Return to fixed blade knives. MKC worth it?

[freediver111]

For the last decade I’ve been doing a fair amount of field dressing larger animals like moose and elk. We’re not talking about a crazy amount of game, but I will reliably be involved in the breakdown of 3-7 moose/elk a year. Not to mention deer and bear as well.

Years ago I used to carry a fixed blade knife, then switched to all the replaceable blade knives, and now I find myself going back to fixed blade knives and a field sharpener. I hate the Havalon style blades for larger game. Outdoor edge are about as good as I’ve used for replaceable blades, but they aren’t that sharp and loose an edge quick in my opinion. Plus the blade release button happens to be in a spot I seem prone to placing my thumb on, and sometimes pop blades out mid-cut. Not safe, especially when dealing with large animals.

I don’t own any high quality fixed blade knives. I own three drop point style knives that will work. A CRKT Wrangell Range (440a steel), CRKT Kommer 30-30 (1.4116 steel), and a cheap Cold steel Pendleton lite hunter (4116). The cold steel is a knife that I keep in my pack and used it many times. It’s just a cheap stainless blade like a Victorinox, but I use Vic’s when I filet fish and do the final processing work on meat and they work fine. Edge retention is so so, but easy to resharpen.

For field sharpening I use the work sharp pocket knife sharpener and no complaints with that as a field sharpener. I see MKC sells a version with a 17 deg. angle instead of the 20 deg version I own.

For you knife nerds, is field dressing noticeably better when using something like an MKC stonewall skinner or stoned goat 2.0, and is magnacut as amazing as they claim? I guess it boils down to whether or not pricier knives with newer materials are that much better if you had to field dress larger game, assuming edge retention and ease of resharpening in the field are top priorities. Thanks.


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[LCguy]

Magnacut is pretty great. I made it through an entire bull elk and my knife is still shaving sharp but that also has to do with blade geometry and heat treat. For the price of an MKC using ball bearing steel, you could get a custom knife with Magnacut or a Benchmade with s30v or s90v.

 

[Wapiti151]

Definitely good knives, and if going MKC…get magnacut. Depending on how much hair you go through or caping you do, I can get through a deer and an elk pretty easily without “needing” to sharpen. The tip/belly will start to dull a bit after an elk so I do sharpen between animals, but that’s just preference. The magnacut also sharpens easily in the field with a work sharp field sharpener. I have both magnacut and more traditional blade steels, and the magnacut is noticeably superior…especially for corrosion resistance. I got some light oxidation on their standard blade last year. Idk if MKC is any better than other high quality knives in the same category, I think they are just the cool kids right now and spend an absurd amount on marketing while cleverly creating demand with their “drop” model and always being sold out. I do like their blade profiles though, and love that I just always have it strapped to my shoulder strap.

 

[Cannonball]

overpriced overhyped

 

[sierracharlie338]

Magnacut is pretty great. I made it through an entire bull elk and my knife is still shaving sharp but that also has to do with blade geometry and heat treat. For the price of an MKC using ball bearing steel, you could get a custom knife with Magnacut or a Benchmade with s30v or s90v.

Mkc makes magnacut blades also.

OP
I would say the MKC stuff is worth it if you really want to support that brand otherwise there are some very talented makers out there that produce as high of quality or higher options. Some of our very own WKRs included!
@Dixie
@Slalomnorth
@Wilderness Spirit

Just to name a few.

Maganacut is great so far IME and that’s coming from a guy who generally prefers carbon steels (yeah the rusty kind lol) I own one MKC and like it but don’t love it, I also can be a knife snob. Would I buy another, possibly but not necessarily.

 

[freediver111]

I’m not married to any brand, to be clear. MKC does a lot of advertising and the magnacut buzz piqued my interest.

If magnacut is great, I can get other brands that also have magnacut blades for less than the MKC branded knives. But saving $100 by going with something like a benchmade Dacian is great, but I don’t mind spending a little more if other brands are actually just as good or better. I have no brand fanboy love. Just looking for a quality knife, and seems like magnacut blades are pretty nice. I’m also digging the specs of the Steinway skinner, so probably looking at something similar (4-4.5” drop point style blade).


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[NDGuy]

I’m not married to any brand, to be clear. MKC does a lot of advertising and the magnacut buzz piqued my interest.

If magnacut is great, I can get other brands that also have magnacut blades for less than the MKC branded knives. But saving $100 by going with something like a benchmade Dacian is great, but I don’t mind spending a little more if other brands are actually just as good or better. I have no brand fanboy love. Just looking for a quality knife, and seems like magnacut blades are pretty nice. I’m also digging the specs of the Steinway skinner, so probably looking at something similar (4-4.5” drop point style blade).


