MagnaCut passaround [LIVE]

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Would any knife steel nerds like to try out
Another very thin MagnaCut gyuto
as a passaround?

Good opportunity to check out @MSicardCutlery’s work… I’d be happy for people to spend a week or two with the knife. Put it to the test re edge retention, just no brass nails please.

Please snap before/after photos upon arrival and departure, and include them in your review. Sharpen it on the way in, not on the way out, so the next person can do their own thing with the edge. (If you’re a polisher, go nuts. You’ll find a small piece of Magnacut scrap on the side to experiment with.)

This passaround will remain open as long as people are interested. Post in this thread if you want to try it and I will add you to the list. No geographical limits. I’ll organize the list of recipients roughly according to seniority and proximity.

I don’t want to micromanage the shipping so when it’s your turn, DM the person after you on the list and ask for their address and phone number.

☑️@SolidSnake03
☑️@deltaplex
🔜@Nagakin
@mrmoves92
@superworrier
@blokey
@Delat
@timebard
@Malcolm Johnson
@ew_ut
@Trouthead
@ethompson
@eltonmichael45
@Homechef
@sansho
@Hz_zzzzzz
@ac3b00g12
@mengwong

Background: I was hoping to have it in my hands by now, but as fate would have it, it got stuck in my US->SG transshipment service because, long story short, the “knife” declaration got it marked as “dangerous” so now it needs to go somewhere else in the U.S. first… hopefully someone at the end of the passaround chain will be able to FedEx it to me with a “meek and harmless kitchen knife” label. If knife reaches me by Christmas l’ll be happy but more importantly I want everyone to get a chance to spend some time with the toy.
 
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Background: I was hoping to have it in my hands by now, but as fate would have it, it got stuck in my US->SG transshipment service because, long story short, the “knife” declaration got it marked as “dangerous” so now it needs to go somewhere else in the U.S. first… hopefully someone at the end of the passaround chain will be able to FedEx it to me with a “meek and harmless kitchen knife” label. As long as the knife reaches me by Christmas l’ll be happy.

I'm so sorry to hear this has happened. I started declaring my packages as "kitchen cutlery" as opposed to "kitchen knife" a few weeks ago hoping to eliminate the possibility of such an occurrence. Sadly, not soon enough.
 
I'm so sorry to hear this has happened. I started declaring my packages as "kitchen cutlery" as opposed to "kitchen knife" a few weeks ago hoping to eliminate the possibility of such an occurrence. Sadly, not soon enough.

Don't know if it makes any difference, but I always put "Kitchen Tool".
 
Don't know if it makes any difference, but I always put "Kitchen Tool".
That's a good idea.
No worries, in situations like this I choose to believe that everything happens for a reason… now everyone gets to enjoy the blade, while I get to enjoy everyone’s reviews! The knife will surely cut better after being improved by so many expert hands…
As will I, I hope😬

I really need to thank you for this. I've been wanting to do a P/A for a while, but it's so damn hard to pick the "right" knife. I'm glad you're more decisive than I am.
 
Hi all!

I was the first user on this knife and wanted to post my thoughts and impressions on it. First of all thank you so much to Meng for letting us all try this out. It’s a great way try out Magnacut and see how one feels about it as a steel for a knife. Since Magnacut is pretty much just in customs right now this is really helpful. Also cool touch that the knife came with a little bar of the steel itself with it.

Okay onto the knife. I’ll get my negatives out of the way first and to be honest none of them have to do with the steel itself. The profile for me was a bit more curved than I would like so wasn’t a huge fan of that. I would have liked a bit lower of a tip especially for pull cuts. The height and length were great just the profile wasn’t to my personal taste. The other negative for me was the weight/style overall. I’m tending to use more thicker spines knives and more middleweight to workhorse type stuff. Just feels more comfortable and i like the forward balance. This knife is more on the laser side for sure. Not the most lasery laser but definitely a laser. Again nothing wrong with the knife just my personal negatives.

Now onto the good stuff. The handle is simple but nice and the edges of the blade are well eased so very comfortable overall. The low weight also means you could use it for hours no problem. It’s light and nimble feeling. Balance was fairly even given the light weight overall. The steel though is the winner for me. Magnacut is legit. I used it for a number of long prep sessions (hours at a time on multiple days) and all I did was a light strop. Generally for carbons I would need to hit my high grit stone at least after this. Stainless would be okay but wouldn’t take the fine edge generally speaking that this did. I did touch up the edge on a couple naturals just to get a feel for it and it takes a screaming edge off naturals which generally speaking can be hit or miss on stainless. It didn’t feel as connected to the stone as say white steel can feel, it felt a little deader than that like stainless does but at the same time took and held a better edge than pretty much all my stainless. It’s an interesting steel for sure. I like it. I think it’s a very nice steel and doesn’t show any of the bad parts of steels I’ve tried like gummy feeling or hard to deburr. Edge retention is good, not amazing but quite good. And overall it’s a great steel.
 
Magnacut is legit.
Thank you for the review! Geometry and heft are subjective but the sharpness and retention results are indisputable.

Also cool touch that the knife came with a little bar of the steel itself with it.

Maybe one day all fancy knives will come with a tiny piece of scrap, the sort of luxury signifier that mystifies the uninitiated :)

(The answer (hello /r/whatisthisthing): originally so knife-polishing nuts can experiment with different finishes without risking the main body of the knife, later evolved to become a flex for various reasons.)

@deltaplex is next
 
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It's here! Made short work of the little amount of dinner prep I had last night. I'll put it through it's paces the next few days, touch it up and send it along.

PXL_20220820_202228666.jpg
PXL_20220820_202318070.jpg
 
I'm sending this out today, and I figured I'd post my impressions; I'll get the personal preferences bit out of the way first. This knife isn't my ideal profile, it's basically a really tall european style, and that's a bit of a "tweaner" for how I cut. I think the closest knife from simply a edge profile perspective that I've used is the ZKramer and I feel similarly about those. I prefer carbon steel, a slightly shorter neck, and I prefer the balance point a little further forward than it is for a knife of this size.

Now that all of that is out of the way: This is a very well made knife all around. The steel held and edge with little reduction in sharpness for the time I had it (about a week as a home cook, using it almost exclusively) the satin finish on it is really consistent and non-grabby in use and the grind on it is solid for an all-around knife, which I think suits this profile well. The handle feels nice in hand and didn't pick up any staining while in use or while I was touching it up on the stones, and the fit and finish is very good for something at this price point. I did basically just touch it up on stones before I got it boxed up, and if it were my knife I likely would have put it through a slightly more complete progression, but it didn't really need it with the use I put on it. It feels good (for a stainless) on the stones and I can tell it's more wear resistant than the AEB-L and SG2 knives that I've worked on before. Overall I think it's a really good choice for anyone looking for a worry free monosteel option with good sharpen-ability and good edge retention. I'll add that if you see an offering from Matt that checks off your personal steel (mix)/profile/spec categories, I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up.

It's heading out to Nagakin today and hopefully he'll be able to post his impressions sometime next week.
 
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