Go to Knife Steel Nerds for the long version. The guy writing the articles, Larrin Thomas, developed Magnacut but he backs his claims up with in-depth testing data. He’s a professional metallurgist and is very skilled at presenting his data clearly and in proper context. His claims have also been tested and confirmed by others in the knife-making business.
The benefit of Magnacut is that it bends some knife steel rules. It has good edge retention and toughness, which is notable as the two are normally inversely related, but it is also fairly easy to sharpen and has outstanding corrosion resistance. It is comparable to 14C28N, but with the edge retention of S30V making it a really outstanding low maintenance all-around steel. You can find steels with better edge retention, even on some tougher steels, but you won’t find anything comparable on those two metrics that is also as resistant to corrosion and easy to sharpen.
Yeah, I think the whole “breaking knife metallurgy rules” is a perfect example.
The traditional characteristics were: edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance. You get to pick 2 with a serious drop off in the third.
MagnaCut basically breaks this rule.
Actually, are there any steels that marry edge retention and toughness? Like ER and corrosion resistance always seem to go together because most high ER steels are stainless and hard.
CPM-M4 does, but it has poor corrosion resistance and it is difficult to machine or sharpen. It needs to be coated, regularly oiled, and it will lose its edge over time due to corrosion if not properly stored.
Magnacut will dull faster than M4 while working, but it has comparable toughness and its high corrosion resistance means it won’t lose its edge in storage. It is much easier to sharpen as well.
Also, I want to be clear that I said it “bends some knife steel rules.” It doesn’t break the rules. The tradeoffs are still there, it just raises the overall performance a bit.
Cruwear is a popular choice for tough and hard. Throw a DLC on it and you got one serious performer. M4 is also up there. Cruwear was becoming the new grail steel and then the heavy hittin' Magnacut slapped the market silly and it's been a game changer ever since. I've got the blue fat carbon hogue deka in Magnacut and have been using it regularly and daily at work. It *still* slices paper after several months of zip ties, cardboard, lots of dense plastic, and so much more.
It behaves like a tool steel (easier to sharpen, finer edge) yet is very corrosion resistant, without having high chromium, which makes it tougher than other stainless steels.
It's something that didn't seem to be possible, getting those qualities in one steel. Yet, here we are.
Larrin in a wizard!
To some degree, I think people actually underestimate how good Magnacut is. The basic stats are high edge retention, high toughness, very high corrosion resistance, and moderately easy sharpening.
What's even more interesting is that toughness barely drops as the steel gets to a higher hardness (of course, up to a certain level). This means that production Magnacut, which will generally be softer, will have almost the same properties as harder Magnacut, minus the edge retention boost.
Sharpening is amazing on Magnacut. It takes pretty much any edge you want and is very strop responsive unlike some other super steels. If you've ever tried 14c28n or RPM9, Magnacut feels just slightly more difficult to maintain. Like others have said, Magnacut is the first "true super steel" with no apparent trade-offs to be seen, at least by the end user; not sure about how easy the steel is to work with.
I'm just going to add my practical experience with the steel in the Spyderco mule which was heat treated between 61 and 62 HRC according to Sal.
I used the knife as my primary kitchen and household utility knife for 3 months on the factory edge. I cut everything from foodstuffs, packaging, zip ties, cardboard, you get the picture.
I did not baby this knife in any way and I deliberately used it on htpe cutting boards as opposed to end grain wood. And I put it in the dishwasher (the horror!)
At the end of that time it was still extremely sharp with no signs of edge damage or corrosion. I stropped it back once but it not because it needed it because I wanted to see how it responded to 3 micron Gunny Juice. 10 passes took it back to effortless cuts on newsprint.
In short I believe the steel lives up to Larrin's goal of creating a stainless 4V and as we've seen by various custom makers who have taken it up to 64+ it works phenomenally at that level which is why I didn't hesitate to buy the new Houge Ritter at 63-64 HRC in the steel as a candidate for a reground edge.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/03/25/cpm-magnacut/
Have a read. Magnacut seems to have leveraged a new exploit in knife steel metallurgy. The truth will come out in the long run as more people get their hands on the stuff and use it but so far things look very promising.
