Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Magnacut - when will it become mandatory?

Getting tired of the hype. It is a new supersteel. Might even be a good one. Depends on the heattreat and grind. And blade shape.
Just like any other steel. I may be getting old.

I’ve made magnacut blades, S35VN blades, and a few more varieties in the last two years. In the real world, I’ve found they don’t do anything more than my standby, CPM154. I know some folks find that blasphemy but it’s the truth. And you need to cryo those two to get the same performance as I’ve seen from CPM 154, which doesn’t require the cryo step between ht and tempering.

My own thoughts, as a maker of knives, is at what point does the “super stainless” become too difficult for the average Joe Deerhunter to resharpen? Having a high performance blade is great, but can you re-sharpen it? In the field? Some of these super steels can be a challenge.

I’ve shown pics of a couple of my CPM154 blades shaving my hairy arms (or legs) after gutting and skinning an elk……..and two deer. Good enough for my chosen pursuits but your mileage may differ.

I've had some fairly expensive knives and they
didn't do what I wanted any better than something
i could buy for way less money.
I enjoyed having them, but the way things are
these days, I'd as soon have the money in my
pocket as have my expensive goods taken to
the pawn shop for pennies on the dollar by
some pinhead thief. Too much trouble going
before a judge to get your own property back
from the poeleece property building.
I can sharpen my junky Bucks and Schrades
and Forschners and Dexters with the $2.99
whetstone from harbor freight and hit em
on a steel when necessary.
Plenty sharp enough to do the job.

It's like everything else
People have different tastes in knives
and wives and firearms and supper, etc.

Lets see....

I've heard it said that variety is the spice of life.

In no particular order in regards to composition, hardness, corrosion resistance, some of the knife steels that I have had follow me home.

1085
1095
L6
O1
W2
52100
D2
CTS-XHP Steel
A2
440B
440C
M390
M690
8Cr13MoV Steel
VG-1
VG-10
AEB-L
Elmax
AUS-8
ATS-34
154 CM
CPM154
CPM 3V
S30 V
S35 VN
CPM M4

and

MagnaCut

ya!

GWB

Everyone wants the NEW steel! Not any different than rifle calibers!! There are OLD Stainless Steel’s that out perform Magnacut. Heat treat and grind can make a average steel impressive. Most can’t tell the difference in steels. JMO after making well over a thousand knifes. As a maker I have over 25 steels in the shop and constantly adding more. As Brad at Peters heat treating said. There was a time not to long ago there were only a dozen knife steels now over 50 and counting. Hey everybody needs a new knife.

I don't think anyone is saying magnacut will hold and edge longer than lots of the other super steels out there.

Where it shines is a nice mix of toughness, wear resistance, ease of sharpening, and corrosion resistance.

It's nice to have options and magnacut covers a lot of bases

Exactly.

Oh there are plenty that think it holds an edge longer… no intent to be disagreeable though.

I agree with you Hank. Lots think that.

They would do well to read what Larrin Thomas tried to achieve when he came up with it. Holding an edge forever was not a goal.

However, he did come up with a steel that held its own in edge retention and ease of sharpening, while simultaneously shining in toughness and corrosion resistance. That’s a pretty good package I’d say, but edge retention isn’t solely a reason to buy Magnacut, that’s for sure. May as well stick with 154 CM, as has been said, if that was one’s motivation.

Ive listened to several podcasts featuring Larrin.

He never intended to develop an end all be all steel.

He’s got a big writeup on bladeforums ( prolly from knifesteelnerds ) were he tests a pile of steels.
IIRC, he said he’s spent over $100k on having knives / blades made, on testing, equipment, etc..

He puts the science to it and does away with the voodoo black magic that some seem to associate with blade steel and heat treat / cryo.


For the avg guy like me, can i tell the difference form one well made 154, d2, s30v blade VS magnacut? I doubt it.

But that not stopping from having some made.

Exactly. That’s why I’ve got one in the drawer and another one on the way. Variety and experiencing new things is the spice of life.

Agreed. I just ordered a houge deka for my boy for Christmas. If I like it I might get one to put into my rotation as well.

There are a lot of great blade steels out there. If you don't want a certain one of them it's simple - don't buy a knife with that blade steel. Why would it bother anyone if a new steel is introduced? Hell, you never know you might actually like it.

In the hunting firearms world, I guess a guy only needs a 12 gauge, .22LR, and a .30-06. While those choices would probably do about all a guy in North America needs to be done, having other options is not only good but also it is fun. Same with knives.

MagnaCut interests me. I'm less concerned with the edge endurance. The toughness and high corrosion resistance are what have me curious.

I've enjoyed S30V, S35VN, S45V, 20CV (M390), even S90V and S110V. I don't have any real issue with 154CM or CPM 154. There's some I'm omitting for sure. One of the issues that bugs me with the "super" stainless steels is the brittleness that comes with the high edge retention. S30V can be bad but S110V is horrible about chipping.

As an inshore and offshore fisherman on coastal Alabama, corrosion resistance is huge for me. I don't need K390 level of edge retention, but I want better than 440 or VG10. And I don't want to have to sharpen out chips just because I want a stainless blade that holds a decent edge.

If MagnaCut can out perform the corrosion resistance of the steels mentioned above without chipping (toughness) and hold a decent edge (CPM154 level is fine) then I'm going to be thrilled. And so far, the 2 or 3 models I have with MagnaCut are living up to that expectation. It's proving to be a great steel for me.

I have plenty of other knives that don't need the corrosion resistance. When I go hunting, I carry a 1095 chopper for brush clearing and an S35VN model for game cleaning (both ESEE's) and they work fabulously in that role.

Is there hype around MagnaCut? Sure. But options are good.

Great thread, but really wish it was part of our older discussion: Magnacut

I think it's freaking revolutionary...

Hogue is putting out great knives.

Equal or better than Benchmade, IMO.

The deka is a a nice , lightweight knife.

As is the Hogue made Doug Ritter RSK and mini-RSK sold by knifeworks.com

I’ve used it. It does. Plain and simple. Do we have data that shows something different?

With you 100%. VERY intersted in the answer to your : "Do we have data that shows something different?"

TTT