Bowbenderman
Member
What is the hype about Magna Cut steel? Is it really that much better or more useful than the steel every knife makers uses ? Just curious as to what the Knife Makers think, Tys
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Knife Steel
- Thread starter Bowbenderman
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ol bob
Senior Member
A good blade smith can make you as good a knife as you will ever use out of an old file, other blade smiths couldn't make you a good knife out of the highest priced steel out there, its more about the maker than the steel.
Bowbenderman
Member
Tys Bob, I know that, I have knives made from these blade smiths . I just want to know what the hype about Magna Cut steel is all about,,,,
Razor Blade
Senior Member
I think thats just it " hype " , nothing else to it. I could make you a knife and not say the steel its made from and no one could tell any difference in it. { I am talking about good steel to begin with }. I believe someone prints an article in a magazine , folks read it, then it starts. The hype. This is just my opinion .
Anvil Head
Senior Member
Agree with Scottie completely.
"Why it's the newest, greatest, bestest ever produced! Never wears out, never needs sharpening, unbreakable, can't be lost, used by all the best makers, one size fits all wonderment of the true professional knifemakers' steel. Once you use it you'll never use any other steel!"
Probably why I've never used it - that and the sample piece I was given didn't like to be hit with a hammer.
"Why it's the newest, greatest, bestest ever produced! Never wears out, never needs sharpening, unbreakable, can't be lost, used by all the best makers, one size fits all wonderment of the true professional knifemakers' steel. Once you use it you'll never use any other steel!"
Probably why I've never used it - that and the sample piece I was given didn't like to be hit with a hammer.
bullgator
Senior Member
I’ll give it a shot.
Three things that knife steels are judged by is edge retention, toughness, and rust resistance or what we call stainless steels. Usually you can get 2 of the 3 pretty easily. Carbon and , I believe vanadium, can be manipulated into toughness or hardness. But usually adding chromium in amounts that take a steel into the stainless classification comes at the expense of the others……and vice versa. Magnacut has somehow been able to bring all three qualities together in relatively high levels. It can be heat treated to a hardness that holds an edge. It has enough carbon to be tough enough not to be brittle. And it has enough chromium to be considered a stainless steel.
I’m no metallurgist or knife maker, but I’m kind of an enthusiast. Maybe the real knife makers can shed more light.
Three things that knife steels are judged by is edge retention, toughness, and rust resistance or what we call stainless steels. Usually you can get 2 of the 3 pretty easily. Carbon and , I believe vanadium, can be manipulated into toughness or hardness. But usually adding chromium in amounts that take a steel into the stainless classification comes at the expense of the others……and vice versa. Magnacut has somehow been able to bring all three qualities together in relatively high levels. It can be heat treated to a hardness that holds an edge. It has enough carbon to be tough enough not to be brittle. And it has enough chromium to be considered a stainless steel.
I’m no metallurgist or knife maker, but I’m kind of an enthusiast. Maybe the real knife makers can shed more light.
ol bob
Senior Member
2 Great knife makers just did
bullgator
Senior Member
I’m not disagreeing with them. I’m just adding a little information from a different angle. If you don’t want to take away anything from it, that’s your prerogative. Is there anything about my content you want to agree or disagree on?
ol bob
Senior Member
I'll put it this way I worked with steel for 55 years, heat treated tons of it, and there is no super steel out there that work for everything, knifes inc.
Anvil Head
Senior Member
Don't think OB is disagreeing with you Gator. Just making an observation from his perspective.
There are two main criteria that turn reasonable blade potential steels into quality cutlery. Proper thermal cycling and edge geometry. With out these being done correctly one just has a knife like object. There are so many good quality steels out there for blade making, that it boils down to what a maker chooses that fits his abilities and tooling.
And just for clarification carbon content is not the "toughness" component but more about hardness. Thermal cycling is what controls grain reduction and growth affecting the toughness factor in simple 10XX series high carbon steels.
It gets way more complicated when additives like chromium, vanadium, molybdinum (sp), nickel, etc. are mixed in to affect the toughness factor. They all work in conjunction to produce different types of steel for different applications.
Still bottom line is what my good friend Scottie said - there are plenty of good steels for serious blades. Once the physics is worked out and applied the end user is very unlikely to be able to discern the difference.
There are two main criteria that turn reasonable blade potential steels into quality cutlery. Proper thermal cycling and edge geometry. With out these being done correctly one just has a knife like object. There are so many good quality steels out there for blade making, that it boils down to what a maker chooses that fits his abilities and tooling.
And just for clarification carbon content is not the "toughness" component but more about hardness. Thermal cycling is what controls grain reduction and growth affecting the toughness factor in simple 10XX series high carbon steels.
It gets way more complicated when additives like chromium, vanadium, molybdinum (sp), nickel, etc. are mixed in to affect the toughness factor. They all work in conjunction to produce different types of steel for different applications.
Still bottom line is what my good friend Scottie said - there are plenty of good steels for serious blades. Once the physics is worked out and applied the end user is very unlikely to be able to discern the difference.
bullgator
Senior Member
I can’t disagree with a thing you said, I’m not in a position to. I gladly defer to your expertise. I always enjoy opening the threads of you, godogs, and other knife guys.
I also realize new blade steels seem to come out all the time just to create sales. There are still tons of knives made with steels of the past considered obsolete by many knife snobs. I personally am a fan of vg10 which many consider a mid grade steel. I have a couple of AlMars in ats34
.I was just trying to answer the OP’s question with why the knife enthusiast community was excited about Magnacut.