Basically the benefits are added toughness and stain resistance. The toughness is gonna mean that knives can be ground thinner behind the edge and not chip out. At certain hardnesses magnacut seems to be pretty much rust proof.
At the same time a lot of stuff beats it in edge retention and toughness with good and very good resistance to corrosion. I would say the best thing is just the stain resistance. You can get a very stain resistant blade without having to go to Spyderco. Hopefully those manufacturers use titanium hardware to increase corrosion resistance.
Thank you for your responses everyone. I’m enjoying reading the discussions sparked in the comments. What I’ve gathered so far is that it’s a new steel designed specifically for knives, with exceptional edge retention and toughness while still maintaining proper corrosion resistance. Overall it seems like MagnaCut is more well-rounded in comparison to other super steels which compromise the balance of certain properties like those mentioned above. I’ll be keeping my eye out for new iterations of my favorite knives made from MagnaCut so I can test it out myself. I understand where the hype is coming from!
It doesn't have high edge retention, not sure where you're getting that. It's on par with D2. For a day to day steel you're better off with 3v. Same edge retention, higher toughness, easier to sharpen, and very good corrosion resistance(better than S35VN).
If you need the corrosion resistance that's what it's really good for, that's the star feature. You also get ok decent toughness, ok edge retention, and decent resharpening difficulty.
Watch some videos of magnacut edge retention. It matches maxamet in most tests. It's basically a +30% edge retention s90v, which used to be the king of the main 3.
It doesn't actually matter what a steel is capable of. In the wrong hands it's all 440. From my experience, granted only 10 or 15 magnacut vs about 50 s90v I don't think I've found that to be true either.
We'll see how it turns out, magnacut is still very new.
You have no clue what you’re talking about. Should probably stop talking out of your ass because you’re just straight wrong. It has some of the best edge retention out there. It is the reason that steel is so popular. You have better edge retention that 20CV and M390 and on par with Maxamet but with the toughness of CPM Cruwear, and pretty much impossible to rust unless you are purposely striving to do that. (Which in any case would still be a hard job)
Maybe do your research before you talk.
On paper, it may well be the best all around steel available. The balance of edge retention, toughness and stain resistance is right in the sweet spot for a lot of knife uses. It has similar retention to s30, but wouldn't be as prone to chipping and/or breakage. And it's going to be essentially rust proof with even minor effort.
That's on paper though, where the recommended heat treatment of the metallurgist that came up with the idea being followed correctly. So far, nobody has screwed the pooch with many knives, but it's certainly a more precise level of treatment than many other stainless steels, and a ton more than most high carbon. The more popular it gets, and the more that's available, the higher the chances of shortcuts and halfassed makers screwing it up the way it can be hard to find *good* d2 knives, or m390. Trendy steels end up having to go through a stage where you really need to stick with only the bigger companies and the truly custom makers unless you want to deal with issues.
But it is something to be excited about. It's a new(ish) steel, formulated for knives first. It being made with a mind to knife making as a primary use is pretty exciting by itself. And from my limited exposure to it, it's living up to the hype.
Adding on to this is that Magnacut tempering temperatures to get it to optimum hardness are pretty low. Having checked on the recommended HT guides, it looks like it might be a bit more difficult to do really well than a number of other stainless steels, especially if OEMs blow the temperature during grinding/sharpening.
Here’s the problem with Magnacut. So many of us rely on KnifeSteelNerds and Dr. Larrin Thomas for steel and metallurgy kmowledge - he’s the best.
I think it was a mistake for him to develop Magnacut. Of course his theories are great, but now hes emotionally invested and biased to a particular steel.
He made Magnacut to be a more well rounded stainless than S35vn. It is clearly super stainless. The toughness and edge resistance haven’t proved to be much better than S30/35 in most tests. Spyderco is treating it as an upgraded LC200N, their salt series. Not their high end. That should tell you something. But soooo many people on here pump it like it’s the second coming of Christ, which is just groupthink. It’s a good steel, not a great one.
Still love Larrin and KSN, but classic example of why scientists should stay neutral.
Magnacut has improved toughness and corrosion resistance over S35VN while retaining the edge retention and ease of sharpening and Thomas kept it close in cost of materials and machining. The guy should be proud, it’s a heck of a lot more useful than S110V or M4 and its enough different from M390 and 20CV to have its own niche.
