Pops Pro Cut? New steel

[Fireman]

Ok, am I the only one who sees this steel as pretty cool? Mule?
Incredible toughness
High edge stability
High hardness
Should be ideal for kitchen knives that need BTE thin.
An ideal carbon steel.

[RugerNurse]

Only $32 lol

In all seriousness, I’m curious about this steel.

[Scandi Grind]

A carbon steel from Larrin Thomas... OK, this quips my interest. I would be more interested in this than Magna Cut personally. Looks reasonably priced.

[zhyla]

I saw a couple videos about this. I’m interested in it because it’s well within the heat treatment capabilities of my home shop. I’ve been making kitchen knives out of 1095 and 15n20 up til now.

There’s almost no actual information on this steel except for:

1. It can achieve 67.5 HRC.

Well, that’s cool, but it’s not like we are maxing out the hardness with existing carbon steels.

Obviously Larrin didn’t concoct this for no reason, so I’m interested to find out the real scoop on this steel. Looking forward to the KnifeSteelNerds article on it.

[Fireman]

It’s got electrolytes

[Fireman]

Apparently it is high in Nickel and some crispy carbides.

[zhyla]

Apparently it is high in Nickel

Same nickel content as 15n20. Higher carbon content though.

I think this steel is about enabling higher performance pattern welded knives where 15n20 is common.

[electro-static]

I just received my bar, Has anyone heat treated the stuff? The HT sheet was really sparse.

[zhyla]

I would wait. It doesn’t seem like they’ve finished characterizing the heat treatment. Really odd… “here’s a steel that can hit 67 HRC, but we can’t tell you how”.

I’m sure it’s coming though.

[Larrin]

There is a datasheet now: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0220/ ... asheet.pdf

[zhyla]

Thanks Larrin! I thought OUTDOOR55 said this steel could hit 67.5 HRC. Was that a misstatement?

[Larrin]

Thanks Larrin! I thought OUTDOOR55 said this steel could hit 67.5 HRC. Was that a misstatement?

It probably could with cryo and/or a very low tempering temperature (200-250°F) but I wouldn't recommend performing a heat treatment like that. I seem to remember someone posting a picture of testing some with an extreme heat treatment on Instagram from the Pops Rockwell tester but I can't find it right now.

[Fireman]

Thanks Dr. Larrin. I’m wondering how well this steel will do as a machete

[Deadboxhero]

[Jeb]

Yes a nice 20" Kukri all Spydered out would be awesome for me. The Kukri I have now is in general just junk, plain and simple, won't mention any brand name here but this thing just is not what you want...

A Spyderco Kukri I am sure would be worth it's weight in gold lol. I have looked around for a better Kukri but the prices are from like 50 dollars that you don't want to even mess with to 600 bucks which is pretty darn pricey for something I hope I don't have to use everyday.

I am sure the 600 dollar one would be killer, but not using it everyday makes that price a question even for me.

I just think a 20" Kukri with scales like what Spyderco put on my Tomahawk with a lanyard to wrap around your wrist, you could really go at hacking the brush, limbs and cat claw. We have this brush I have always known it as cat claw, but it's a mess to clean up...

[zhyla]

Confusing post in this thread about the new steel from Pops. But Nepalese kukris can be had relatively inexpensively and there is a massive variety.

A kukri would be an odd thing for Spyderco to make as they don’t currently forge blades. Pops Pro Cut wouldn’t be a bad steel for it, I guess.

[Jeb]

Sorry man, I didn't mean to jack up the thread with an off the wall plea of sorts. I have had two of these Kukris, the first one was cheap but I bought it anyway because I needed something bad to help hack out the brush at my lake house...

It was worse than a regular piece of carbon steel flatbar. I hit anything much bigger than a small limb, it would literally fold over and around. It was cheap though, so was not surprised about that one.

The one I have now is better than that but if I hit hardwood that has seasoned on an old branch, the edge right there folds over a little and I have to go hammer it out.

I just want one of these in something hard enough you could actually sharpen it and it would hack stuff and stand up to the task.

I think one of these from something like this would be great but maybe I am wrong. I just really like the blade design of the Kukri.

One with good strong G10 scales like what is on my Tomahawk would go a long way to. I know that ain't cheap but the grip on my Spyderco Tomahawk is way better than any Hatchett I have or ever had...

Sorry again for jacking the thread up with my off the wall idea...

[Fireman]

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2025/06/04/ ... or-knives/

Updated info on Pro Cut showing micrographs, charts and other info.

I would say that This steel is tough as nails but even nails are scared

This will catch fire soon. Looking at the numbers and some of the original testers results are impressive. For a non powdered low alloy steel this is great news.

[zhyla]

Thanks for posting that! This looks like a great option for those of us that make knives at home as a hobby. I think I will order some of this stuff for my next knife project.

Looks like the best edge retention option for this class of steel.

[Fireman]

Yes, I feel it should be on the top of a lot of people’s lists. It’s interesting to chose the hardness/toughness that you want depending on desired use and heat treat. I want a tough heat treat for a machete and a high hardness one for kitchen use.