magna cut, Erasteel or Crucible?

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kane22

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Feb 25, 2013
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Is there any way to tell if a new knife has steel from Erasteel or Crucible? I'm looking at magna-cut but I guess it would be the same for any of the CPM steels. I read Erasteel bought the pattens, does that mean makers are still going to be labeling it "CPM" steel? From Larrin's testing the Erasteel magna-cut gave a nice bump in toughness.
 
Give it a lick. The Erasteel version tastes just like snozzberries.




To answer your question, if the maker or manufacturer keeps records of each individual knife, and also keeps record of the steel they used for that specific knife, yes, they could tell you. If it were a knife that I made, I could tell you which heat of steel it was from, covering at least the last fifteen years or so, because that’s how long I’ve been insisting on receiving heats and certs for steel. The only exception being AEB-L, because up until the last several years the vendor I bought it from refused to provide them - one of the reasons I stopped using that alloy.

How many other makers do this, I have no idea. Probably very few. Personally, I feel that’s irresponsible, but I think most would tell you that I’m wrapped too tight.



Another way to answer your question is to tell you to use and enjoy your knife, sharpen it when it needs to be sharpened, and relax - the odds of an end user noticing any changes in the disparity between a blade made of Crucible CPM Magnacut and the Erasteel version is extremely unlikely. Life is short - enjoy it!
 
I'm a little OCD. If I'm buying a new knife I'd just like to get the best possible version of the steel. Looking at Niagara's site, it looks like everything is still being call "cpm" steels. I'm not talking about a custom, just an off the shelf Spyderco. I'm guessing there will not be a way to know.
 
kane22 said:
I'm a little OCD. If I'm buying a new knife I'd just like to get the best possible version of the steel. Looking at Niagara's site, it looks like everything is still being call "cpm" steels. I'm not talking about a custom, just an off the shelf Spyderco. I'm guessing there will not be a way to know.
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Wait five years. That should clear the pipes of Crucible steel and it'll be all Erasteel.
 
kane22 said:
I'm a little OCD. If I'm buying a new knife I'd just like to get the best possible version of the steel. Looking at Niagara's site, it looks like everything is still being call "cpm" steels. I'm not talking about a custom, just an off the shelf Spyderco. I'm guessing there will not be a way to know.
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I don't think that you'd ever notice a difference in real world use and application.

(But I understand the drive for the latest and best version...however unnecessary.)
 
Eh, they’re both yesterday’s news. 😜

Seriously, considering I can’t tell the difference between MagnaCut and D2, you really can’t miss with either one (Erasteel or Crucible, not D2 or MagnaCut).
 
The two steels will be close, but Erasteel looks significantly better to me. It pushes MagnaCut's toughness up a whole category -- from 7 to 8 on Larrin's scale. At 64 Rc, it's now tougher than AEB-L at that hardness. Crucible's version rates about 12 ft-lbs of toughness at 64 Rc, while Erasteel's is 17 ft-lbs. Toughness is on a log scale, so that's a decent jump. The more toughness you can get at a upper-end hardness like 64 Rc the better.
 
There’s likely more crucible steel (particularly magnacut) out there than we realize. Some makers have enough to go for years as previously mentioned. I think if you see something stamped “CPM magnacut” you’re safe to assume it’s old stock.
 
I doubt Erasteel, Niagara and most knifemakers would want to muddy the waters by labeling them the same, so I wouldn't worry about it.

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