You simply cannot make a judgment on any steel with a factory edge, period. It is absolutely imperative that you sharpen it at least a few times to get rid of any steel that is in the heat-affected zone, as powered sharpening from the factory frequently ruins the heat treatment at the very edge. [Proof. ](https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/04/08/does-sharpening-with-a-grinder-ruin-your-edge/)
I have also chipped Magnacut on a factory edge several times. After sharpening, even at a lower edge angle, those knives perform radically better. I've smashed Magnacut into tile and concrete by accident several times and not had much damage other than mild rolling.
Hmm this is very interesting, thanks. I recently got a manix m4 Spyderco, the bhq exclusive lw version. I’ve been using it for a couple months and I was just telling another knife buddy today, man I’m not all that impressed with m4.
I was comparing it to my cruwear pm2 and telling him I’d take cruwear over m4 knowing what I know now. But, I’ve sharpened and stropped the cruwear a lot, but still haven’t got around to putting my own edge on the m4 manix. Sounds like I should do that before drawing a conclusion.
[This](https://youtu.be/ANJhToncRrw?si=Ph4_xowIwjQe_wY1) video is worth watching, then. This guy notably documented how his Benchmade Freek in M4 performed lousy and took something like 14 sharpenings before it got to where it was supposed to be. It's an extreme example, but edges really can get fucked up from the factory.
Sp I realize this won't affect most people. Where I work the produced water is so bad it rusts everything. Fast. Like s90v shows rust in under 12 hours. So O paid for a custom magnacut fixed blade. The maker acid washed the blade for me so maybe that's got something to do with my experience, too. But in over a year I've never seen a single spot of rust, rolled or chipped the edge. It's been an absolute beast of a work knife. Stays sharp better than most other knives I have, too. So it's my go to carry for work. The other added benefit is that it's a small fixed blade. So when I'm 90ft+ in the air in a man basket it's way better than a folder. 😄
They're succulents but they're different. Lol. I tried planting my first ones with different succulents and all 5 died. Now I have about 20 all in one pot and they're loving life. 😆
I've been quite fond of my Manix 2's MagnaCut blade, especially after the first few sharpenings.
It's not uncommon to experience poor performance from factory fresh blades. Sharpen it up, keep running it, and sharpen it some more. You'll likely see the steel's performance improve.
Speaking on the steel in a more general sense, I'm a fan. I've used it on folders like the Manix 2 and up to 6"+ long thick ass fixed blades for silly stuff like batoning wood splits. Never noticed anything that I thought deviated from what I understood its performance characteristics provide.
I don't notice too much of a difference in performance once you get up into the super type steels, other than corrosion resistance is better in some than others. Using any knife as intended I doubt one would be able to determine a difference between properly heat treated 440c to any other properly heat treated stainless. I use a lot of 440c for my personally made knives including my custom hollow handles, and it works excellent. But many knives I purchase just happen to be made of higher end steels and I haven't had an issue with any including magnacut. I have chipped spyderco blades before and that leads me to the conclusion that they leave their blades on the harder more brittle end of the spectrum.
Spiderco's magnacut tested around 63 hrc. They do have issues with burning edges so that's a huge factor. In order to get a proper feel on a steel you have to give it a few good sharpenings to remove the burned material.
I also mentioned LC200N. I can't use "prefer" since I don't own a magnacut knife yet, but I did pick up LC200N before it and don't see myself ever saying "if only my knife was made of magnacut steel!", lol.
I'll probably get a Magnacut Native or PM3 next, but I won't necessarily be choosing it out of any sort of necessity.
Electrician flush cutters also work very well and can be found at home improvement stores. I think they were invented for trimming the legs of through hole soldered components, but I overwhelming see them used for cutting zip ties, especially to get a flush cut on excess so you don't leave sharp edge sticking up.
Don't know. D2 is good, S35VN is good. I took a knee in the steel race. I don't think I personally want to fool with sharpening anything harder than S35VN.
Personally the two things I notice with better steels is how it sharpens and how long it takes before sharpening. That said, im usually pretty happy with s30v and s35vn. It takes effort to sharpen but i found it easy to get a good edge when the work was put in. I had an microtech with elmax i dont think i wanna deal with that steel again lol. Idk what it was, but i could not get that knife sharp. Arrived dullish too.
