If you could have any knife in magnacut, why would you opt for another steel?

[Rinzler]

Because there's Rex45.

I’m a huge fan of Rex45, and many other steels. Just because someone thinks magnacut offers the best balance of properties does not mean it offers the best properties for my needs. I’ve found Rex45 to offer exactly what I need in a knife steel and none of the hype surrounding magnacut is going to change that.

I find it odd that some people throughout the internet are so adamant that magnacut be the primary knife steel, if not the only knife steel, for pocket knives. That seems incredibly naïve to the reasons consumers purchase specific knives.

“You must like what I like!”

[TomAiello]

What ever happened to the vanax hype?

I really like Vanax. In the blades I have, I prefer Vanax to Magnacut, but I don't have a 'like' blade to do an 'apples-to-apples' comparison.

I think Vanax is pretty hard to get, so people have focused on Magnacut as a much more available alternative.

[vandelay]

What ever happened to the vanax hype?

I really like Vanax. In the blades I have, I prefer Vanax to Magnacut, but I don't have a 'like' blade to do an 'apples-to-apples' comparison.

I think Vanax is pretty hard to get, so people have focused on Magnacut as a much more available alternative.

What knives are even available in vanax? I've only seen it offered by Creely Blades.

[elena86]

Because of CPM Cru-Wear.

[Evil D]

It's funny to me how things get popular and people start calling it hype before they themselves have even tried it, and after some extremely reputable people have already chimed in with their assessment of it, as if it doesn't work for them that just means it was just hype and all those people were wrong.

Hype is excitement about something that turns out to not live up to what it was made out to be. If it doesn't work for you, that doesn't make it hype when it does work for everyone else. Hype has become a buzz word people use when they just don't like something. It's like saying "yeah that Para 2 is all hype" when it's overwhelmingly popular. That's not hype, that just means you have different tastes.

Some of you should consider changing your way of thinking here because I can assure you it's not hype, it is what it is and it will either suit your preferences or it won't and if it doesn't suit YOU that doesn't mean it was just hype.

[JSumm]

I think number one of what people would prefer would be wear resistance. There will be plenty of people that still seek out better wear resistance for good reason. And variety. People still like variety.

Are there individuals out there hyping that it is the king all steel? I know there is a lot of excitement over it and people want it on there favorite models, but I am missing all of the talk that it is the king of everything. It isn't and it is not meant to be. It seems to be exactly what it was designed to be, a stainless 4V steel. It just so happens to be more stainless than intended. For that, there is good argument that it would be a fantastic premium base steel, but it doesn't eliminate all other knife steels. I am very confused about the fear of the hype.

[Evil D]

Are there individuals out there hyping that it is the king all steel?

It might be the king of averages, but even that is subjective. There are still a lot of mid tier steels that will hold an edge longer but may be less tough and less corrosion resistant and people may prefer that, and that's totally fine. I'm just saying that preferences don't change facts, and preferences for something else doesn't mean it was just hype.

[JSumm]

Are there individuals out there hyping that it is the king all steel?

It might be the king of averages, but even that is subjective. There are still a lot of mid tier steels that will hold an edge longer but may be less tough and less corrosion resistant and people may prefer that, and that's totally fine. I'm just saying that preferences don't change facts, and preferences for something else doesn't mean it was just hype.

I think we are in agreement. I think the concern for the hype that it is an end all be all is misplaced, unless I'm missing that thread. I don't think anyone is saying it outperforms on all levels. It just brings up many levels of steel attributes at the same time. It doesn't have wear resistance like Maxamet, but I don't see people claiming that either.

[Sharp24/7]

As far as stainless steels go, I can see the logic of not wanting anything but Magnacut. But I have to say I’m loving 15V and K390, so I don’t see anything replacing those.

[James Y]

IMO, Magnacut sounds like a great all-around stainless blade steel. I definitely want to try out a knife in it.