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If you want something faster, I would reach out to:

Erickson Knifeworks
Arsenal Edge MFG
Littlewolf Ironworks

If you don't mind waiting:
Gentry Custom Knives
Wayne Walker Customs
Charles May
Dozier
Lucas Forge
Niche Customs

I also listed a ton in the classifieds if you had any interest let me know.

 

[NDGuy]

MKC is nice but as others said you could get a nice knife with a gorgeous wood handle for less than $300-400 that MKC charges. I do my own handles on their stuff.

 

[Lawnboi]

They make a nice knife, and magnacut is a great steel for what we are doing here. MKC has a major plus over many other brands in that they use farily thin stock, which is preferred for a meat cutting knife. They are overpriced and I’m not a huge fan of most of their sheaths.

That said for the same price you could get a custom Canadian belt knife style knife from a few builders on here. I have a hand full of mkc knives and I do really prefer both my deer rock knives to them.

Don’t buy one of their non magnacut knives for field use.

 

[LCguy]

Mkc makes magnacut blades also.

OP
I would say the MKC stuff is worth it if you really want to support that brand otherwise there are some very talented makers out there that produce as high of quality or higher options. Some of our very own WKRs included!
@Dixie
@Slalomnorth
@Wilderness Spirit

Just to name a few.

Maganacut is great so far IME and that’s coming from a guy who generally prefers carbon steels (yeah the rusty kind lol) I own one MKC and like it but don’t love it, I also can be a knife snob. Would I buy another, possibly but not necessarily.

I second @Slalomnorth his belt knife is the knife I am referring to in my earlier post.

 

[flyfisher117]

I own 4 MKCs, have owned about 5 others. They aren’t bad knives. But you are paying extra for the hype and influencers. I don’t see myself getting many more of their knives unless a new one comes out that tickles my fancy.


You can get an Argalli knife with a G10 handle for the same price as an MKC with paracord. And you won’t gain that much weight. Both in Magnacut.

I’m anxiously waiting for delivery of my new Dixie Zipper.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

i really like my argali knife, as well as my old style benchmade steep country.

 

[Cannonball]

I choose these over MKC

 

[Lawnboi]

I will say I’m much more a fan of the mkc kitchen knives than their field knives.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Definitely over priced and very well marketed.
I like knives and have had some higher priced ones.No way I paying that much for a mass produced knife.
They look like something Walmart sells,screams Chinese made in my opinion.

 

[SDHNTR]

Absolutely not. MKC is nothing more than social media influencer whore driven nonsense. Don’t feed the machine.

 

[Deadspace]

I was given one of their tactical knives at a training event. I think it’s called the redacted. Anyways, not worth the asking price at all. I’d reach out to @Dixie and get a knife from him. I took an entire moose apart with his Canadian belt knife and processed half of it before I needed to sharpen it.

 

[Joseph2186]

Get a custom made by someone

 

[elkhunter505]

I live in Missoula so the positive for me will be the store front here soon. I would have never bought one myself but was gifted one and now I love the thing. I’ve used the 20 degree work sharp this year because I could get it on hand at Scheels fast enough for a hunt and it had worked well. I know a guy who works there and have ran the guys in the booth multiple times at TAC. They definitely have a lot of influencers on staff which doesn’t really tickle my fancy, but they do make a good knife and it’s a local company I can support.

On the fixed blade side, I do European mounts on the side so I have a lot of skinning I do over the years. For cutting meat in the field, I won’t ever go back to a havalon type knife. You can put more pressure on a cut and blow throw an animal fast when you need to. I blew through a bull this year out of necessity with a rain storm moving in. Im certain that I would have broken multiple havalon blades in that hack job. Now for skinning, I’m more on the fence. I have been using my speedgoat but I think that there’s less of an advantage when doing delicate work around the skull. I’d have to get a mini series to see what my true preference was. Either way my knife has been though 5 animals this year and close to 10 heads with me being a mediocre sharpener and it has performed close to flawless. Good knives but they do come with the influencer mark up likely.

 

[intunegp]

As you can see, lots of people have strong opinions about them if nothing else.

I have a SpeedGoat2.0 in Magnacut and overall it is a great knife. For the $225 I'd consider buying it again. I don't really care about their marketing, the knife checks just about all the boxes I'd look for in a kill-kit knife. People talk about the paracord handle getting nasty but mine has field-dressed, quartered, and been a part of processing three elk and two deer and cleans up good as new...maybe I'm doing it wrong but I usually get blades far dirtier than handles.

I'd also strongly consider the offerings from Argali or the new-ish, USA-made Boker Backcountry.

People love to say "you could get a custom for that money" which is fine and dandy, but the animal you're cutting couldn't care less whether you're using a custom or production knife. A knife being custom-made does not automatically make it better quality nor better for the task than a production knife.