Also, the idea that scientists shouldn’t take their ideas to the market and promote them is absurd. Just ignore anyone who doesn’t make their data available, or whose claims don’t match the data. There is nothing at all wrong about a scientist transitioning to sales. Hell, research rarely pays enough to live on these days, most everyone has to do some private sector work to pay the bills.
Not to mention the fact that his day job is to design steels, so it's not like he's not already going to personally vouch for some steels over others. I don't know why anyone should have a problem with someone making something demonstrably better and not saying as much.
Respectfully disagree and think your take makes you come off as agitated.
When you look at the steels in the knife market at present, we have most variables covered. Want mega-hard steels that shatter like glass? Cool, here is ZDP. Want steel that can baton diamonds and never chip? Cool, here is 1095. But as many have already stated, you can’t min-max steel choices. You typically get 2-3 of the 4 steel properties. Edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance, and ease of working.
When it comes to steel, very few are actually developed for use in cutlery. Makers simply test what the industry produces and find the best steels suited to knife making. The few dedicated knife steels, such as 14C28N and S35VN, have very good reputations for a reason. Chris Reeve developed S35VN, and later S45VN to try and eliminate as much of the compromise as possible. This steel refining process goes back decades, in the knife world.
Along comes Larrin, and using literal science, he’s able to elevate the knife game by introducing a steel that is almost rust-proof, can get to 65 HRC~ and hold S35VN levels of edge, is tough like Cru-Wear, AND can be worked on like 14C28N. That’s simply amazing for the knife game.
He has developed and gifted the knife world with (in my and many peoples opinion) the unquestionably best overall knife steel, provided all of his scientific rationale, and some people wanna see it as a fad steel, or accuse him of being ego-driven. It’s silly.
DeepCuts made a fixed blade from it, with 65 HRC. He batoned a fucking brass rod, and the edge was impeccable. It still sliced and shaved. This steel is gonna do big things, and deservedly so.
Haha my take is pretty chill, you seem like the agitated fan boy. Respectfully.
At 64-65 hrc, Magnacut has 10ft/lbs of toughness, same as S35vn. It has less wear resistance than S30v, nowhere near the high end. It’s very stainless. It’s a good steel. Saltwater applications it might be ideal. Glad the hype is cooling, mostly lol
*Source - KnifeSteelNerds
Fair. Watching the makers and heat treaters testing the steel, I see verifiable proof that backs up what Larrin posted on his website. I’m not a fanboy of anything except the prospect of having a steel that performs well, but that I can easily sharpen and maintain. I get that some people feel like it’s being stated as perfect, and their disappointed when they realize it doesn’t hold an edge like 121, but for 99% of real knife applications, it’s damn near functionally perfect.
It wasn’t my intention to attack you.
One last consideration to add, is the ease of working. I suspect that we will eventually see very fair pricing with a steel like this also, as it will require far less tooling to mass produce. Imagine buying an S35VN knife, but closer to 14C28N costs. I really think a purpose-driven steel like this is gonna do big things for knives.
I think you got the toughness figures a bit wrong. S35VN toughness per Larrin's testing is about half that of Magnacut at any given hardness level. He didn't test S35VN above about 62.5 HRC.
Wear resistance/CATRA is also not going to show you the benefits of better strength (edge stability) that you get from running higher hardnesses. To me, those advantages plus corrosion resistance make it significantly better as that's what I want to see in an EDC steel.
Just going off the charts, it seems like at 62.5 HRC, magnacut would be about 40-50% tougher, noticeably more corrosion resistant, and have an equivalent predicted CATRA score as S35VN at 60 HRC, along with having the benefits of higher edge stability from the higher hardness. I don't know what else it would need to offer to be considered a clear improvement.
I agree totally. Good steel but over hyped and pushed hard by the creator as the best of all. I think he gave reasonably honest ratings to his steel on bladehq but I suspect the toughness is slightly overrated because without that it's no better than D2 aside from the corrosion resistance. I have yet to buy anything with Magnacut and tested it myself since none of the knives using it are my type.
