CPM MagnaCut – The Next Breakthrough in Knife Steel

Larrin said:
You should wrap it in foil as you should with anything austenitized over 1600F or so. To find the optimal spring temperature you will have to experiment to dial it in.
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Thank you for the reply. Where would you suggest starting temp wise to get it in the ballpark? 1100* - 1200* maybe?
 
I'm no knifemaker, but I ordered a slab today to send to a maker who can make me a knife. Now, I just need to decide who to send it to! Any suggestions? I'd want a medium-sized fixed blade made by a U.S. maker.
 
jstn said:
I'm no knifemaker, but I ordered a slab today to send to a maker who can make me a knife. Now, I just need to decide who to send it to! Any suggestions? I'd want a medium-sized fixed blade made by a U.S. maker.
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There's a bunch of right answers, but since @DeadboxHero already has familiarity with the steel (and is a close compatriot to Larrin) I think it might be a good choice if you can place an order with him. Not sure how he is running his books.

Otherwise, there's too many right answers for me to pick just one.
 
jstn said:
I'm no knifemaker, but I ordered a slab today to send to a maker who can make me a knife. Now, I just need to decide who to send it to! Any suggestions? I'd want a medium-sized fixed blade made by a U.S. maker.
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Any makers who can do steel like M390 should be able to work with this steel.
 
Setarip said:
yeah! Just split it lengthwise and have two slabs of 0.125” steel.
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LOL, that is much much easier said than done.... how would you realistically do that?
I guess if you hammer it a bunch... but do you really hand forge stainless?
 
dirc said:
LOL, that is much much easier said than done.... how would you realistically do that?
I guess if you hammer it a bunch... but do you really hand forge stainless?
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Its actually can be done by EDM wire cut but I'm pretty sure the cost of splitting will be far more expensive than the cost of steel.
 
dirc said:
yeah, notice they have nothing at 0.1" or 0.125".... it jumps from 0.063 to 0.187" :(

0.187 is like $300 which is just a bit extreme
... not sure if I should go that thick
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Is the .063 too thin for a knife? That is what I ordered but I’m wondering if I should go thicker?
 
jstn said:
Is the .063 too thin for a knife? That is what I ordered but I’m wondering if I should go thicker?
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It all depends on the knife. I’d use 0.063” for a very small slipjoint. Filet knives are another example for steel that thin. I’m sure it can be used, just don’t expect a big, hard use fixed blade from it.
 
Setarip said:
It all depends on the knife. I’d use 0.063” for a very small slipjoint. Filet knives are another example for steel that thin. I’m sure it can be used, just don’t expect a big, hard use fixed blade from it.
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MagnaCut could possibly be the perfect fillet knife steel.
 
Despite being relatively new to what I fondly think of as the knife fetishization world, I've quietly wished for almost *exactly* this type of combination since the point I began to comprehend the whole steel tradeoff landscape. Not only for the obvious fact that Larrin Larrin 's developed what sounds like a literally ideal distribution of properties for non-specialized knives in general, but because it's seemed to me that the overall emphases on improvement have largely been driven by a desire for higher hardness/edge retention and stainlessness. Like, the dominant cultural and commercial trends seemed to orbit around achieving an ideal balance of those at the cost of toughness, at least for folding knives.

But from day one I recognized that I personally valued steel toughness above either, and far above stainlessness - I don't want to worry about a knife chipping or snapping far more than I care about dealing with rust or wear. Thing is I'm not a great sharpener yet, and therefore don't enjoy the process, yet, and therefore don't exactly *love* how frequently I need to resharpen my BK9, for instance. So I've been wishing for what's seemingly been impossible thus far, a knife that integrates the great qualities of prominent stainless PM steels in the name of or towards the end of toughness, rather than sacrificing it as the less important 3rd aspect in the Holy Triad. And when I read the blog post on MagnaCut, that's precisely what stood out to me - the whole project seemed to be aimed at overcoming exactly that problem, towards exactly that end. So while admittedly this news does take some wind out of my preordered crucarta PM2 sails, since that had been the closest thing so far to a personally ideal production folder I've seen, I'm ecstatic about this development. Even in part bc it involves hometown pride for Syracuse/Upstate NY in general. Congratulations on the innovation and achievement. I kind of can't believe you just conjured up my essentially ideal knife steel.
 
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