3 new steels designed by Larrin

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DevinT

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Many of you have probably heard of MagnaCut which became available recently. It’s a CPM grade designed specifically for knives/cutlery. It has higher toughness, higher stain resistance, and finer structure than the other steels in its class. If you like Cru-wear and PD-1 you’ll like this one even better.

The first steel Larrin designed is called Niomax, it’s based on AEB-L with niobium for wear resistance/edge holding. The steel has the same toughness as AEB-L but twice the edge holding as tested on CATRA. It is a cast/wrought grade and has a fine microstructure.

A recent alloy was designed for the carbon and low alloy steel lovers. It is capable of high hardness and has significantly improved toughness and edge holding over steels like blue super. It was designed as a love child of 52100 and blue super. It has yet to be named so I’ll just call it 52-super. I should get a sample piece this week and will try it out and report back.
Larrin has other steel designs in the works, can’t wait.

Hoss
 
Oh wow. I would love to see what a japanese knife maker could do with that last one.
 
Oh wow. I would love to see what a japanese knife maker could do with that last one.
It is probably better suited to European or American makers. The Japanese prefer water quenching steels that respond to simple heat treatments. This one is a bit more complicated. Of course this is a general statement and doesn’t apply to all Japanese makers.

Hoss
 
This is really interesting.

@Larrin ,

I assume that Niomax has some niobium in it? Are you releasing the composition or do you consder it proprietary information? I would love to see the composition-structure relationships if you are releasing that info (although I hasten to add I 100% understand if you are not releasing the composition).

What is the carbide structure of Niomax like?

I remember being surprised at how much coarser than AEBL the carbide structure of Niolox was.

Have you managed to tame the niobuim carbides in Niomax?
 
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This is really interesting.

@Larrin ,

I assume that Niomax has some niobium in it? Are you releasing the composition or do you consder it proprietary information? I would love to see the composition-structure relationships if you are releasing that info (although I hasten to add I 100% understand if you are not releasing the composition).

What is the carbide structure of Niomax like?

I remember being surprised at how much coarser than AEBL the carbide structure of Niolox was.

Have you managed to tame the niobuim carbides in Niomax?
The carbides are much finer than steels like niolox that’s what leads to the increased toughness.

Hoss
 
Niomax did better than niolox in the catra and charpy testing.

Hoss
 
No cool!! I am still waiting to get my handles on magnacut
 
We are very premature for announcing anything apart from MagnaCut at this point since neither of the other two mentioned steels have been produced in full quantities. But laboratory development is very fun.
 
Man I’m excited to see the rusty steel. I posted a question on Knife Steel Nerds awhile back if what he would think the optimum rusty steel would look like. Didn’t get an answer unfortunately lol. I’ll keep an eye out for your report.
 
i like to propose a new steel for you larrin. its gonna kick ass 😀

MagnaMaxaVan5000 Ultra 🤓

C-10%
N-5%
V-50%
Fe-Bal
 
It is probably better suited to European or American makers. The Japanese prefer water quenching steels that respond to simple heat treatments. This one is a bit more complicated. Of course this is a general statement and doesn’t apply to all Japanese makers.

Hoss
In that case, musashi Yamamoto would probably do well with it. That or some of the guys that mess around with Zdp-189, and hap40.
 
#ProudDad

With good reason!

Whatever happens with these new alloys, thank you for the knowledge and advancement you bring to this field.
x1000. It's great that Larrin is helping evolve the knife world, building off Devin' experience. And that Devin can take Larrin's work and give meaningful knifemaker feedback to help with tweaking the recipes, etc. Dr. Thomas is doing great things!
 
That's cool! Who makes knives from these new steels? Will Spyderco have any?
 
Exciting for new steels and great to see the father-son team works so well.
 
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