The Mode II crack flank displacement and crack growth responses of three precracked specimens made from structural steel were measured, using plastic replicas and a crack-tip compliance gage. Crack surface interaction was found to dominate behavior: at low stress intensity range (ΔK_II^nom = 9 MPa √m) the precracks did not suffer reversed slip to their tips and no crack growth occurred, while at high stress intensity range (ΔK_II^nom = 19 MPa √m) the effective stress intensity range was less than half that nominally applied. Three sources of crack flank frictional attenuation were identified: compressive residual stresses due to precracking, Mode I wedging over asperities, and gross plastic deformation of interlocking asperities. The measured unlocking response was modeled successfully by assuming that crack flank frictional stresses obeyed a constant interfacial shear stress friction law.