- Joined
- Jul 12, 2020
- Messages
- 103
After being a little skeptical, I have become a big fan of the stuff. One or two smaller manufacturers experienced some possibly heat treat related missteps when it first became available, but now that everyone knows the exact science behind getting the best out of it, it is fair to say that it might be the first generation of what could be termed hyper steel.
Fixed blades are the only area that could be a problem. Despite being almost as tough as M4, it's ideal HRC of 62 could prove problematic for more robust mistreatment that reliable old 1095 has no issue with. Only time will tell.
The reason I ask the question of the thread title is that now Kershaw has re-entered the USA-made knife game and out of the gate gone directly for Magnacut, as well as seeing fans of almost other knife requesting their favorite patterns with the steel, there doesn't seem to be much reason for any manufacturer who has Magnacut available to them currently to choose anything else outside of budget focused products. Not including Magnacut in a new knife almost seems like marketing suicide, while including it has created automatic best sellers.
From the consumer's point of view, there are a lot of potential upsides to the reduction in material choices, with few downsides. For manufacturers it could become a problem. Aesthetic, utility, quality and cost are the driving forces for both, but for a manufacturer to innovate and maintain their niche is going to become increasingly difficult when a $130 knife can perform as well as their $250 knife.
Is it overrated and over-used? Do you miss a hard-earned patina like I do? Or is this the de facto end game steel until Larrin flexes his genius to outdo it with Megacut™ or something?
Stay sharp!
Fixed blades are the only area that could be a problem. Despite being almost as tough as M4, it's ideal HRC of 62 could prove problematic for more robust mistreatment that reliable old 1095 has no issue with. Only time will tell.
The reason I ask the question of the thread title is that now Kershaw has re-entered the USA-made knife game and out of the gate gone directly for Magnacut, as well as seeing fans of almost other knife requesting their favorite patterns with the steel, there doesn't seem to be much reason for any manufacturer who has Magnacut available to them currently to choose anything else outside of budget focused products. Not including Magnacut in a new knife almost seems like marketing suicide, while including it has created automatic best sellers.
From the consumer's point of view, there are a lot of potential upsides to the reduction in material choices, with few downsides. For manufacturers it could become a problem. Aesthetic, utility, quality and cost are the driving forces for both, but for a manufacturer to innovate and maintain their niche is going to become increasingly difficult when a $130 knife can perform as well as their $250 knife.
Is it overrated and over-used? Do you miss a hard-earned patina like I do? Or is this the de facto end game steel until Larrin flexes his genius to outdo it with Megacut™ or something?
Stay sharp!
