In the video I did I mentioned that the steel felt soft, I said the heat treatment felt ok but that it just isn't at a high hrc, that's what I speculated. Especially after testing good heat treated hard magnacut it's pretty easy to tell the difference. Saying Best steel is like saying best vehicle, best for what?
Your candor is what makes me respect you so much. I love your clear, open and honest opinions on knives and blade steels with no fear of getting blow back from the big manufacturers. Keep it up! 👊🏼
Your videos and outlook/use is a breath of fresh air for my youtube/knife video viewing! Been loving it a lot!!! Going to check out the Playlists as well
I find varying knife steels interesting to talk about but I like my analogy comparing knives to cars, a 440 stainless knife ( a great steel from 1950-1980+ even today) will cut cardboard or cut your thumb off as well as a SPY27 knife just as you can drive 20 miles to the store and get where you’re going just as easily in VW Beetle as in a Cadillac. I started collecting knives 3-4 years ago and got caught up in the knife steel elitism and bought knives in D2 - until the D2 knives starting rusting indoors, having never been outdoors and never exposed to rain/water. What I find most intriguing about pocket knives are the shape of their handles, blades, locking mechanisms, etc and innovation.
Thanks for making this video. It’s excellent. I know you are broadening the scope of your channel (and I’m digging it) and hope content like this on knives continues.
S45vn is great. Should be the standard for premium steel. I’m so tired of M390/20cv. There are so many high end knives I want to buy but hold off because they are in M390/20cv. Magnacut looks great on paper, but just like you said, it seems like makers are still trying to figure out how to heat treat it. The examples of magnacut I have experienced are decent but nothing to write home about. For high edge retention while maintaining decent toughness and sharpenability , I haven’t found anything better than s90v. Love the videos. Keep up the good work. Use your shit!
I try to steer clear of M390 as well(due to it's tendency to chip), but in regards to stainlessness my M390 Ace Biblio is phenomenal, damn near as good as my LC200N knives. Oddly my Kizer Cormorant in 20cv doesn't seem to have the same stainless properties.
I need a Magnacut and a SPY27. I have tried LC200N, XHP, S30v, and 20cv. None of the ones I’ve tried have changed my life in the ways that K390 and HAP40 have changed my life. I use LC200n for food. Easy to sharpen but edge retention not awesome. XHP is nice but barely stainless. It slices like a beast depending on blade thinness. Sharpening wasn’t bad at all. Removed it from rotation due to the relative non-stainlessness of it. S30v is okay. Not special. Not fun to sharpen. 20cv is supposedly the best stainless blade that I currently own. Better than LC200n in terms of edge retention, but I hate sharpening it. SPY27 will most likely replace my LC200n knives if Spyderco ever releases Delica’s/Endura’s/Police’s with that steel.
Curious how crk magnacut will stack up amongst everything. Don’t think I’ve seen any reviews yet. Hope they release drop points and inlays soon in magnacut. Would love a small micarta
I am just using what makes the cut for me i am not really into steels yet because i am a beginner enthousiast . But may be if magnacut is more available i will give it a try one day just like d2 is everYwhere now . We need to look more into the playlists you are right about that.
Thanks for the info and taking the time to go over it another time for the new people in our community. I was going to watch it (already knowing all about the steels and having the wherewithal to check knifenerd's findings on each) just to add to you watch numbers. Was about to bail after all the bitching at the beginning of the vid. Figured I'd hang in there and figure you can have a bad day just like those people asking questions that are easily answered through a Google search. Maybe they had a bad day also. Also, when people ask specific youtubers what they think of a steel they seem to be asking more for their specific experience and opinion, which you did a great job of expressing. Thank you for the vid and I hope times are on their way towards better for you guys.
I actually watched 5 or 6 of your videos on various steels before watching this one. I'm getting the Native 5 SPY25, thanks to all your videos on the pros and cons of NATIVE 5s with different steels in each video.
I was on a 6 month wait for the Hogue Deka v2 in Magnacut (clip point, polymer handles). I wonder if they revisited their heat treatment between yours and mine, as mine isn't soft at all. I've hit bone, a nail, and a brass staple with it while using it, and it didn't roll or develop a flat spot. I haven't had to do more than a swipe on a ceramic rod and a quick strop to keep it sharp yet. A note on the stainless aspect of Magnacut ... I took my son canoe camping last weekend and it was clipped into my pocket the whole time. I was in and out of the river to clear shallow spots, it rained a lot, and the humidity was high all weekend. Normally I pack a wipe down cloth soaked in Ballistol, but I forgot it this time. No rust, no discoloration, nothing. I was impressed. I'd send yours back to Hogue, maybe it's a lemon. I had a Benchmade 940 in M390/20CV years ago that I could not keep an edge on, and BM replaced the blade for free, agreeing that it was far softer than it should have been.
Agreed. I have 4 Magnacut Deka knives -- none of them have any rolling edge issues. I even pressed the edges against a nail and the edges didn't roll and the edges hold up. Sounds like the Erica got a bum sample.
It’s always nice to hear your updated opinion on steels. Another must-watch channel for someone who wants a similar firsthand perspective would be “Engineer’s Perspective.” Justin is also great at explaining the science of knife steels in an accessible way
IMO many knife reviewers get to bent out of shape about the best steel or best knife question. Obviously some subscribers are just looking to you to steer them in the right direction. I’ve lived in desert environments and salt water environments. In either environment (more likely than not) the steel will see moisture. You gave some great examples of steels that will serve anybody’s needs and that’s awesome!
