CPM MagnaCut | Edge Performance

[Crox]

This is amazing. Fun to read and very informative. I like the testing setup.

It’s none of my business, but I wonder if something of this caliber could be submitted to Knife Steel Nerds or similar to reach a broader audience. If nothing else please take this as a compliment.

[Larrin]

Fun testing, can’t wait for more.

[Phil Wilson]

Hi Shawn, We test to try to predict the performance of a knife doing its work in the field. This can be hunting fishing (fillet), kitchen or just daily everyday carry. We strive to find the ideal combination of steel grade, heat treating, hardness, geometry, sharpening, durability corrosion resistance to have the ability to meet the minimum standard do the required work. Another factor is how does the knife feel in the hand. Some like an very aggressive almost saw effect, others a very fine (hair whittling) feel. As we use more and more measuring tools like CATRA, Bess and others the comparisons become more precise and better to predict the overall cutting effect. Thanks for your effort and what Larrin is doing to advance the understanding of what is going on at that (ghost) edge. Phil

[bearfacedkiller]

Excellent!! We appreciate all the effort!

[sal]

Hi Shawn,

Great stuff. Glad to have you here sharing. Phil is a treasure for sure, I've learned a lot from him. Another one of my guru's, Wayne Goddard, told me that 1 degree of Rc can be as much as a 20% difference in performance.

This will be a great tutorial. Thanx much.

sal

[Eli Chaps]

Well there ya go Shawn. Larrin, Phil, and Sal. You drew trip aces!

[TkoK83Spy]

THIS is the kind of testing, and numbers that I appreciate seeing. As said many times already, but what does one more time hurt?? Thank you Shawn!!

[ladybug93]

thanks for sharing! i found the mule factory edge leaves a little to be desired. mine didn't come very sharp and i just dulled it completely on some boxes left over from Christmas. the whole knife is fairly roughly finished, so i assumed the same care was given to the edge. spyderco knows we're going to sharpen and put our own edges and finishing touches, so it's not worth putting in the same effort as they would with finished knives. keeps the costs down too.

[dj moonbat]

Thanks, OP. It's always nice to have numbers to go with all the other adjectives flying around.

I'm stoked to see they're running this steel in the 62-63 range. I think with toughness in the same general range as Cru-Wear and 4V, we ought to all get pretty good results taking the factory edge down to somewhere below 15 dps.

[sal]

I'm sure Shawn will bring it down more in time. I'm sure we'd all like to know "how low it can go". Something I like to do with many steels. We make the "Galley V" with a very narrow "V" for thin edges on kitchen knives, so I play.

sal

[Josh Crutchley]

Cool testing, hopefully I'll get one of the Native 5 Salts to try out Magnacut.

[gspam1]

Extremely educational, thank you Shawn!

[Deadboxhero]

Mucho thanks!!! This is the kinda stuff that really gets my attention. Looking forward to future installments.

Thank you, yes it's good fun to get into deeper discussion.

[Deadboxhero]

Thanks Shawn for all of this effort. Subscribed to topic to follow along. And thanks to Phil. I'm sure we owe him more than we know.

Thanks J, yeah Phil inspired a whole generation to use higher edge retention steels for custom knives.

[Deadboxhero]

Great info, with not entirely surprising results, thanks for putting in the work Shawn! I didn't expect the factory bevel to be quite as disastrous as the testing revealed. In the end, geometry cuts and HRC keeps it cutting. Now I need Gritomatic to restock their goniometers...

Thanks Airlsee, yes, it can be more interesting to try to quantify things more. On the bright side a thicker angle will be more durable it's just for testing on cutting rope it won't be as effective. That's why I always consider any Edge you get to be a placeholder for the edge you need for the job at hand.

"Geometry cuts and HRC for how long"

Haha Indeed, however that's not completely accurate, HRC is not as universal as we would think I'm telling all about the microstructure.

However, if we get specific we can say that harder MagnaCut will stay sharper and cut more than softer MagnaCut within its hardness range.

Just pointing this out for other readers that are following along.


CATRA makes a better laser goniometer "hobbigoni"

https://www.catra.org/testing-equipment ... protector/

[Deadboxhero]

Thanks a lot for sharing all this work!

I was feeling a bit guilty for reprofiling or simply sharpening any new knife I get. I feel it less now ^^. I kept some at factory, but when I see unevenness in the bevels I try to know why (doesn't end well depending on the cause, like Evil D said).

This instrument, the laser goniometer seems a direct answer to wether the uneven bevels come from the secondary or primary. I'll know when I'll receive and sharpen the MT35P.

Looking forward for the next posts in this thread.

Yeah man, I remember I used to feel guilty as well because I felt like I couldn't waste steel or asharp edge on a expensive knife.

So I used to just strop them out of box and carry them until they blunted smooth. Over time, the problem was I wasn't really getting a good evaluation of the steel and it wasn't the edge I needed for what I like.

Now I understand that it's not my knife until I put my edge on it.

The uneven bevels only arise when you use a system to sharpen if you freehand you won't notice it really.

[Deadboxhero]

Great stuff. Thank you Shawn!

Thanks Connor

[Deadboxhero]

Thanks heaps, Shawn!

Thanks Alex

[Deadboxhero]

You da man Shawn! A lot of what I do now with knives and my purchases are result of what I've learned from you and other edge retention fanatics.

Thanks Man, I appreciate that.

I've been getting into whiskey and I really appreciate the experts helping me choose the right whiskey it's really put in perspective how nice it is to have people help out.

[Deadboxhero]

Initial findings do not surprise me. I've always experienced superior edge retention in any steel once I grind away the factory edge, even if I try to sharpen it at the same angle. Dropping the edge angle makes the comparison even more dramatic.

Thanks for your hard work. I'll be watching this thread along with the corrosion resistance one.

Thanks Vivi

I appreciate that from a fellow Edge fanatic

Keep em cuttin homie