Larrin's MagnaMax video

[BornIn1500]

[sal]

Thank you Larrin.

sal

[Wallach]

This looks like the next great folding knife steel. I still think S90V is probably the better choice for a lot of the smaller / gentleman's carry type designs because you probably don't need the extra toughness or corrosion resistance. For more general EDC knives, though, it's hard to imagine a better set of steel properties.

[silver & black]

MagnaMax sounds like a winner.

[Pacu0420]

Yes, thank you Larrin. I've learned more about steel than I thought possible from KnifeSteelNerds. I'm still pretty much a dummy , but feel like I have a fairly good grasp on steel properties because of Dr. Thomas' work.

[Ramonade]

This looks like the next great folding knife steel. I still think S90V is probably the better choice for a lot of the smaller / gentleman's carry type designs because you probably don't need the extra toughness or corrosion resistance. For more general EDC knives, though, it's hard to imagine a better set of steel properties.

I'd agree if MagnaMax did not take a "better" (in my opinion) edge at high grit. Of course it's only from my point of view, I've sharpened a lot of Spyderco S90V and only my Mule in Magnamax but I feel like S90V likes a low/medium grit the best while MagnaMax acts more like K390 or 15V and can take any kind of edge you want while keeping a satisfying "bite".

I might have finally gone crazy though.

[Red Leader]

I might have finally gone crazy though.

This one made me lol...I feel like this could be put at the end of many statements in life, from others and myself.

[aicolainen]

I might have finally gone crazy though.

I don't want to be rude, but I think that happened a while back

[Wartstein]

Sounds great!

"Matches properties of K390 but is stainless":
Can we assume that its "sharpenability" will be about the same too? (So not "harder" / "more time consuming" / "trickier" to sharpen?)

[AlexRus]

Thank you Larrin.

[BeggarSo]

I dont think Larrin is ever going to be satisfied until he manages to completly get all 3 qualities even, and at the highest scores ever.

Do you think he is stopping at Magnamax?

I dont believe that for one second.

[vivi]

Sounds great!

"Matches properties of K390 but is stainless":
Can we assume that its "sharpenability" will be about the same too? (So not "harder" / "more time consuming" / "trickier" to sharpen?)

I sharpened the Mule around 4 or 5 times. Sometimes a simple touch-up on the sharpmaker, sometimes a full reprofiling of the edge.

I did not find it difficult to get a very sharp edge on the steel with basic ceramics (I don't subscribe to the idea that diamonds / cbn are required for steels). S110V and Maxamet gave me more fuss than magnamax did.

Magnamax was easy to get hair popping sharp by setting the edge on DMT diamond plates then honing the apex with spyderco medium ceramics.

full sharpening report here - viewtopic.php?p=1851215#p1851215

.........It was cleanly shaving off the DMT Coarse, and with my freshly cleaned coarse medium sharpmaker rods in the 20 degree slots it will aggressively shave without needing to contact the skin.

.....Didn't feel difficult to work with on a DMT Coarse, which is much finer than I typically use for reprofiling.

as reported later on in that thread and in the mule forum, that edge went onto cut over a mile of cardboard.

[Synov]

I dont think Larrin is ever going to be satisfied until he manages to completly get all 3 qualities even, and at the highest scores ever.

Do you think he is stopping at Magnamax?

I dont believe that for one second.

I think you would need some material other than steel to do that. There is an inherent tradeoff between toughness and edge retention in steel. More edge retention comes from thinner geometry, more carbides and harder material, while more toughness comes from thicker geometry, less carbides and softer material.

You can refine the grain structure to improve toughness without affecting edge retention but there's not much else that can be done with current technology. The next innovation in steel would be some new process to create nanocrystalline steel (i.e. nano-sized grains), not a new composition of steel. But you'll still have that tradeoff.

Until then, I think instead of chasing different steel compositions we should focus on the effects of geometry, which is the strongest determinant of the properties of a knife. With the right geometry, a knife in 3V can cut longer than one in Rex-121 and still be 4 times as tough.

[vivi]

I dont think Larrin is ever going to be satisfied until he manages to completly get all 3 qualities even, and at the highest scores ever.

Do you think he is stopping at Magnamax?

I dont believe that for one second.

Until then, I think instead of chasing different steel compositions we should focus on the effects of geometry, which is the strongest determinant of the properties of a knife. With the right geometry, a knife in 3V can cut longer than one in Rex-121 and still be 4 times as tough.

100%.

I've been saying this since I joined this forum.