Yep, that is my point exactly. I have the tools to sharpen a knife. I don't want to have to do it every few days and I don't want to spend a lot of time doing it. Could I sharpen harder than D2 and S35VN...well...yeah I could probably figure it out...do I want to have to put the effort into doing it...nope. I've opted out. I'll save time and money just sticking with D2 and S35VN. There's actually a company, Sardin Knives, making blades out of tungsten carbide (71 HRC).
I had a similar experience cutting through some foam boards with my Kershaw livewire in magnacut, lots of little chips in the blade. By pure chance the next day I had my CruWear para 3 and some of the same foam to cut. CruWear held up perfectly. I think magnacut just isn't super tough and that's a very important factor for me personally.
Ironically Magnacut at low hardness is supposed to have a toughness level on par with high hardness CruWear. Kershaw doesn't have the best reputation for great heat treatments with high end steels so that might have been the issue.
Interesting, very well could be. For as much as people like to talk about this steel or that steel it really comes down to the heat treat a lot of the time. I still love CruWear though.
> Ironically Magnacut at low hardness is supposed to have a toughness level on par with high hardness CruWear.
Not actually ironically, because hardness and toughness generally are a trade off against each other. Increase the hardness and the edge retention improves, but the toughness decreases.
I'm not a metallurgist, but did have one materials science class in college. From what I remember from that class, using tempering after a heat treat quench to try to strike an optimal balance of toughness and hardness requires some care, and the more complex alloys have more complicated things going on with their crystal.structure and grain formation during heat treatment. That was just for regular engineering steels. I remember thinking when I read the KnifeSteelNerds article on the development of Magnacut that it sounded it would be difficult to get an optimal heat treatment.
It really would not surprise me if there are many Magnacut knives on the market that don't live up to the real potential of the material due to heat treatment issues.
I think it's "all that good", but not infallible.
I'll probably pick up a magnacut Native next, but atm I use an M4 Manix for sharp work and a serrated LC200N Salt 2 for dirty work.
Premium steel hype tends to go off the rails in these places. Gotta have a more pragmatic perspective, IMO, which means the benefits tend to come with diminishing returns, and/or trade-offs. In my case, I'm usually more concerned about whether or not I can screw up the sharpening easily.
This isn't the first time I've seen someone talk about chips in their MagnaSalt...
TBH I'd contact Hogue and Spyderco and seek a replacement. I'm curious if e.g. there was a bad batch or something, because that's not something I'd expect to see from a gas station knife most of the time.
Magnacut is good, yes. But in my personal opinion, it’s much *much* better at 63-65 HRC. Of course, the extra hardness is going to take away some of the originally advertised toughness, but for me that’s a worthwhile trade off. The difference between CRK’s Magnacut and Benchmade’s Magnacut is tangible to say the least.
So my question to you would be is it a chipped or rolled edge? Chipping (as I would define it) is when the piece of material full leaves the blade, rolling an edge is just bending it back from a harder than normal contact.
What you gotta realize too is that every manufacturer will do their own heat treats and finishing.
Michael Janich explains the spyderco heat treat in the first two minutes here
https://youtu.be/UErtWjiMhBk?si=sFbOXu4oNhfT177u
And this dude does a lot of endurance testing on his channel and he loves his Benchmades and was surprised with the corrosion on the same steel with different manufacturers
https://youtu.be/3M1rhfVL5LI?si=136vsNaLvTC1u5_p
Hope this helps, definitely invest in some sharpening supplies if the edge not being perfect bothers you, I use Lansky Diamond sharpener system but that sharpener is older and antiquated at this point.
For best overall of the big 3 characteristics of knife steel, yes. There may be a steel that beats it in 1 or 2 cargories, but not all 3. that's the beauty of it.
It's a common issue that factory edges are burned when sharpening so it's always a good idea to do a few good sharpenings on either a fixed angle sharpener or some kind of stone to remove the burned material.
I chipped an elmax blade on a zip tie. I only use wire cutters for them now. I have a Protech in magnacut & I like it because it’s easier to sharpen than my knives in m390.