That said, I won't be getting rid of any of my non-Magnacut knives, which right now is all of them. In another thread, someone posted that they're replacing all their Spydercos with Magnacut versions. Thats quite a commitment to a new steel. We're all different in what we like and want, but personally, I would never do that.

Eventually, there will come an even "better" all-around steel than Magnacut. Would someone who replaced all their previous knives for Magnacut versions then be compelled to replace the Magnacut versions with the newer, latest-greatest steel?

Jim

[apollo]

IMO, Magnacut sounds like a great all-around stainless blade steel. I definitely want to try out a knife in it.

That said, I won't be getting rid of any of my non-Magnacut knives, which right now is all of them. In another thread, someone posted that they're replacing all their Spydercos with Magnacut versions. Thats quite a commitment to a new steel. We're all different in what we like and want, but personally, I would never do that.

Eventually, there will come an even "better" all-around steel than Magnacut. Would someone who replaced all their previous knives for Magnacut versions then be compelled to replace the Magnacut versions with the newer, latest-greatest steel?

Jim

Jim you nailed it perfectly i would never be able to describe it so good in my rusty english.
And the reply to you’re last question probably. I have bin here since 2004 and was before that on knifeforums for 2 years or so. And from then till now i have seen so many people praise a particular steel to godlike proportions. For example there was a time people went as crazy as now on this forum when they heard about a spydie coming out in s90v. Now people yawn about it… and now we have on one side the 15 v fans and in the other corner the Magnacut fans. And i see only one winner that is Sal laughing is *** off in his office.

[James Y]

IMO, Magnacut sounds like a great all-around stainless blade steel. I definitely want to try out a knife in it.

That said, I won't be getting rid of any of my non-Magnacut knives, which right now is all of them. In another thread, someone posted that they're replacing all their Spydercos with Magnacut versions. Thats quite a commitment to a new steel. We're all different in what we like and want, but personally, I would never do that.

Eventually, there will come an even "better" all-around steel than Magnacut. Would someone who replaced all their previous knives for Magnacut versions then be compelled to replace the Magnacut versions with the newer, latest-greatest steel?

Jim

Jim you nailed it perfectly i would never be able to describe it so good in my rusty english.
And the reply to you’re last question probably. I have bin here since 2004 and was before that on knifeforums for 2 years or so. And from then till now i have seen so many people praise a particular steel to godlike proportions. For example there was a time people went as crazy as now on this forum when they heard about a spydie coming out in s90v. Now people yawn about it… and now we have on one side the 15 v fans and in the other corner the Magnacut fans. And i see only one winner that is Sal laughing is *** off in his office.

Hi, apollo.

Your English is perfectly Salt-level stainless (i.e., not rusty at all).

Yes, there's always latest-greatest. Then it's as if the previously once highly-touted steel is suddenly boring and "not good" anymore.

Great new steels will come along, but that doesn't invalidate the good steels (or whatever the product) that preceded them.

Jim

[dj moonbat]

IMO, Magnacut sounds like a great all-around stainless blade steel. I definitely want to try out a knife in it.

That said, I won't be getting rid of any of my non-Magnacut knives, which right now is all of them. In another thread, someone posted that they're replacing all their Spydercos with Magnacut versions. Thats quite a commitment to a new steel. We're all different in what we like and want, but personally, I would never do that.

Eventually, there will come an even "better" all-around steel than Magnacut. Would someone who replaced all their previous knives for Magnacut versions then be compelled to replace the Magnacut versions with the newer, latest-greatest steel?

Jim

Yes. But chances are, that steel will be following a very similar path to the one Larrin blazed. He showed a way to the "sweet spot" that people with lifetimes of experience just didn't really believe existed.

"Imagine a steel with almost interchangeable wear resistance and toughness numbers relative to Cru-Wear, but it's almost impossible to make it rust." It would have been dismissed as a fantasy.

So, yeah, there will be improvements. But they will almost certainly be incremental. This one was the one that made people rethink what's possible.