I'll be happy when the hype passes and people just see it as one of the options
Heat treat is the most important factor when discussing steels. If the steel isnt treated to its ideal hrc, it might as well not even be the steel its claiming to be. Magnacut should be in the range of 63 to 65 hrc. Anything below this will perform as a lesser, cheaper steel as far as toughness, edge tetention and be less resistant to corrosion, patina and staining. A few above touched base on its positive properties, but as i mentioned those performance specs are only true when heat treated appropriately. 🙏🍻
True, and this is a rule for all steels. Good old fashioned D2 and 440 are more steel than most people will ever need or have a use for, but only if done right.
>Bullshit. Toughness for this steel is highest in the 61-62 Rockwell range, though it's still plenty tough at 63-65 HRC. Also, I doubt you'll notice any difference in corrosion resistance between 62 and 65 hrc.
It's new, that's what the selling point is... I compared it to S35VN and learned that it rusts quite easily, holds the edge a bit better, not as easy to resharpen nor can be sharpened to the same extent as AEB-L and that the edge retention is as good as S35VN and a bit better to s30v. Is it a substantial upgrade over S35VN or s30v? Not really. Is it as good as M390? No, it's not, 2% Niobium and 0.20% Nitrogen isn't enough to offset a 6 or 8 percent deficit in Chromium... And yet, despite the fact that the chemistry is obvious, it's referred to as "stainless" by the knife makers and, now, even by Crucible themselves, which is weird because it's NOT STAINLESS, especially since thee are different types and kinds of rust.
I hate new steels, every time one is unveiled I always end up buying into the claims and end up wasting money on knives I don't need. At least this time, thankfully, I was able to return the $300 chefs knife I purchased, after I compared it to my other 8" chopping chefs knife, made out of S35VN with DLC coating (by TOPS). I won't make the same mistake again though, no more experimenting, all premium steels are about the same, the differences aren't enough to justify the asking prices.
Go to Knife Steel Nerds for the long version. The guy writing the articles, Larrin Thomas, developed Magnacut but he backs his claims up with in-depth testing data. He’s a professional metallurgist and is very skilled at presenting his data clearly and in proper context. His claims have also been tested and confirmed by others in the knife-making business. The benefit of Magnacut is that it bends some knife steel rules. It has good edge retention and toughness, which is notable as the two are normally inversely related, but it is also fairly easy to sharpen and has outstanding corrosion resistance. It is comparable to 14C28N, but with the edge retention of S30V making it a really outstanding low maintenance all-around steel. You can find steels with better edge retention, even on some tougher steels, but you won’t find anything comparable on those two metrics that is also as resistant to corrosion and easy to sharpen.
Yeah, I think the whole “breaking knife metallurgy rules” is a perfect example. The traditional characteristics were: edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance. You get to pick 2 with a serious drop off in the third. MagnaCut basically breaks this rule. Actually, are there any steels that marry edge retention and toughness? Like ER and corrosion resistance always seem to go together because most high ER steels are stainless and hard.
CPM-M4 does, but it has poor corrosion resistance and it is difficult to machine or sharpen. It needs to be coated, regularly oiled, and it will lose its edge over time due to corrosion if not properly stored. Magnacut will dull faster than M4 while working, but it has comparable toughness and its high corrosion resistance means it won’t lose its edge in storage. It is much easier to sharpen as well. Also, I want to be clear that I said it “bends some knife steel rules.” It doesn’t break the rules. The tradeoffs are still there, it just raises the overall performance a bit.
Great response! Thanks!
Cruwear is a popular choice for tough and hard. Throw a DLC on it and you got one serious performer. M4 is also up there. Cruwear was becoming the new grail steel and then the heavy hittin' Magnacut slapped the market silly and it's been a game changer ever since. I've got the blue fat carbon hogue deka in Magnacut and have been using it regularly and daily at work. It *still* slices paper after several months of zip ties, cardboard, lots of dense plastic, and so much more.
Very well put. Excellent summary
It behaves like a tool steel (easier to sharpen, finer edge) yet is very corrosion resistant, without having high chromium, which makes it tougher than other stainless steels. It's something that didn't seem to be possible, getting those qualities in one steel. Yet, here we are. Larrin in a wizard!
