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This isn’t a thread about which knife you want to see in magnacut, but if the knife of your choice was in magnacut (assume the same price as your favorite other steel) is there another steel you’d prefer? If so, which and why?

I suspect there’s a bunch of people who just want variety for variety’s sake, and that’s great. I’m with ya.

But from a practical user perspective, why something else?

I'd take k390 over magnacut for some uses cases because k390 seems to have its edge last forever and it really easy to sharpen to a razor edge. Patina is fun too.

If I knew I was going to be cutting just a ****ton of rope and/or cardboard, I would get something optimized for wear resistance like that new CPM-15V they're pushing.

But I don't know that. So yeah. Magnacut.

The only reason I can think of off the top of my head for choosing something else would be if I was buying a machete or something similarly sized. I’d want something that is willing to bend rather than break when I accidentally hit a rock, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Magnacut at a lower HRC be good for that.

I personally really enjoy sharpening cruwear, but since experimenting with dual grit sharpening on my Magnacut mule I’m even more inclined towards Magnacut - it really is a stellar steel.

I haven’t experienced anything that sharpens like 52100. Maybe the sharpeners have other preferences?

Answering my own post here, but I might keep one serrated h1/h2 around for ease of sharpening. I have yet to see how serrated magnacut sharpens on the ceramic.

Magnacut is probably the best compromise produced in a knife steel today.

If I wanted something with more wear resistance, I’d pick Maxamet.
If I wanted something with more toughness, I’d pick 3V or even 1V.
If I wanted something with more stain resistance, I’d pick LC200N or H1.
If I wanted something cheaper, I’d pick A2, or maybe BD1N.

I don’t care that much about stain resistance, so actually I think Cruwear is a better compromise steel for me. K390 is another favorite.

Because of my geographic location, I don’t have as much need for corrosion resistance. So while Magnacut is admirably tough at a given level of hardness, there are other steels that are even tougher at that same hardness. I’d taken nicely hardened 52100 or AEB-L, for example, over Magnacut.

For variety.

It is really hard to find a bad steel these days. There is nothing wrong with Magnacut, but I don't see it as the only game in town. For example I just picked up the Manix sprint in s15V and I am delighted to have it. I expect other interesting things to come down the road.

What ever happened to the vanax hype?

From what I can see MC is an amazingly well balanced steel between wear resistance/edge retention, toughness and corrosion resistance... in my case it is just that I don't need the latter in a high degree, despite using and carrying my folders in humid and sweaty conditions all the time.
So I personally would choose a steel that is even thougher and/or more wear resistant (or on some knives quicker to sharpen), but a lot less rust proof over MC.

sethwm wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 8:54 pm

is there another steel you’d prefer? If so, which and why?

This one's easy. I have several knives in K390, and I enjoy how well it holds and edge, is resistant to abuse, and how well it sharpens. I only have one knife in 15V, and it's impressing me for the same reasons. I'd choose either of these materials over Magnacut, unless I was looking for corrosion resistance. If rust was a concern for me, Magnacut would be a consideration.

Used Magnacut a bit… good steal but it hasn’t replaced everything.

If I want screaming, screaming sharp HAP40
If I want screaming sharp for a long time M4
If I want screaming sharp forever Maxamet

Would I buy S30V and S35VN, S45VN over Magnacut probably not.


As I look after my knives if I could pick one steel for the steel fairies to sneak in tonight and turn all my knives the one steel it would be M4

dj moonbat wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 9:06 pm

If I knew I was going to be cutting just a ****ton of rope and/or cardboard, I would get something optimized for wear resistance like that new CPM-15V they're pushing.

But I don't know that. So yeah. Magnacut.

Exactly this. It would have to be a situation where I have a job or some cutting task where I knew I'd be cutting something all day long, where massive edge retention would be a benefit. But on the flip side of that I also wouldn't want to be fixing edge damage at the end of every work day and if the steel is a chore to sharpen and fix edge damage then I wouldn't want that big of a tradeoff. At that point I'd probably just use a disposable blade utility knife.

sethwm wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 8:54 pm

This isn’t a thread about which knife you want to see in magnacut, but if the knife of your choice was in magnacut (assume the same price as your favorite other steel) is there another steel you’d prefer? If so, which and why?

I suspect there’s a bunch of people who just want variety for variety’s sake, and that’s great. I’m with ya.

But from a practical user perspective, why something else?

Because so far my only experience with magnacut has been the unrelenting and excessive hype. When Spyderco releases a knife I'm interested in using that steel I might pick one up to see if it even comes close to living up to the hype. Until then, there are any number of modern steels that I'd choose first.

infinkc wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:53 pm

What ever happened to the vanax hype?

It never quite took off (cost and availability) then then Magnacut came and put the last nail in the coffin. Probably the main weakness of Vanax is that, similar to steels like LC200N, it won't really get past HRC60, so if edge stability and super long edge retention is your thing, you are not going to get it with these steels.

i don't think most of us have enough experience with magnacut to say we never want anything else. even for those of us that have a knife with this steel, there hasn't really been enough time or variety to make that kind of determination.

i felt this way about lc200n and wanted it in everything at first. i still like the steel and have no issues with it, but it just can't replace everything. magnacut may be a step better, but it's still kind of early. not to mention, while i'm not one of them, you'll always have the crowd that thinks they need a knife to cut forever and that doesn't need to worry about corrosion.

the question you ask feels like it could be applied to almost any point in history when new steels became popular. if you could have 440c in everything, why anything else? if you could have s30v in everything, why anything else? if you could have lc200n in everything, why anything else? if you could have 15v in everything, why anything else? i'm not saying it's wrong to ask, i'm just glad steel manufacturers aren't asking it. otherwise no one would push forward.

i should probably add though that magnacut is the steel i'm most excited about so far because it was teased to be added to my favorite knife in its first salt version. i really can't wait for my magnacut manix. i imagine it will be great for me, but i'm sure there will always be others that prefer something else for various reasons.

Since there is always some new steel coming around the corner every few years i am sure you will all forget about magnacut just give it some time…
The steel i want to keep seeing the most is plain old s30v. You can say what you want about it but from Spyderco the stuff is amazing and will always be amazing.

infinkc wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:53 pm

What ever happened to the vanax hype?

Still there. It’s just rare. I got one knife in Vanax and am pretty happy with it.