Edit: I'm considering the lc200n spyderco caribbean but I wasnt sure how I would do with it after using d2 and 154cm. Maybe it will wow me in toughness. If I can act stupid with it and use it hard it's definitely for me.
Magnacut is great, especially on Spyderco like Native 5. I think I have to agree tho on CPM S45VN. It’s probably the best all around especially for EDC in almost any brand that makes it. Love my Para 2 in S45VN because all I have to do is strop it. Almost never have to sharpen and it shows just how tough it is.
You think spyderco has been holding off on magnacut because they're still trying to iron out how they'd work the steel and what they'd be OK releasing?
From the knife steel nerds, knife steel ratings page, (I know he doesn’t have SPY27 on there but I’m assuming it’s in between S30V, S35VN, S45VN) it would appear LC200N is noticeable more tough and corrosion resistant than SPY27. It also appears SPY27 has noticeably better edge retention. From this video, it’s not clear so that’s why I’m asking for clarification, but is it in your opinion that toughness and corrosion resistance are for all intensive purposes close enough, and SPY27 gets the edge on the edge (no pun intended)… or is it if you really want to use and abuse your knife LC200N is actually noticeably tougher and corrosion resistant? I’m not buying my knife for the sole purpose of a pry bar or to leave it in the bottom of the bay for a month, but I want a knife I can just use as a strong piece of metal. I want to be able to dig and poke and wedge without thinking twice. I want to get God knows what liquids on it and not have to worry about rust if I forget to clean it for a few days. Can SPY27 handle that? Because I will take better edge retention if so. If not LC200N seems really attractive. I’m coming from the perspective if it’s not a fixed blade, it may as well be a slip joint Swiss Army Knife. But this Native 5 platform seems really really strong and if LC200N is as tough as the knife steel nerds ratings suggest, and also literally stain proof, and the edge isn’t as soft as a Swiss Army Knife, it sounds like as tough of a folding knife as one could get. But if SPY27 is close enough in toughness and corrosion resistance I will absolutely take the edge retention and blue handle that will blend in with my jeans lol.
I have had a Hogue in Magnacut and agree that it was completely shiet. I also have a Casexx Marilla and 940 blade by Greg Gersh Gayevsky in Magnacut that has been nothing but amazing. Baton through brick. Scraped rust off off very thick rusted things, like a trailer made out of .25 inch steel. It held up no problems. And like you said how everyone wants to forget s45vn and say Magnacut is king, that has left a whole shit ton of CRKs just sitting around. It's not difficult to get one you want. Unless it's a Umnumzaan.
I believe the first run Deka Magnacut was 58-60 HRC from what I’ve seen researching it and then when Doug Ritter worked with Hogue for his MC run it was done at 63-64. But the first run of the Deka was very low for MC. I think even if they did 61-62 like Tactile it might hold a better Edge. I hope hogue gets it right because I really like them as a company. 👍
@@YaYa-ke1zr i agree it’s up there but s90v got some crazy positive reviews from engineering explained and outpost 76, both test and sharpen and know steel well. Erica did a very positive preliminary vid but no overall conclusions. I wish i grabbed a para 3 lw in s90v but am very happy with para3 in s45vn. Easy maintenance.
@@meursault1654 True, I think it comes down to what each reviewer prefers and what attributes they value. MC has ranked steels as well, so have quite a few others. I’m not as smart as Larrin but we value different things. I tend to try to find a reviewer who values the same attributes that I do… then listen to what they say about it, that has helped me focus on the right steels for me. Oh there’s a cool chart at KnifeBasics comparing the two. Seems like the major difference is wear resistance. I probably wouldn’t buy both unless I was comparing to experiment; they seem rather close with only preferences determining the winner. I wish more models were made with s45vn… 20cv is frustrating me, I need to replace it with something new.
@@ericasedc You recently had a REX 45 someone moded out for you were doing a comparison video maybe to a K390 Spyderco. Hell im old give me a minute and ill remember.
@@ericasedc Copy that!. I get It. I went back and looked at the video. The Rex 45 intrigues me. Been looking for one but, I like the idea of a thinner Rex 45 blade. I like that you won't part with it. I have a few I won't get rid of either. I have a DULO Pukko in laminated K390 I won't give up. I blazed through a 290 pound hog and hit bone and ligament and still hair poppin sharp. Hats off to you. Love the content. Joel is my name. Nice to meet so to speak.
I respect your opinion that it is obv based on your experiences, but based on scientific testing I've seen I would rank them based on stainlessness like this: 1. LC200N 2. MAGNACUT 3. S45VN 4. SPY27. Now did I do the testing myself? Fuck now I didn't even experience all of them, I just read articles on the internet so don't respect anything I said, but we're all able to have our opinion. What I think is not mentioned here is that LC200N is more stain proof than stainless, in most testing videos it doesn't even rust, it's not quite H1/H2 level but you know. That being said, will you have problems with corrosion on any of these in normal use? NO, not in a million years.
One of the popular knife tubers suggested H1 would be good if you were a roofer and needed to cut shingles, how TF does that guy have 100k subscribers is beyond me, but I wasn't surprised as he likes to push gas station aesthetic knives.
Hogue just doesnt make good knives, sorry not sorry. No reason to ever look at a Hogue when you can just get a Spyderco for the same price point and infinitely better
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