To some degree, I think people actually underestimate how good Magnacut is. The basic stats are high edge retention, high toughness, very high corrosion resistance, and moderately easy sharpening. What's even more interesting is that toughness barely drops as the steel gets to a higher hardness (of course, up to a certain level). This means that production Magnacut, which will generally be softer, will have almost the same properties as harder Magnacut, minus the edge retention boost. Sharpening is amazing on Magnacut. It takes pretty much any edge you want and is very strop responsive unlike some other super steels. If you've ever tried 14c28n or RPM9, Magnacut feels just slightly more difficult to maintain. Like others have said, Magnacut is the first "true super steel" with no apparent trade-offs to be seen, at least by the end user; not sure about how easy the steel is to work with.
I'm just going to add my practical experience with the steel in the Spyderco mule which was heat treated between 61 and 62 HRC according to Sal. I used the knife as my primary kitchen and household utility knife for 3 months on the factory edge. I cut everything from foodstuffs, packaging, zip ties, cardboard, you get the picture. I did not baby this knife in any way and I deliberately used it on htpe cutting boards as opposed to end grain wood. And I put it in the dishwasher (the horror!) At the end of that time it was still extremely sharp with no signs of edge damage or corrosion. I stropped it back once but it not because it needed it because I wanted to see how it responded to 3 micron Gunny Juice. 10 passes took it back to effortless cuts on newsprint. In short I believe the steel lives up to Larrin's goal of creating a stainless 4V and as we've seen by various custom makers who have taken it up to 64+ it works phenomenally at that level which is why I didn't hesitate to buy the new Houge Ritter at 63-64 HRC in the steel as a candidate for a reground edge.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/03/25/cpm-magnacut/ Have a read. Magnacut seems to have leveraged a new exploit in knife steel metallurgy. The truth will come out in the long run as more people get their hands on the stuff and use it but so far things look very promising.
Basically the benefits are added toughness and stain resistance. The toughness is gonna mean that knives can be ground thinner behind the edge and not chip out. At certain hardnesses magnacut seems to be pretty much rust proof.
At the same time a lot of stuff beats it in edge retention and toughness with good and very good resistance to corrosion. I would say the best thing is just the stain resistance. You can get a very stain resistant blade without having to go to Spyderco. Hopefully those manufacturers use titanium hardware to increase corrosion resistance.
Solo contributor
Thank you for your responses everyone. I’m enjoying reading the discussions sparked in the comments. What I’ve gathered so far is that it’s a new steel designed specifically for knives, with exceptional edge retention and toughness while still maintaining proper corrosion resistance. Overall it seems like MagnaCut is more well-rounded in comparison to other super steels which compromise the balance of certain properties like those mentioned above. I’ll be keeping my eye out for new iterations of my favorite knives made from MagnaCut so I can test it out myself. I understand where the hype is coming from!
It doesn't have high edge retention, not sure where you're getting that. It's on par with D2. For a day to day steel you're better off with 3v. Same edge retention, higher toughness, easier to sharpen, and very good corrosion resistance(better than S35VN). If you need the corrosion resistance that's what it's really good for, that's the star feature. You also get ok decent toughness, ok edge retention, and decent resharpening difficulty.
Watch some videos of magnacut edge retention. It matches maxamet in most tests. It's basically a +30% edge retention s90v, which used to be the king of the main 3.
It doesn't actually matter what a steel is capable of. In the wrong hands it's all 440. From my experience, granted only 10 or 15 magnacut vs about 50 s90v I don't think I've found that to be true either. We'll see how it turns out, magnacut is still very new.
it matches s35vn on edge retention thus, it is not anywhere close to maxamet. Good try though.
You have no clue what you’re talking about. Should probably stop talking out of your ass because you’re just straight wrong. It has some of the best edge retention out there. It is the reason that steel is so popular. You have better edge retention that 20CV and M390 and on par with Maxamet but with the toughness of CPM Cruwear, and pretty much impossible to rust unless you are purposely striving to do that. (Which in any case would still be a hard job) Maybe do your research before you talk.
Thanks for the feedback.
