This guy's web site is really interesting.
https://knifesteelnerds.com
I've ordered his book, but haven't read it yet.
I've read all the articles on his blog — most of them several times. They're real eye-openers. I'm inclined to trust him, though it's difficult to verify his claims without access to an electron microscope.
I received Dr. Thomas' book, and read the parts relevant to me. It is really good, and worth having in your sharpening library.
Looks good. Will have to dig into it. Painting of the shed ceiling waits for no man!
A bit of background...
Larrin Thomas is a well-known PhD metallugist in the knife community. His father is Devin Thomas (known for his Damascus and pattern-welded forged steels). I know he is a member on Bladeforums and the Spyderco forum.
Larrin developed a few new steels in recent years, one of which was Magnacut. He worked with the USA foundry Crucible Steel and Niagra Speciality Metals to develop and bring CPM-Magnacut to the market. It is produced using a particle metallurgy approach. It's a high vanadium stainless steel, specifically developed for knife blades. It is popular for its unique balance of properties (corrosion resistance, wear resistance and toughness), and relatively high attainable hardness. It has similar properties to carbon tool steels (like CPM-4V), but is also very corrosion resistant at the same time, which is quite unique.
He also created other steels like Procut and CPM-MagnaMax. Both of these are quite new, and not widely available yet, as far as I know.
Knife Steel Nerds is his blog. He wrote a few books, which were well received. He knows his stuff. 👍
Does anyone know of Magnacut chef knives ? Ideally a japanese yo-gyutou or the like... I couldn't find any, only pocket knives...
Quote from: tgbto on December 18, 2025, 05:07:00 PMDoes anyone know of Magnacut chef knives ? Ideally a japanese yo-gyutou or the like... I couldn't find any, only pocket knives...
I see a few options pop up for kitchen knives in Magnacut with a Google search...
Here is a 3-year review I found (not me) of a Magnacut Gyutou, to give you a sense of the characteristics of the steel in this application.
I do not own kitchen knives in Magnacut, but I have a number of pocket knives in it. It keeps an edge well (similar to S30V) and sharpens and deburrs easily at 63-64 HRC (easier than S30V). Impervious to corrosion. I like it.
It looks nice, I'd love to try one. Unfortunately, most seem out of stock at the moment, as if this steel wasn't available for this kind of knife anymore...