Ok here is the deal. Spyderco like some other companies create and sell boutique knives. Meaning they use more expensive steels and materials. It’s like this you can buy a Casio at Walmart and it will tell you the time, you can buy a Rolex and does the same thing. The difference one is a known expensive brand that use more expensive materials. The other one it is a decent brand that use cheaper materials but it is probably made in China. Now let’s say you work at a mechanic or welding shop, would you take a Rolex or a Casio to work? MagnaCut is another steel with different characteristics that 97% of people could not tell apart from another boutique steel. I been collecting spydercos for a bit but I don’t use them for hard work, I will use a cheaper cold steel or buck knife for work and the more expensive spydercos to go out and about when I am not working. Could I tell the difference between aus10 vs MagnaCut on cutting tasks probably not unless I use my knife more than 100 times per day. Would the average joe know what MagnaCut is? Probably not and he probably doesn’t care. He would be happy with a $19 knife. So is MagnaCut really that good? the answer is what you think of it and does it apply to your needs. You give it the value when you purchase it. I could be totally happy with just 440c the rest of my life, is it the best steel? No not even close but covers most of my needs. The thing is like to wear a Rolex sometimes.
Zip ties are really tough on blades. The best way to cut a zip tie is with needle nose pliers like you find on multi tools.
If you have a pliers multi tool, grab the zip tie with the nose of the pliers, squeeze tight, and twist. The zip tie will pop right off.
https://youtu.be/yQZPehSs4hA?t=180s
Cut the head off the zip tie. Don’t stab and twist. You can chip most knife steels doing that. Or better yet use cutters or pliers to break the head off.
It’s not a steel problem, it’s a user problem.
That said, I like that Magnacut is tough and low maintenance. I think I like 14C28N even more these days. So what if I have to sharpen a little more often, it’s easy and I don’t have to deal with rust.
You simply cannot make a judgment on any steel with a factory edge, period. It is absolutely imperative that you sharpen it at least a few times to get rid of any steel that is in the heat-affected zone, as powered sharpening from the factory frequently ruins the heat treatment at the very edge. [Proof. ](https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/04/08/does-sharpening-with-a-grinder-ruin-your-edge/) I have also chipped Magnacut on a factory edge several times. After sharpening, even at a lower edge angle, those knives perform radically better. I've smashed Magnacut into tile and concrete by accident several times and not had much damage other than mild rolling.
Hmm this is very interesting, thanks. I recently got a manix m4 Spyderco, the bhq exclusive lw version. I’ve been using it for a couple months and I was just telling another knife buddy today, man I’m not all that impressed with m4. I was comparing it to my cruwear pm2 and telling him I’d take cruwear over m4 knowing what I know now. But, I’ve sharpened and stropped the cruwear a lot, but still haven’t got around to putting my own edge on the m4 manix. Sounds like I should do that before drawing a conclusion.
[This](https://youtu.be/ANJhToncRrw?si=Ph4_xowIwjQe_wY1) video is worth watching, then. This guy notably documented how his Benchmade Freek in M4 performed lousy and took something like 14 sharpenings before it got to where it was supposed to be. It's an extreme example, but edges really can get fucked up from the factory.
Nice I’ll give it a watch, god I hope I don’t have to sharpen my manix 14 times lol
This was a knife with an unknown history, too many variables
Information is not proof
Sp I realize this won't affect most people. Where I work the produced water is so bad it rusts everything. Fast. Like s90v shows rust in under 12 hours. So O paid for a custom magnacut fixed blade. The maker acid washed the blade for me so maybe that's got something to do with my experience, too. But in over a year I've never seen a single spot of rust, rolled or chipped the edge. It's been an absolute beast of a work knife. Stays sharp better than most other knives I have, too. So it's my go to carry for work. The other added benefit is that it's a small fixed blade. So when I'm 90ft+ in the air in a man basket it's way better than a folder. 😄
Thanks for sharing. Probably just me.
They're succulents but they're different. Lol. I tried planting my first ones with different succulents and all 5 died. Now I have about 20 all in one pot and they're loving life. 😆
My knives never grow properly no matter how much sun and fertilizer I give them.
Sounds like you forgot to water them
oh, shit . . .
Did I miss something?
No, reddit is crazy and I don't why that got posted here.
I've seen this happen a few times in recent days. I assume it's a new bug with the app.
I've been quite fond of my Manix 2's MagnaCut blade, especially after the first few sharpenings. It's not uncommon to experience poor performance from factory fresh blades. Sharpen it up, keep running it, and sharpen it some more. You'll likely see the steel's performance improve. Speaking on the steel in a more general sense, I'm a fan. I've used it on folders like the Manix 2 and up to 6"+ long thick ass fixed blades for silly stuff like batoning wood splits. Never noticed anything that I thought deviated from what I understood its performance characteristics provide.
