Category: My Knife Steels

1 thought on “My Knife Steels”

  1. I would be very much appreciative if you could do ANYTHING related to 1095 Cro-Van. Or 50-110b. Or 50-100b(defunct yes). Etc etc.
    Or maybe just your outlook on that steel if you have had excursions with it.
    Thank you

    Reply

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My Knife Steels, Steel and Knife Properties, Super Steels

MagnaMax Is Here: The Next Evolution in Knife Steel

Larrin

Background

MagnaMax has been in development for a long time. When I first proposed the idea for MagnaCut to Crucible and Niagara in June 2019 I also proposed a high wear resistance version I was calling “stainless 10V.” This version was intended to match the combination of toughness and wear resistance in the non-stainless grades K390, Vanadis 8, and CPM-10V. K390 has developed some popularity in recent years from Spyderco using it in many knives. This steel hits a real sweet spot for having good toughness with very high wear resistance. That high wear resistance gives it excellent edge retention. MagnaMax achieves that same level of toughness and edge retention but with the same excellent corrosion resistance of MagnaCut. MagnaMax achieves these properties by using the same general approach to composition as MagnaCut while increasing carbon, niobium, and vanadium for wear resistance. We are still waiting for the ok from our patent lawyer before releasing the composition, but that will hopefully come soon. The first commercial “heat” of MagnaMax has been delivered to a few knife companies, so it is time to talk about the steel, even if we can’t reveal every detail yet. read more

Corrosion Resistance, My Knife Steels, Powder Metallurgy, Steel and Knife Properties, Toughness

Testing Erasteel MagnaCut (vs Crucible Original)

Larrin

Crucible, Niagara, Erasteel, and MagnaCut

In case you haven’t been following steel news, Crucible Steel went through a bankruptcy and no longer exists. I interviewed Bob Shabala of Niagara Specialty Metals about this transition several months ago. Niagara is the company that purchased ingots from Crucible and would hot roll, anneal, and distribute them to knife companies and steel suppliers. They have also recently started a new online store to better sell directly to individual knifemakers. Niagara has managed to keep production going for a wide range of Crucible (and other) knife steels, including: read more