MKC fails to meet advertised Magnacut hardness?

[Bratch]

I was looking into them too. They sure do a great job advertising. White River Knives M1 Pro in Magnacut looks interesting. These knives get expensive though haha. Right now I’m just using the $15 Cold Steel CBK

I’m a big fan of all the White River Knives. I ran a pair of S35 M1s a couple years ago and was very pleased.

 

[Deadspace]

Get a Dixie Zipper. I bought one like it from the man himself for $150ish before him and @hereinaz finalized the Dixie Zipper and took it to Alaska with me. Broke down a moose solo for seven hours and didn’t need to sharpen it. Very impressive knife.

 

[NDGuy]

While I like MKC for the backstory of an American company doing cool shit, there are plenty of makers around you can get better for less. Especially not having a fugly bolt-on handle.

I threw the G10 garbage in the trash and rehandled mine. Now they look like the price they charge.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

I was looking into them too. They sure do a great job advertising. White River Knives M1 Pro in Magnacut looks interesting. These knives get expensive though haha. Right now I’m just using the $15 Cold Steel CBK

I don’t call that great.
Does Exo pay influencers,unknown?if they do it’s so few you don’t even realize it.
They don’t need to.
It’s a huge red flag to me that there products are subpar and possibly even a shady company.

 

[Greene0331]

I have an MKC MagnaCut blade and so far the edge retention has been what’s impressed me the most. A few seasons and several critters later I still haven’t found the need to sharpen it, still shaves hair off my forearm.

 

[fisherman983]

I fell into the BS hype and bought 2. They suck, didnt come very sharp and dulled easily. Rusted overnight drying on my counter.

I like the speedgoats weight and blade shape just not happy with quality. Wouldn't buy or use another.

Someone should make the speedgoat with better steel and I'd buy a couple.

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

 

[BarrierBuck]

I too fell for the hype and bought one, have not been impressed with the edge retention. Other far cheaper knives hold an edge much better.

 

[Wirrex]

I didn’t fall for the hype. I bought a Chinese knockoff from Amazon for one 10th of the price. Sounds like I might have better edge retention lol.

 

[NDGuy]

I fell into the BS hype and bought 2. They suck, didnt come very sharp and dulled easily. Rusted overnight drying on my counter.

I like the speedgoats weight and blade shape just not happy with quality. Wouldn't buy or use another.

Someone should make the speedgoat with better steel and I'd buy a couple.

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

Carbon steel never leave wet....

 

[ThorM465]

Sounds like a classic scaling issue. Hopefully they own this and correct it.

 

[peterk123]

I hate to admit it but it does not hold an edge very well. Same with their bearing steel blades. We have some of their kitchen knives which get used every day. I'm constantly sharpening them. Full disclosure, chopping veggies probably rolls the edges pretty quick. I like the balance of the knives I have though.

 

[jimh406]

Interesting data showing 0 out of 5 MKC Magnacut blades tested met their advertised hardness level of 61-63 HRC (the lowest test result here was 58.7)

My first thought is how "independent" is this tester, and what is MKC's response. Note: I don't own any MKC knives or on order and no connection to them

If you look at the results, only 1 was more than 1 less than the advertised hardness. I don't think most of us would notice that difference.

Then, there isn't a "best" hardness. It depends on what you plan to do with the knife and how you use it.

 

[SirChooCH]

I’m a big fan of all the White River Knives. I ran a pair of S35 M1s a couple years ago and was very pleased.

View attachment 1091716

Hot tip: MidwayUSA gives customers a code on the birthday for 1 time use that week only and sells White River knives. I picked up a hunter in magnacut for $135 and the M1 magnacut was $100 I believe so plan to pick up that skinner model and/or a filet knife next year...

 

[ckt3]

My first thought is how "independent" is this tester, and what is MKC's response. Note: I don't own any MKC knives or on order and no connection to them

If you look at the results, only 1 was more than 1 less than the advertised hardness. I don't think most of us would notice that difference.

Then, there isn't a "best" hardness. It depends on what you plan to do with the knife and how you use it.

The tester has posted hardness test results for over 600 different knives, but you’re right, you never know for sure what their biases are, so that’s good to keep in mind.

I think MKC advertises 61-63 hardness so the deltas to the low/high end of that range are:
Speedgoat Ultra 0.8/2.8 HRC
Stoned Goat Ultra 0.1/2.1 HRC
Speedgoat 2.3/4.3 HRC
Super Cub 1.5/3.5 HRC
The Montana MagnaCut 0.1/2.1 HRC

I don’t know enough about knife steel to know how noticeable that is. I’m sure the knives still work. But are they worth the money and is it a problem if they’re softer than advertised?

It’s also notable how much the hardness varied across those knife models, which all use Magnacut. Again, there could be flaws or bias in testing perhaps, you never know, but consistent heat treat/hardness is a good thing I imagine.

@Dixie @CypressCreek and @Slalomnorth know a thing or two about knives and could potentially add insight

 

[jimh406]

I think MKC advertises 61-63 hardness so the deltas to the low/high end of that range are:
Speedgoat Ultra 0.8/2.8 HRC
Stoned Goat Ultra 0.1/2.1 HRC
Speedgoat 2.3/4.3 HRC
Super Cub 1.5/3.5 HRC
The Montana MagnaCut 0.1/2.1 HRC

From what I found, Benchmade says their Magnacut blades are 60-62. Interestingly, the steel creator suggests 62-64 and that is what Buck does. That's a delta of 4 between two well respected manufacturers.

I'm not sure what it means from a practical aspect.

 

[arlenmyles]

My first thought is how "independent" is this tester, and what is MKC's response. Note: I don't own any MKC knives or on order and no connection to them

If you look at the results, only 1 was more than 1 less than the advertised hardness. I don't think most of us would notice that difference.

Then, there isn't a "best" hardness. It depends on what you plan to do with the knife and how you use it.

This is false. Magnacut steel definitely has a best hardness range. Look up Larin Thomas, he created Magnacut and goes deep on the info.

 

[jimh406]

This is false. Magnacut steel definitely has a best hardness range. Look up Larin Thomas, he created Magnacut and goes deep on the info.

Not false, you misunderstood. I was talking about steel hardness in general.

As you can see from my last post, I said what the creator suggests. Interestingly, not all manufacturers follow his suggestion. I suppose they have their reasons whether valid or not.

 

[arlenmyles]

Not false, you misunderstood. I was talking about steel hardness in general.

As you can see from my last post, I said what the creator suggests. Interestingly, not all manufacturers follow his suggestion. I suppose they have their reasons whether valid or not.

Well we are all specifically speaking about magnacut and its optimal hardness range so bringing in commentary about different knife uses, steels and hardness levels is not relevant to the conversation.

Failing to fine finish their knives, failing to achieve a good heat treat resulting in 62-63hrc are some of the reasons I will never own one of their knives. They are prioritizing growth and advertising over user experience and that is unacceptable.