We don't actually need to Magnacut *all* the knives

[Mat_ski]

I well-understand being steel-curious and finding that “special” steel, but why would anyone want all their knives in that one steel?

Is it a question of having all knives in only one steel or having the option for this specific steel in all the knives?

[Jesla]

Is there one steel type, currently available across the board, in all Spyderco models?…

I get that people have their current favorite steels, I have my own. To me, having one steel type available in *all* Spyderco models goes against Spyderco’s current operating model. Also it would be catering to a small web forum community and likely not profitable.

[iacchus]

Living a mile from the Gulf of Mexico, Spidey's Salt line has always been a boon. The upgrade to Magnacut is very welcome to me. The performance difference is significant.
I've always been a proponent of "Salt all the things", MC not withstanding.

[BeggarSo]

Yes we DO actually need to Magnacut ALL the knives.

/thread

Agreed.

[kobold]

If we could get a heat treat that unleashes the high hardness potential of Magnacut, that would be great. Of course, if that is suboptimal when aiming for max corrosion resistance in a Salt model is fine. But non-salt models should have maybe a heat treat's geared towards more hardness?

[BeggarSo]

What am I hearing? Spyderco hardens magnacut lower just for increased corrosion resistance?

Is this a fact?

[Synov]

What am I hearing? Spyderco hardens magnacut lower just for increased corrosion resistance?

Is this a fact?

No, the opposite should be true. Corrosion resistance is maximized by using higher austenization temperatures, increasing the amount of chromium in solution. Higher austenization temperatures also lead to more carbon in the final martensite, which increases hardness.

[BeggarSo]

Thank you.

[Farmer]

We might not need to Magnacut all the knives but suspect we can all agree it would be good to see it in the Seki salts. Over a year ago Sal said "I'm sure MC will get to Seki" and still no sign. It's frustrating as a consumer and surely it's not good from a commercial standpoint for Spyderco to be behind the competition?

[Karl_H]

If I owned a knife manufacturing company, I would limit the number of steels used for blades so that the factory grinds and sharpening could be better optimized.

As far as I can tell, Spyderco doesn’t change their grinds or sharpening angles at all for different steels. That is why you see brittle steels like S110v or Maxamet fracture at thin tips and sharp plunge grinds that are standard on many Spyderco blades. Some of them will also experience microchipping on the factory edge.

A big reason why a lot of people tend to favor abrasion resistance is because the grinds and edge angles they use are optimized for soft, low toughness steels and they don’t vary the edge angles at all. If all your knives are sharpened to 20 DPS, chances are that corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance is going to be the only noticeable differences.

If I was going to use different blade steels in the same model, I would try to standardize the toughness first and foremost, as that drives the design of the grind more than any other factor.

[SchoonerBum]

We might not need to Magnacut all the knives but suspect we can all agree it would be good to see it in the Seki salts. Over a year ago Sal said "I'm sure MC will get to Seki" and still no sign. It's frustrating as a consumer and surely it's not good from a commercial standpoint for Spyderco to be behind the competition?

I would certainly vote for all the Seki salts to appear in Magnacut, but since we’re still waiting on (hopefully) an LC 200n Dragonfly and Ladybug I imagine that the logistical challenges might be pretty daunting. Hopefully it’s all in the pipeline and we’ll see it at some point.

I’m also hoping that once the Lil’Native lightweight is out we’ll see Magnacut and LC versions of that. It would take some of the pain out of not having an LC Dragonfly available.

Yeah, I still vote for salt everything and Magnacut everything. Just as an option, of course.

[Wallach]

What am I hearing? Spyderco hardens magnacut lower just for increased corrosion resistance?

Is this a fact?

I don't know what their reason is, but the ones I've seen punched both came in below 60 HRC (Native 5 and Manix 2). Never seen a PM2 Salt tested.

[weeping minora]

What am I hearing? Spyderco hardens magnacut lower just for increased corrosion resistance?

Is this a fact?

I don't know what their reason is, but the ones I've seen punched both came in below 60 HRC (Native 5 and Manix 2). Never seen a PM2 Salt tested.

Pretty sure the hotter your austenitizing temperature (which increases hardness) the more Chromium gets freed into solution, thus forming a Cr oxide layer to provide (greater) corrosion resistance. Magnacut was formulated to have just enough Cr to provide very high corrosion resistance, without being tied up into carbides. This would stand to reason, then, that the higher the hardness of Magnacut, the greater the corrosion resistance would be.

If the source you are referencing hardness numbers for MC is the same as I'm recalling, it was pointed out that the tester was a rebound hardness tester, which is much less accurate in gauging proper hardness of steel as small as knife blades are concerned. Rebound hardness testers are geared for larger scale specimens. Irregardless, MC has been performing fantastically; very much like a corrosion proof mix between Cruwear and M4 IME. The hardness number should be irrelevant when no one understands just what that number means to the performance of the steel, beyond being higher or lower than another point of reference. The number variance alone won't tell you how your knife will perform, by knowing the numbers of other peoples knives, nor if the nunber was achieved utilizing the same heat treating methods to achieve such number.

[Wallach]

Just to get some additional real HRC data, I sent my own Native 5 over to Billy at Apex Alchemy to have it punch tested. The video just went up this afternoon:



Mine came in at 62.3 HRC, which is actually right in the sweet spot for where I would want MagnaCut to come in. I'm tempted to send off my PM2 Salt blade to see if he wants to punch that one too, but I also feel like they're probably targeting the same kind of HRC for all their MagnaCut.

[SAF-1]

Yes we do

[clovisc]

We don't need to Magnacut all the knives... as long as we Magnacut the Chokwe folder!

[SpyderEdgeForever]

From what you all see which is more expensive? Magnacut or LC200N? It seems Magnacut is.

[Flash]

Yeah might as well just nuke everything with Magnacut from orbit …it’s the only way to be sure.


Joking aside, I’m enjoying this steel a lot on the UKPK. Reports of 62-63 HRC seems good enough for me to want more models in it.

A Chaparral in Magnacut would be insanely awesome and likely be something I would buy more than one of.

[Evil D]

MagnaCut'em All! Let Sales sort'em out!

[Freediver]

MagnaCut'em All! Let Sales sort'em out!

As a big Metallica and Magnacut fan, this is awesome! I just saw them in August while on vacation in the mainland.