[navin johnson]

Edge retention

I don't use my folders as screwdriver/pry bars and anything at 63-64 is relatively tuff not tuff

I don't believe a folder is a kukri

Obviously a step up in edge retention for salts and the ability to run a thin edge

Seems like it would make a good stainless fixed blade

[zuludelta]

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?

Interesting thought experiment. In terms of the folding knives I use for work, yes, I can see myself replacing all my PM steels with MagnaCut (if I didn't have to re-buy them). Having above-average to excellent ratings in all 3 attributes (edge retention, toughness, corrosion-resistance) takes out a lot of the variability involved in work knife use. That said, design/ergonomics/usability is still king for me. A MagnaCut blade won't make me like a knife design that doesn't work for me, and by the same token, I won't like a great design any less just because it is not available in a MagnaCut version. MagnaCut is a genuinely revolutionary development in cutlery steel for sure—the "you can only have 2 out of 3" rule was held to be immutable by just about all knife enthusiasts before Larrin came along & changed the game. But a good knife is about more than just its material construction.

There are also use cases where I can see myself opting for something besides MagnaCut. For the larger fixed-blades I use as part of my trail-clearing toolkit, I'd probably pick Cru-Wear over MagnaCut (assuming equivalent hardnesses). I'd trade MagnaCut's Salt levels of stainlessness for Cru-Wear's extra toughness, as I do a lot of chopping & put a fair amount of lateral stresses on the knives I use for this particular purpose.

I also like the idea of having a few knives in steels that are easy to get sharp on the most basic of sharpening tools, in a fraction of the time it would take to sharpen a PM steel loaded with vanadium carbides and niobium carbides. Decent steels like VG-10, 154CM, 440C, 14C28N, BD1N, H1, LC200N, all the way down to stuff like AUS-8/8Cr13MoV, V-Toku2, and even 1095 and 420HC. Sometimes, the "sharpest" knife you have isn't the one that holds an edge the longest, but the one that you can get razor-sharp the fastest in less-than-ideal conditions.

[apollo]

IMO, Magnacut sounds like a great all-around stainless blade steel. I definitely want to try out a knife in it.

That said, I won't be getting rid of any of my non-Magnacut knives, which right now is all of them. In another thread, someone posted that they're replacing all their Spydercos with Magnacut versions. Thats quite a commitment to a new steel. We're all different in what we like and want, but personally, I would never do that.

Eventually, there will come an even "better" all-around steel than Magnacut. Would someone who replaced all their previous knives for Magnacut versions then be compelled to replace the Magnacut versions with the newer, latest-greatest steel?

Jim

Jim you nailed it perfectly i would never be able to describe it so good in my rusty english.
And the reply to you’re last question probably. I have bin here since 2004 and was before that on knifeforums for 2 years or so. And from then till now i have seen so many people praise a particular steel to godlike proportions. For example there was a time people went as crazy as now on this forum when they heard about a spydie coming out in s90v. Now people yawn about it… and now we have on one side the 15 v fans and in the other corner the Magnacut fans. And i see only one winner that is Sal laughing is *** off in his office.

Hi, apollo.

Your English is perfectly Salt-level stainless (i.e., not rusty at all).

Yes, there's always latest-greatest. Then it's as if the previously once highly-touted steel is suddenly boring and "not good" anymore.

Great new steels will come along, but that doesn't invalidate the good steels (or whatever the product) that preceded them.

Jim

You are so correct my friend.
Personally i would love to see people discuss what steels from spyderco they personally do not like and why , it would be far more interesting and deep going then only praising love all the time. For example i can name one that I definitely do not like. And that is H1 i had 2 Dragonfly’s and sold both off within 6 months of purchase. Now the reason i get to dislike that steel is that i am lucky enough to live in a place that even non stainless steels never develop patina or rust from the air alone. If you live near salt water or somewhere moist then i get why its lovely.

