Most of them are more or less the same. I use both American and German(Bohler) D-2 and there's not too much difference in the element proportions. D-2 is an expensive steel; I pay $35.00 a foot for the American and $25.00 for the (thinner) German.
One advantage a Company has over the individual knifemaker, of course, is the ability to buy in large enough quantities which brings the price per foot way down. I've yet to own a factory knife in D-2, however, which is properly heat treated for OPTIMUM performance. D-2 works best at an Rc of 60-61 and due to the fact that the factories have no idea who is going to use their knives, and how they're going to use them, they tend to opt for an Rc of around 58; which is ok, but not the best for this steel. I've two Queen knives, the mountain man and the sodbuster, in D-2 and while the blades hold an edge much bettre than all the junk 420 and 440a out there, they're not even close in edge holding to my own blades as heat treated by D' Holder. I also owned a Dozier knockoff in D-2 for a while, which was horrible. The factories make their knives, those that still make them in the US, by very high tech machinery; there's very little human hands on beyond inspections and packaging. Last, but not least, most factory knives, including Knives of Alaska, use the cheapest handle material they can on their standard knives which , while durable, costs them about about 25 cents. The bottom line is always cost. Consider the materials in a custom knife in D-2: the blade(around $35.00) + the handle($10.00-the sky's the limit) + guards/bolsters etc, if used. Then there's epoxy/sanding belts(expensive), leather(and all the leather related tools required for a sheath) etc. And of course there is profit, so the knifemaker can buy more materials, pay some bills etc. It's a different world. But I do know one thing for certain; any knife I make in D-2 is better than anything that any factory can put out without charging MORE than what I would. And that is that particular bottom line.
