forge with. I would not recommend beginners to start forging blades with D2 because it is difficult.
D3 has a higher carbon content with just about the same characteristics as D2.
Unfortunately D2 and D3 are much maligned blade steels by certain forum groups on the internet. I can understand this because if D2 is badly heattreated it is really crap. But if the heat treatment is done correctly it is as good a knife steel as anyone can wish for.