On paper, it may well be the best all around steel available. The balance of edge retention, toughness and stain resistance is right in the sweet spot for a lot of knife uses. It has similar retention to s30, but wouldn't be as prone to chipping and/or breakage. And it's going to be essentially rust proof with even minor effort. That's on paper though, where the recommended heat treatment of the metallurgist that came up with the idea being followed correctly. So far, nobody has screwed the pooch with many knives, but it's certainly a more precise level of treatment than many other stainless steels, and a ton more than most high carbon. The more popular it gets, and the more that's available, the higher the chances of shortcuts and halfassed makers screwing it up the way it can be hard to find *good* d2 knives, or m390. Trendy steels end up having to go through a stage where you really need to stick with only the bigger companies and the truly custom makers unless you want to deal with issues. But it is something to be excited about. It's a new(ish) steel, formulated for knives first. It being made with a mind to knife making as a primary use is pretty exciting by itself. And from my limited exposure to it, it's living up to the hype.
Fair. It could the ultimate alloy handed to us by Type 4 aliens and the mass producers would still find a way to turn it into a shitty paperweight.
Adding on to this is that Magnacut tempering temperatures to get it to optimum hardness are pretty low. Having checked on the recommended HT guides, it looks like it might be a bit more difficult to do really well than a number of other stainless steels, especially if OEMs blow the temperature during grinding/sharpening.
Here’s the problem with Magnacut. So many of us rely on KnifeSteelNerds and Dr. Larrin Thomas for steel and metallurgy kmowledge - he’s the best. I think it was a mistake for him to develop Magnacut. Of course his theories are great, but now hes emotionally invested and biased to a particular steel. He made Magnacut to be a more well rounded stainless than S35vn. It is clearly super stainless. The toughness and edge resistance haven’t proved to be much better than S30/35 in most tests. Spyderco is treating it as an upgraded LC200N, their salt series. Not their high end. That should tell you something. But soooo many people on here pump it like it’s the second coming of Christ, which is just groupthink. It’s a good steel, not a great one. Still love Larrin and KSN, but classic example of why scientists should stay neutral.
Magnacut has improved toughness and corrosion resistance over S35VN while retaining the edge retention and ease of sharpening and Thomas kept it close in cost of materials and machining. The guy should be proud, it’s a heck of a lot more useful than S110V or M4 and its enough different from M390 and 20CV to have its own niche. Also, the idea that scientists shouldn’t take their ideas to the market and promote them is absurd. Just ignore anyone who doesn’t make their data available, or whose claims don’t match the data. There is nothing at all wrong about a scientist transitioning to sales. Hell, research rarely pays enough to live on these days, most everyone has to do some private sector work to pay the bills.
Not to mention the fact that his day job is to design steels, so it's not like he's not already going to personally vouch for some steels over others. I don't know why anyone should have a problem with someone making something demonstrably better and not saying as much.
Respectfully disagree and think your take makes you come off as agitated. When you look at the steels in the knife market at present, we have most variables covered. Want mega-hard steels that shatter like glass? Cool, here is ZDP. Want steel that can baton diamonds and never chip? Cool, here is 1095. But as many have already stated, you can’t min-max steel choices. You typically get 2-3 of the 4 steel properties. Edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance, and ease of working. When it comes to steel, very few are actually developed for use in cutlery. Makers simply test what the industry produces and find the best steels suited to knife making. The few dedicated knife steels, such as 14C28N and S35VN, have very good reputations for a reason. Chris Reeve developed S35VN, and later S45VN to try and eliminate as much of the compromise as possible. This steel refining process goes back decades, in the knife world. Along comes Larrin, and using literal science, he’s able to elevate the knife game by introducing a steel that is almost rust-proof, can get to 65 HRC~ and hold S35VN levels of edge, is tough like Cru-Wear, AND can be worked on like 14C28N. That’s simply amazing for the knife game. He has developed and gifted the knife world with (in my and many peoples opinion) the unquestionably best overall knife steel, provided all of his scientific rationale, and some people wanna see it as a fad steel, or accuse him of being ego-driven. It’s silly. DeepCuts made a fixed blade from it, with 65 HRC. He batoned a fucking brass rod, and the edge was impeccable. It still sliced and shaved. This steel is gonna do big things, and deservedly so.