But to go back to my situation. The extra corrosion resistance is unnecessary for me and since i like plain edges the blades of those 2 Dragonfly’s was so soft it needed sharpening all the time. Now i am no supersteel affi so i do not mind sharpening frequently but if you break down a few boxes it should not show sharpness loss that fast. Or at the very least strop back to normal fast.

In those knives it was not the case. After doing that awhile hoping it will get better after a few sharpenings and comparing it to my other knives i came to the conclusion the steel was just not my cup of tea and felt like a step or even 2 steps backwards from even my favorite steels like s30v and vg10 and was more towards the experiences i got from steels like 440 a from buck yes it was slightly better offcourse but still. Then one day breaking down another box and hit a staple or something and the damage was so much more then i would have guessed so after repairs and feeling let down i sold the second one and moved on. ( first one i sold because i thought i was a lemon since i had higher expectations of the steel thx to all the positive reviews here on the forum so that is why people saying something is good is ignored by me until i tested it myself. )

[Fireman]

https://youtu.be/mo30nNQcHhc

[Xplorer]

I like Magnacut a lot. I think if I had to name one steel as the best "all-around" steel for knives it would probably be Magnacut.

I can theoretically make whatever knife I want out of any steel and Magnacut is now one of my favorites to work with. I've been carrying a custom made Magnacut back-lock folder (Magnacut blade, lock and back-spacer) for about a year now and I'm extremely pleased with the performance. I've also made a lot of Vanax knives that I like very much and I keep a large supply of Vanax on hand too. For that matter, I make a lot of Z-Wear knives and always have Z-wear (CPM Cru-Wear) on hand as well. Since corrosion resistance is not a top priority in my daily life I personally favor Z-wear most of the time because it exhibits roughly the same well-rounded balance of wear resistance and toughness as Magnacut and Vanax but it sharpens better.

Even though I might call M.C. the best "all around" I still wouldn't want to be limited to just one steel. If I'm building a knife for cutting copious amounts of cardboard I might want more wear resistance like we get from something like Maxamet. If I'm building a camp chopper I might want more toughness like we get from something like 3V.

Even though I enjoy some variety, I have to give Magnacut credit that I can't think of any one type, size or style of knife that wouldn't work well if it were made from Magnacut.

[Naperville]

For all of my folders and fixed blades under 4.5 inches, I wish they were S90V.

For all of my folders and fixed blades 4.5 inches and up to 6.5 inches I'd prefer Magnacut.

For all fixed blades over 7 inches and up to 24 inches, I'd prefer 4V or S7. If 4V is not as tough or edge holding as Magnacut then Magnacut up to 9 inches and S7 for everything over that.

[GarageBoy]

It's funny to me how things get popular and people start calling it hype before they themselves have even tried it, and after some extremely reputable people have already chimed in with their assessment of it, as if it doesn't work for them that just means it was just hype and all those people were wrong.

Hype is excitement about something that turns out to not live up to what it was made out to be. If it doesn't work for you, that doesn't make it hype when it does work for everyone else. Hype has become a buzz word people use when they just don't like something. It's like saying "yeah that Para 2 is all hype" when it's overwhelmingly popular. That's not hype, that just means you have different tastes.

Some of you should consider changing your way of thinking here because I can assure you it's not hype, it is what it is and it will either suit your preferences or it won't and if it doesn't suit YOU that doesn't mean it was just hype.

I don't understand why people always use the "I don't believe in hype" as a reasoning. Is it just resistance to change? Skepticism? Same folks who didn't believe in the "hype" of fuel injection or radial tires? Hype would mean that a product doesn't do what the manufacturer says it does.

Edit: for those who say, "I don't believe in the hype, I'm sticking with cru wear, 4v, etc." - You obviously chose knives in those steels for a reason. It's like saying, I don't believe in the hype of 3V, 1095 works fine.
Remember, there is no "best", it's what you're looking for it, and everything has trade offs.