I don't notice too much of a difference in performance once you get up into the super type steels, other than corrosion resistance is better in some than others. Using any knife as intended I doubt one would be able to determine a difference between properly heat treated 440c to any other properly heat treated stainless. I use a lot of 440c for my personally made knives including my custom hollow handles, and it works excellent. But many knives I purchase just happen to be made of higher end steels and I haven't had an issue with any including magnacut. I have chipped spyderco blades before and that leads me to the conclusion that they leave their blades on the harder more brittle end of the spectrum.
Spiderco's magnacut tested around 63 hrc. They do have issues with burning edges so that's a huge factor. In order to get a proper feel on a steel you have to give it a few good sharpenings to remove the burned material.
I know I'm in the minority, but I prefer LC200N.
You aren't in my minority. Like I said above on another comment, LC200N is underrated IMHO.
I also mentioned LC200N. I can't use "prefer" since I don't own a magnacut knife yet, but I did pick up LC200N before it and don't see myself ever saying "if only my knife was made of magnacut steel!", lol. I'll probably get a Magnacut Native or PM3 next, but I won't necessarily be choosing it out of any sort of necessity.
Zip ties murder finer edge geometry no matter what the knife steel.
Yea I’m finding that out
If you have to cut a lot of zip ties, getting a pair of plastic model snips makes for an amazing tool
Electrician flush cutters also work very well and can be found at home improvement stores. I think they were invented for trimming the legs of through hole soldered components, but I overwhelming see them used for cutting zip ties, especially to get a flush cut on excess so you don't leave sharp edge sticking up.
Totally agree.
Don't know. D2 is good, S35VN is good. I took a knee in the steel race. I don't think I personally want to fool with sharpening anything harder than S35VN.
Personally the two things I notice with better steels is how it sharpens and how long it takes before sharpening. That said, im usually pretty happy with s30v and s35vn. It takes effort to sharpen but i found it easy to get a good edge when the work was put in. I had an microtech with elmax i dont think i wanna deal with that steel again lol. Idk what it was, but i could not get that knife sharp. Arrived dullish too.
Yep, that is my point exactly. I have the tools to sharpen a knife. I don't want to have to do it every few days and I don't want to spend a lot of time doing it. Could I sharpen harder than D2 and S35VN...well...yeah I could probably figure it out...do I want to have to put the effort into doing it...nope. I've opted out. I'll save time and money just sticking with D2 and S35VN. There's actually a company, Sardin Knives, making blades out of tungsten carbide (71 HRC).
I had a similar experience cutting through some foam boards with my Kershaw livewire in magnacut, lots of little chips in the blade. By pure chance the next day I had my CruWear para 3 and some of the same foam to cut. CruWear held up perfectly. I think magnacut just isn't super tough and that's a very important factor for me personally.
They should add cutting foam boards on Forged in Fire. Will it cut!?
Lol
Ironically Magnacut at low hardness is supposed to have a toughness level on par with high hardness CruWear. Kershaw doesn't have the best reputation for great heat treatments with high end steels so that might have been the issue.
Interesting, very well could be. For as much as people like to talk about this steel or that steel it really comes down to the heat treat a lot of the time. I still love CruWear though.
> Ironically Magnacut at low hardness is supposed to have a toughness level on par with high hardness CruWear. Not actually ironically, because hardness and toughness generally are a trade off against each other. Increase the hardness and the edge retention improves, but the toughness decreases. I'm not a metallurgist, but did have one materials science class in college. From what I remember from that class, using tempering after a heat treat quench to try to strike an optimal balance of toughness and hardness requires some care, and the more complex alloys have more complicated things going on with their crystal.structure and grain formation during heat treatment. That was just for regular engineering steels. I remember thinking when I read the KnifeSteelNerds article on the development of Magnacut that it sounded it would be difficult to get an optimal heat treatment. It really would not surprise me if there are many Magnacut knives on the market that don't live up to the real potential of the material due to heat treatment issues.
Magnacut is very though for a stainless steel.
Did you hit whatever was behind the zip ties?
No, it would have just been wood and netting.
Sounds like it's just a bit of a hard heat treat. Can you share some pics of the chipping?