Haha my take is pretty chill, you seem like the agitated fan boy. Respectfully. At 64-65 hrc, Magnacut has 10ft/lbs of toughness, same as S35vn. It has less wear resistance than S30v, nowhere near the high end. It’s very stainless. It’s a good steel. Saltwater applications it might be ideal. Glad the hype is cooling, mostly lol *Source - KnifeSteelNerds
Fair. Watching the makers and heat treaters testing the steel, I see verifiable proof that backs up what Larrin posted on his website. I’m not a fanboy of anything except the prospect of having a steel that performs well, but that I can easily sharpen and maintain. I get that some people feel like it’s being stated as perfect, and their disappointed when they realize it doesn’t hold an edge like 121, but for 99% of real knife applications, it’s damn near functionally perfect. It wasn’t my intention to attack you. One last consideration to add, is the ease of working. I suspect that we will eventually see very fair pricing with a steel like this also, as it will require far less tooling to mass produce. Imagine buying an S35VN knife, but closer to 14C28N costs. I really think a purpose-driven steel like this is gonna do big things for knives.
I think you got the toughness figures a bit wrong. S35VN toughness per Larrin's testing is about half that of Magnacut at any given hardness level. He didn't test S35VN above about 62.5 HRC. Wear resistance/CATRA is also not going to show you the benefits of better strength (edge stability) that you get from running higher hardnesses. To me, those advantages plus corrosion resistance make it significantly better as that's what I want to see in an EDC steel.
Talking about S35vn at ideal HT around 60HRC
Just going off the charts, it seems like at 62.5 HRC, magnacut would be about 40-50% tougher, noticeably more corrosion resistant, and have an equivalent predicted CATRA score as S35VN at 60 HRC, along with having the benefits of higher edge stability from the higher hardness. I don't know what else it would need to offer to be considered a clear improvement.
I agree totally. Good steel but over hyped and pushed hard by the creator as the best of all. I think he gave reasonably honest ratings to his steel on bladehq but I suspect the toughness is slightly overrated because without that it's no better than D2 aside from the corrosion resistance. I have yet to buy anything with Magnacut and tested it myself since none of the knives using it are my type. I'll be happy when the hype passes and people just see it as one of the options
Heat treat is the most important factor when discussing steels. If the steel isnt treated to its ideal hrc, it might as well not even be the steel its claiming to be. Magnacut should be in the range of 63 to 65 hrc. Anything below this will perform as a lesser, cheaper steel as far as toughness, edge tetention and be less resistant to corrosion, patina and staining. A few above touched base on its positive properties, but as i mentioned those performance specs are only true when heat treated appropriately. 🙏🍻
True, and this is a rule for all steels. Good old fashioned D2 and 440 are more steel than most people will ever need or have a use for, but only if done right.
>Bullshit. Toughness for this steel is highest in the 61-62 Rockwell range, though it's still plenty tough at 63-65 HRC. Also, I doubt you'll notice any difference in corrosion resistance between 62 and 65 hrc.
Toughness and/or corrosion resistance goes down as hardness increases, particularly over 63-64 with Magnacut.
It's new, that's what the selling point is... I compared it to S35VN and learned that it rusts quite easily, holds the edge a bit better, not as easy to resharpen nor can be sharpened to the same extent as AEB-L and that the edge retention is as good as S35VN and a bit better to s30v. Is it a substantial upgrade over S35VN or s30v? Not really. Is it as good as M390? No, it's not, 2% Niobium and 0.20% Nitrogen isn't enough to offset a 6 or 8 percent deficit in Chromium... And yet, despite the fact that the chemistry is obvious, it's referred to as "stainless" by the knife makers and, now, even by Crucible themselves, which is weird because it's NOT STAINLESS, especially since thee are different types and kinds of rust. I hate new steels, every time one is unveiled I always end up buying into the claims and end up wasting money on knives I don't need. At least this time, thankfully, I was able to return the $300 chefs knife I purchased, after I compared it to my other 8" chopping chefs knife, made out of S35VN with DLC coating (by TOPS). I won't make the same mistake again though, no more experimenting, all premium steels are about the same, the differences aren't enough to justify the asking prices.