Crucible Steel is Bankrupt! What is Next for MagnaCut?

Join the Knife Steel Nerds Patreon if you want my next update on the Crucible situation as soon as we know what happens with the bankruptcy sale.

Video

YouTube video for the following information:

The Current Production Path for MagnaCut and CPM Steels

Crucible Industries makes steel (duh), specializing in powder metallurgy tool steels. They are located in Solvay, NY, near Syracuse. Any steel with a “CPM” in front of it comes from Crucible. This includes steels like (CPM) S30V, 3V, 4V, 10V, 15V, S35VN, S45VN, M4, CruWear, Rex 45, Rex 121, and many others. However, they also make “conventional” tool steels and stainless steels, notably 154CM, 440C, A2, D2, and others. They are one of the few companies that makes powder metallurgy steel, and in fact, they were the company that developed the process back in the late 1960s. Read this article to learn more about powder metallurgy.

However, Crucible is not the only company responsible for this wide selection of steels available to the knife industry. Niagara Specialty Metals hot rolls, anneals, etc. Crucible steel to the thin sizes necessary for knife steels. All of the Crucible steel made into knives also goes through Niagara Specialty Metals. Niagara then distributes the steel directly to knife companies, larger knifemakers, and suppliers that deliver smaller orders. A big reason for the wide availability of knife steels in many varieties at the sizes that knifemakers want is because of Niagara Specialty Metals.

The Current State of Crucible

Crucible has been having a difficult time monetarily due to a slowdown in steel orders [1]. I don’t know all of the reasons for this decline in sales, so I won’t speculate too much. The company has several million dollars in debt which it is unable to pay. Sometime in 2024, they began trying to sell the company to remain operational. Four companies were interested, but none would commit to buying without a bankruptcy sale process. Crucible issued a “WARN” notice to the state of New York on December 5th, stating they would close the plant and lay off their 158 employees by March 2025. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly after.

There will be an auction on February 4th for Crucible’s assets [1]. Erasteel has made a bid for $17.3 million for the plant and all intellectual property. Erasteel is currently headquartered in France. However, historically a big chunk of the company is Swedish and they still have many of their plants in Sweden including their powder metallurgy facilities. Erasteel primarily makes high speed steel, both conventional and powder metallurgy grades. They are a well-respected steel company.

Past Bankruptcy

Crucible has actually gone through bankruptcy before in 2009, which they said was due to a reduction in sales to the automotive industry. At that time they had 675 employees. They were purchased by J.P. Industres, Inc. for $8 million, and ultimately, Crucible was able to survive. However, even that bankruptcy was not without pain. Crucible got rid of its research and development center in Pittsburgh [2]. They also sold off their service centers to SB Specialty Metals [3]. Service centers warehouse steel, handle sales calls, and perform value-added steps like cutting and surface grinding. This left Crucible as the steel plant only.

Patents and Trademarks of Crucible

When Crucible had R&D, it was very active in patenting new steel compositions, but it hasn’t patented anything since the bankruptcy. So, almost all of its patents are expired. One notable exception is CPM S110V, which won’t expire until 2028 [4]. Patents protect technology like steel compositions and processes, so I don’t think potential buyers would see the purchase of Crucible as useful from a patent standpoint.

Trademarks, however, can be extended indefinitely. Crucible owns trademarks for many of its grades, such as 10V, S30V, and S35VN. It also owns the trademark for “CPM,” which it puts at the front of its powder metallurgy grades. Potential buyers could see these trademarks as valuable.

What Niagara Plans to Do

Niagara is sort of stuck in the middle on this since Crucible has been a major steel supplier of theirs to be able to hot roll and deliver steel to knifemakers. On December 10th, Bob Shabala of Niagara Specialty Metals posted to BladeForums that they have a plan in place no matter what happens to Crucible [5]:

We’ve taken proactive steps to maintain a strong supply chain and ensure uninterrupted service for the cutlery industry.

We have already placed orders with Erasteel, Carpenter Technologies, Ellwood Quality Steels and Universal Stainless who will provide the same high-quality products and the same exact chemistries. We have been processing their cutlery and/or aerospace alloys for several years and their quality has always been outstanding. Although there may be a brief adjustment period during this transition, our team is committed to minimizing any disruptions and maintaining the service and product quality you have come to expect from us.