Anyone buying high end steels in their knives is doing themselves a massive disservice if they're unwilling to play around with geometry.

Whether reprofiling the edge, reprofiling the primary grind, or both, one can frequently see 4-8x edge retention out of a knife by tweaking geometry and grit finish.

This isn't limited to high edge retention steels either. Any steel can benefit from this process. From 420j2 to rex 121.

It's like buying a premium sports car and using the lowest octane gas you can find and driving around on the cheapest tires you can and under inflating them. You leave so much performance on the table running factory edges 99% of the time in my experience.

[Peter1960]

I dont think Larrin is ever going to be satisfied until he manages to completly get all 3 qualities even, and at the highest scores ever.

Do you think he is stopping at Magnamax?

I dont believe that for one second.

MagnaCut - MagnaMax - MagnaUltra ... As you can see, I can fully relate to your thoughts.

[InThePocket]

Hi everyone. My first post here. Longtime fan and occasional lurker. Re: ceramics on Magnamax - I got the plain edge MM Mule at the drop and tinkered around with sharpening a bit. I used the diamond plates on my Worksharp to reprofile the edge as acutely as I could - I'm guessing around 12dps. I finished it on ceramic. It chipped significantly in pretty short order, but after getting the chips out and going up to a 17° microbevel, using a 600 grit plate as my last step, it seemed to hold up very well. Great little knife and a great steel from what I can tell.

Here's a pic of one of the two larger chips in the thinned-out edge before the microbevel:



I mentioned this on BF, and Shawn (BBB) responded with the idea that ceramics aren't good for edge stability with a steel like Magnamax because the abrasive can't cut the carbides. He recommended a strop with diamond compound (which I still need to buy). I maintain most of my knives on ceramic with no problems, but this is the hardest and highest in carbide volume of any steel I've used regularly. It's interesting to see that others are having success with ceramic where I failed, although maybe I stressed the edge with pressure while reprofiling, and maybe the deeper scratches from my Worksharp plates are also affecting the longevity of the edge.

This isn't a complaint, btw, I'm excited about the steel and I enjoy using the knife. Just wanted to drop in.

[abbazaba]

Amazing. Like I said in the "Golden Age of Supersteels Over???" thread:

With Larrin and friend's work, I feel like it's just begun!

[Ramonade]

Sounds great!

"Matches properties of K390 but is stainless":
Can we assume that its "sharpenability" will be about the same too? (So not "harder" / "more time consuming" / "trickier" to sharpen?)

If it stays similar to the one we've gotten on the Mule, sharpening was a breeze. Deburring is top notch and it did not take an absurd amount of time.

[Mage7]

This looks like the next great folding knife steel. I still think S90V is probably the better choice for a lot of the smaller / gentleman's carry type designs because you probably don't need the extra toughness or corrosion resistance. For more general EDC knives, though, it's hard to imagine a better set of steel properties.

I might agree if S90V was ran harder. The nice thing about MagnaMax is it has suitable toughness at 64+ HRC and so it will have better fine-edge holding thanks to the edge-apex radius remaining narrower. S90V is still ran between 59-61 HRC most times to avoid issues with it being brittle, and as a consequence the apex dents and rolls too easily.

I like S90V but MagnaMax would be a definite improvement. In fact I'm not even sure what benefit S90V would have at all? MagnaMax scored better in edge retention and is tougher at the same or higher hardness levels, so unless S90V has better corrosion resistance it doesn't offer much advantages--maybe just in terms of availability/affordability but that's an outside factor.

[Synov]

This looks like the next great folding knife steel. I still think S90V is probably the better choice for a lot of the smaller / gentleman's carry type designs because you probably don't need the extra toughness or corrosion resistance. For more general EDC knives, though, it's hard to imagine a better set of steel properties.

I might agree if S90V was ran harder. The nice thing about MagnaMax is it has suitable toughness at 64+ HRC and so it will have better fine-edge holding thanks to the edge-apex radius remaining narrower. S90V is still ran between 59-61 HRC most times to avoid issues with it being brittle, and as a consequence the apex dents and rolls too easily.

I like S90V but MagnaMax would be a definite improvement. In fact I'm not even sure what benefit S90V would have at all? MagnaMax scored better in edge retention and is tougher at the same or higher hardness levels, so unless S90V has better corrosion resistance it doesn't offer much advantages--maybe just in terms of availability/affordability but that's an outside factor.

MagnaMax scored a bit lower in edge retention than S90V.