metaphoricalsimile wrote: ↑Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:32 pm
Like, I get it, there's really great enthusiasm for this really great new steel.
If we look at it from a numbers-only point of view (
source) we can see that the steel offers *amazing* corrosion resistance with *good* toughness, and *average* edge retention (for PM steels anyways). I think we also need to recognize that these numbers were generated by the person who created the steel and stands to financially benefit from the sale of the steel. Given this, I also have tracked his articles for a long time, and I do not actually doubt his claims, but I also think that good science requires for claims to be duplicated before they are widely accepted. That being said, I will go ahead and take his numbers as either correct, or close enough for the purposes of this discussion.
So, what knives benefit from this mix of amazing corrosion resistance, average edge retention, and good toughness? I think an obvious answer is general-use work folders, the kind that people are going to be using for manual labor that benefit greatly from edge stability during a variety of tasks, and where the user won't want to spend a lot of time or effort on maintenance, and don't want to worry about using for tasks that might get moisture into the pivot. This is, in fact, a lot of knives, and really represents a lot of spyderco's bread-and-butter designs. I think that Magnacut may actually be as close to a "perfect" steel for knives like the paramilitary line, natives, sage, etc. as there can be among commonly-available knife steels.
So, what about the knives that don't actually see as much benefit from Magnacut, as my title suggests? Well, let's talk about the properties that can be more or less important for different types of knives. Very small knives tend to do more cutting with less available cutting edge, so they can benefit a lot more from higher edge retention. Fixed blade knives are easy to keep oiled and don't have mechanisms to maintain, so they don't necessarily need high corrosion resistance. Knives that are going to see "hard use" such as chopping or batoning may favor toughness a bit more over edge retention.
Currently, people seem to be clamoring for Magnacut in literally every knife, but knives with edge length equal to or less than the Dragonfly I just don't see it as being an ideal steel for them. I know a lot of people poo-poo S30V, but I think the general class of higher-edge-retention, mediocre-toughness stainless powder metallurgy steels are probably better for these folders.
I do think that Magnacut is probably going to be a brilliant steel for general-purpose fixed blade knives, however I can also see people who might value M4 more due to its significantly better edge retention with a smidge less toughness, or LC200N for being basically impervious to corrosion and extremely high toughness allowing for good edge stability coupled with kinda-pretty-okish edge retention.
In summation, I do think it's going to be a great steel, and I think Spyderco's decision for the Native 5 Salt to be the first official magnacut spyderco is an excellent one, but I also think a lot of people are just asking for the shiny new hotness rather than actually thinking about what steels are best for which use cases.