Help Me Understand Magnicut

Before Magnacut there were steels like 4V, M4, 3V that had pretty good wear resistance with pretty good toughness. None of those are proper stainless steels.

Magnacut took the strengths of 4V and added corrosion resistance almost to the point of the rust proof steels like LC200N. In testing (so far) it is more corrosion resistant than steels like M390/20CV, 14C28N and S110V which is pretty impressive for a steel that otherwise performs like 4V.
 
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I'd relly like to see someone from NASA or another high tech materials science lab with no budget, take a long look at creating a Magnicut-like steel that moves the performance parameters diagonally up and to the right on the toughness/edge retention chart while being corrosion-proof . . .a pie in the sky dream driven by too much coffee before the sun comes up.

The justification: Think of creating cutting tools for a Moon or Mars Coloney where making a new one locally will not be possible for a lifetime or so and the cost of sending up another one will exceed its weight in gold.
 
VorpelSword said:
Back to the topic:

I'd relly like to see someone from NASA or another high tech materials science lab with no budget, take a long look at creating a Magnicut-like steel that moves the performance parameters diagonally up and to the right on the toughness/edge retention chart while being corrosion-proof . . .a pie in the sky dream driven by too much coffee before the sun comes up.

The justification: Think of creating cutting tools for a Moon or Mars Coloney where making a new one locally will not be possible for a lifetime or so and the cost of sending up another one will exceed its weight in gold.
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Ozmose said:
M390 has been the darling of the knife world for far too long now. I personally am not a fan of it, so the more Magnacut the better in my book. Everyone is still arguing over the heat treat, but to me the softer heat treats are still performing great. In my opinion CRK seems to be doing it the best so far. No clue what the HRC is on my Sebenza, but it seems to stay crazy sharp even after a lot of cutting, and when it does lose a bit of bite, it sharpens back super easy.
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CRK publishes the HRC to be between 63-64 which seems to be just about optimal.
 
Edit: Deleted Thread Drift sorry.
 
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VorpelSword said:
Back to the topic:

I'd relly like to see someone from NASA or another high tech materials science lab with no budget, take a long look at creating a Magnicut-like steel that moves the performance parameters diagonally up and to the right on the toughness/edge retention chart while being corrosion-proof . . .a pie in the sky dream driven by too much coffee before the sun comes up.

The justification: Think of creating cutting tools for a Moon or Mars Coloney where making a new one locally will not be possible for a lifetime or so and the cost of sending up another one will exceed its weight in gold.
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They already did That..... with "nothing special stainless steel"

"The Randall Model 17 was especially designed for the seven Mercury astronauts, who carried them on America's first manned space flights. Astronaut Gordon Cooper did the final design, and two of these historically valuable knives are on display in the Smithsonian Institution."
 
chalby said:
Before Magnacut there were steels like 4V, M4, 3V that had pretty good wear resistance with pretty good toughness. None of those are proper stainless steels.

Magnacut took the strengths of 4V and added corrosion resistance almost to the point of the rust proof steels like LC200N. In testing (so far) it is more corrosion resistant than steels like M390/20CV, 14C28N and S110V which is pretty impressive for a steel that otherwise performs like 4V.
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Just anecdotal here, but I live in a tropical climate and have had difficulty getting 3v to rust in regular use. Thats even with using a leather sheath and leaving it outside for hours at a time.

I seem to remember in Knife Steel Nerds that at higher hardness corrosion resistance goes down (could be wrong here), and my Benchmade Puukko at 61hrc hasn't rusted one bit.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
They already did That..... with "nothing special stainless steel"

"The Randall Model 17 was especially designed for the seven Mercury astronauts, who carried them on America's first manned space flights. Astronaut Gordon Cooper did the final design, and two of these historically valuable knives are on display in the Smithsonian Institution."
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Thanks. I was made aware of that when I went knife shopping for our Marine Corps son back around Y2K. Project Mercury was in the mid 1960s and Randall has not changed what they do since way before that.

What I was day dreaming about would be a current effort by one of our drop dead super duper materials science research labs like DARPA . . .the kind of labs that are trying to formulate a room temperature super conductor using only the known elements in the periodic table.
 
91bravo said:
MagnaCut is the hot new flavor, until the next steel comes out. I’ve personally never had any problems with the steels that I currently own.
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Leave it to Dr Thomas to explain further but this isn't really an accurate representation. Lots of "hot new steels" are released, but rarely do they actually do something unique. Magnacut is essentially the most well rounded supersteel steel with the fewest shortcomings (for the end user) yet.

Being able to get that level of corrosion resistance (with such a low level of chromium) with that level of toughness, and that much edge retention is pretty frickin amazing in my eyes. It's important too because it sets the bar much higher for new steels being designed.

I totally get why you are saying however. It seems like daily a new steel is sold as the next best thing. I think olin this case it actually is. That doesn't make old favorites like 3v any less good however.
 
Elektroslag said:
Leave it to Dr Thomas to explain further but this isn't really an accurate representation. Lots of "hot new steels" are releases, but rarely do they actually do something unique. Magnacut it's essentially the most well rounded steel with the fewest shortcomings (for the end user) yet.

Being able to get that level of corrosion resistance with that level of toughness, and that much edge retention is pretty frickin amazing in my eyes. It's important too because it sets the bar much higher for new steels being designed.
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Corrosion resistance seems to be big with MagnaCut, but it’s low in the properties I look for in a blade steel. My K390 and Rex45 blades have been my MagnaCut. I guess I prefer blades that stain easily, as they are my favorite. I just don’t feel the need to go out and buy something just because it has MagnaCut. I’m sure it’s a great steel, but the ones I have, have been phenomenal.
 
I’m probably in the minority on this site, but I haven’t even tried Magnacut yet. Not because I don’t want to, I just don’t chase steels like I used to. I have a lot of S30,35, 20CV, Elmax. Eventually I’ll try it. But Im not expecting to notice a huge difference between MC and any that I just mentioned, not how I use my knives at least.
 
I am not a steel snob by any means, but I have been very pleased with the one MagnaCut knife I have from CPE. I wanted it for wearing on my snowmachine bib straps in winter, because I typically get covered/soaked and sometimes I get sidetracked with chores and knife care gets put off longer than I prefer. It has been repeatedly covered in snow (and water when getting into a warm cabin), used as my favorite edc, and used for lots of chores at my cabin. It has been awesome. I love how quickly it strops to a very keen edge and keeps an edge through chores. I have many knives I love in different steels, but it is hard to imagine a better wet/snow trail knife (for me).
 
91bravo said:
Corrosion resistance seems to be big with MagnaCut, but it’s low in the properties I look for in a blade steel. My K390 and Rex45 blades have been my MagnaCut. I guess I prefer blades that stain easily, as they are my favorite. I just don’t feel the need to go out and buy something just because it has MagnaCut. I’m sure it’s a great steel, but the ones I have, have been phenomenal.
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I get it! In fact I feel the same way. I prefer 3v over nearly anything else and it's been around for many years. However even if you don't use it or plan to buy it I think a steal like magna cut is really good for nice people and the industry generally speaking.
 
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