It is also important to note that Crucible Industries is making efforts to remain in business during this process. We have steel on order with them and they are continuing to process everything they can.

Bob later added a couple of other important points:

Crucible has the trademarks for CPM, MagnaCut and most of the other cutlery grades we buy from them. We can’t use those names without the express written consent of Crucible.

The grades are not patented so we can get the same composition from other mills as needed. New names would have to be used unless Crucible granted us permission. (CPM S90V is the same at Carpenter’s CTS 420CW Mod)

Crucible has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and would like to sell to someone who will keep the operation going. We don’t know when that will happen but we are in constant contact with Crucible and looking forward to working with the new ownership.

What About MagnaCut?

Crucible owns the trademark to MagnaCut but Niagara is able to order the steel from Erasteel and Carpenter instead. Niagara will try to either purchase the trademark for MagnaCut or to get permission from whoever the new owner is to use the trademark. If that fails we would have to use a new name. That would be a real bummer since MagnaCut has significant name recognition but we will do what we have to do.

Common Questions

If Crucible owns trademarks on these grades how will Niagara be able to order them somewhere else?

Trademarks are names and symbols not compositions. Without separate protections on compositions (patents) there is nothing stopping another steel company from making them.

So many knives use Crucible steels, how can they be bankrupt?

From what I understand knife steel is only a relatively small percentage of Crucible’s steel production. Even if it were a sizable percentage that wouldn’t necessarily guarantee the company is making money.

Will knife steel supply be disrupted?

I think Niagara has a good plan in place for keeping the knife steel coming even if Crucible stopped making it so I think any disruptions will be minimal. Hopefully Crucible continues to operate and we won’t need to worry at all.

Would the same steels made by a different company perform the same?

Erasteel and Carpenter are known for high quality powder metallurgy steels. They already make several steels of identical composition to those that Crucible makes, and they are known in the market for being equivalent. I have previously compared powder metallurgy steels of identical composition and found no differences in properties. One previous example was tests on Z-Wear made by Crucible and a European steel company. Another study was on stainless powder metallurgy steels made by Bohler, Uddeholm, Crucible, and Carpenter.

Would we be fine without Crucible and Niagara?

I have seen a few people say not to worry because we can just buy knife steel from competitors like Bohler, Uddeholm, and Carpenter. I am not quite so optimistic on that front.

Carpenter has historically had somewhat variable interest in making knife steels. For example, Cold Steel switched away from CTS-XHP to CPM S35VN in 2018 because of availability issues [6]. I am optimistic that with Niagara being the one ordering (relatively large) quantities from Carpenter, and also being the company that does the final hot rolling (to have the range of sizes necessary), that this inconsistent supply issue with Carpenter will be solved.

In terms of Bohler and Uddeholm (same parent company but they operate relatively independently) their steels are also not always available in the sizes we want for knives. We want very thin steel for knives and those are often viewed by these companies as being “special runs” just for knives. The tool and die industry, plastics processing industry, etc. often use blocks that are several inches in thickness. Several new or rare Bohler and Uddeholm steels I have tested in the past were only obtained because knifemakers were able to pay the company to take slices off thick blocks of the steel. These are very expensive and not really viable for any significant amounts.

Overall, I would say that without Crucible and Niagara we would still find steels to use. But we would see a large reduction in varieties of steels available, and getting a wide ranges of sizes would also be much more difficult. And getting steel when you want it (ie “delivery”) would also be much worse. The future is much better for knife steel with Niagara in it. Niagara is a major driving force behind the wide availability of exotic knife steels.

---

[1] https://www.syracuse.com/business/2024/12/crucible-industries-steel-plant-to-be-sold-early-next-year.html

[2] https://www.aist.org/allegheny-technologies-completes-acquisition-of-crucible-powder-metals

[3] https://sbisteel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/12-18-2009-Crucible-Service-Centers-sold-to-SBI.pdf

[4] https://patents.google.com/patent/US7615123B2/en

[5] https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/crucible-industries-update.2017101/

[6] https://knifenews.com/cold-steel-to-transition-from-cts-xhp-to-s35vn-blade-steel/