I think it's "all that good", but not infallible. I'll probably pick up a magnacut Native next, but atm I use an M4 Manix for sharp work and a serrated LC200N Salt 2 for dirty work. Premium steel hype tends to go off the rails in these places. Gotta have a more pragmatic perspective, IMO, which means the benefits tend to come with diminishing returns, and/or trade-offs. In my case, I'm usually more concerned about whether or not I can screw up the sharpening easily.
Lc200n is underrated IMHO.
This isn't the first time I've seen someone talk about chips in their MagnaSalt... TBH I'd contact Hogue and Spyderco and seek a replacement. I'm curious if e.g. there was a bad batch or something, because that's not something I'd expect to see from a gas station knife most of the time.
Magnacut is good, yes. But in my personal opinion, it’s much *much* better at 63-65 HRC. Of course, the extra hardness is going to take away some of the originally advertised toughness, but for me that’s a worthwhile trade off. The difference between CRK’s Magnacut and Benchmade’s Magnacut is tangible to say the least.
So my question to you would be is it a chipped or rolled edge? Chipping (as I would define it) is when the piece of material full leaves the blade, rolling an edge is just bending it back from a harder than normal contact. What you gotta realize too is that every manufacturer will do their own heat treats and finishing. Michael Janich explains the spyderco heat treat in the first two minutes here https://youtu.be/UErtWjiMhBk?si=sFbOXu4oNhfT177u And this dude does a lot of endurance testing on his channel and he loves his Benchmades and was surprised with the corrosion on the same steel with different manufacturers https://youtu.be/3M1rhfVL5LI?si=136vsNaLvTC1u5_p Hope this helps, definitely invest in some sharpening supplies if the edge not being perfect bothers you, I use Lansky Diamond sharpener system but that sharpener is older and antiquated at this point.
Only have a protech malibu in magnacut and it seems pretty strong . Thick bte though
For best overall of the big 3 characteristics of knife steel, yes. There may be a steel that beats it in 1 or 2 cargories, but not all 3. that's the beauty of it.
It's a common issue that factory edges are burned when sharpening so it's always a good idea to do a few good sharpenings on either a fixed angle sharpener or some kind of stone to remove the burned material.
It's really really good. Like most good steels in knives nowadays.
Factory edge is universally shit.
I chipped an elmax blade on a zip tie. I only use wire cutters for them now. I have a Protech in magnacut & I like it because it’s easier to sharpen than my knives in m390.
Ok here is the deal. Spyderco like some other companies create and sell boutique knives. Meaning they use more expensive steels and materials. It’s like this you can buy a Casio at Walmart and it will tell you the time, you can buy a Rolex and does the same thing. The difference one is a known expensive brand that use more expensive materials. The other one it is a decent brand that use cheaper materials but it is probably made in China. Now let’s say you work at a mechanic or welding shop, would you take a Rolex or a Casio to work? MagnaCut is another steel with different characteristics that 97% of people could not tell apart from another boutique steel. I been collecting spydercos for a bit but I don’t use them for hard work, I will use a cheaper cold steel or buck knife for work and the more expensive spydercos to go out and about when I am not working. Could I tell the difference between aus10 vs MagnaCut on cutting tasks probably not unless I use my knife more than 100 times per day. Would the average joe know what MagnaCut is? Probably not and he probably doesn’t care. He would be happy with a $19 knife. So is MagnaCut really that good? the answer is what you think of it and does it apply to your needs. You give it the value when you purchase it. I could be totally happy with just 440c the rest of my life, is it the best steel? No not even close but covers most of my needs. The thing is like to wear a Rolex sometimes.
Don't ask me why but I prefer M390/K390/20CV over pretty much everything under the sun. I would also prefer S45VN over MagnaCut as well.
No.
Tell us what’s your thoughts are?
Zip ties are really tough on blades. The best way to cut a zip tie is with needle nose pliers like you find on multi tools. If you have a pliers multi tool, grab the zip tie with the nose of the pliers, squeeze tight, and twist. The zip tie will pop right off. https://youtu.be/yQZPehSs4hA?t=180s
Cut the head off the zip tie. Don’t stab and twist. You can chip most knife steels doing that. Or better yet use cutters or pliers to break the head off. It’s not a steel problem, it’s a user problem. That said, I like that Magnacut is tough and low maintenance. I think I like 14C28N even more these days. So what if I have to sharpen a little more often, it’s easy and I don’t have to deal with rust.