CPM Magnacut Stainless Blade Steel
MagnaCut is a specifically created steel alloy for knife making and offers significant benefits for cutting tools. CPM MagnaCut (simply referred to as Magnacut) is stainless steel made in the USA using the CPM (particle metal) process. ‘Magna’ in Latin means great or awesome. And the "cut" harkens to the Vanadium Alloys Steel Company (VASCO) that pioneered other high-speed steel using a similar naming convention.
CPM MagnaCut was designed by Larrin Thomas as a unique powder metallurgy stainless tool steel with a design which eliminates chromium carbide in the heat-treated microstructure. An excellent combination of toughness and wear resistance is achieved by having only small, high hardness vanadium and niobium carbides, giving CPM MagnaCut properties similar to non-stainless steel CPM 4V. This steel offers an outstanding combination of properties for knives.
Toughness: compared to other Steels MagnaCut rates top in toughness.
The excellent toughness results indicate that CPM MagnaCut is very resistant to chipping and breaking. In knifemaking, the high toughness makes it especially good for bigger blades and fine cutting knives can have thinner edges for better cutting ability with reduced risk of chipping.
Edge Retention:
The CATRA (Cutlery & Allied Trades Research Association) test machine performs a standard cutting operation and measures the number of silica impregnated cards which are cut. It is considered a measure of relative wear resistance, reported in this table as compared to a 440C standard.
Grade |
HRC |
% |
MagnaCut |
62.5 |
135 |
S90V |
61.5 |
195 |
20CV |
61.5 |
155 |
S45VN |
61.5 |
140 |
S35VN |
61 |
130 |
CPM 154 |
61 |
120 |
440C |
56 |
100 |
Uses: Long-Wearing Specialty Cutlery and Large Blades
For CPM MagnaCut Stainless Blade Steel Heat Treatment Recipe, click here.