Here are some pics I took when it arrived:
MagnaCut passaround [LIVE]
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Updated sequence with minor edits. Please check further downthread as this may not be the latest. (Posts become immutable after a while.)
@SolidSnake03
@deltaplex
@Nagakin
@mrmoves92
@blokey
@Delat
@superworrier
@ethompson
@Malcolm Johnson
@timebard
@ew_ut
@Trouthead
@eltonmichael45
@Homechef
@sansho
@Hz_zzzzzz
@ac3b00g12
@MSicardCutlery
@jsph
@mengwong
@SolidSnake03@deltaplex@Nagakin@mrmoves92@blokey@Delat@superworrier@ethompson@Malcolm Johnson@timebard
@ew_ut
@Trouthead
@eltonmichael45
@Homechef
@sansho
@Hz_zzzzzz
@ac3b00g12
@MSicardCutlery
@jsph
@mengwong
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I have it right now, and I will send it to @blokey soon.Updated sequence with minor edits: I believe @Nagakin is currently in possession, please contact @mrmoves92 who will be next! Thanks all.
@blokey
@Delat
@superworrier
@timebard
@Malcolm Johnson
@ew_ut
@Trouthead
@ethompson
@eltonmichael45
@Homechef
@sansho
@Hz_zzzzzz
@ac3b00g12
@mengwong
I sent the knife to blokey two days ago.
I was traveling for work during part of my week with the knife, and I am only a home cook, so I didn’t use it a ton, but here are my thoughts:
Condition when I got it:
When I got the knife, the tip was rounded, and there were some light scratches from sharpening. The knife was completely dull. It wouldn’t even initiate a cut/bite into newspaper with the grain.
Sharpening:
Given how dull it was when I received the knife, I had to sharpen the knife (more than I was expecting). I didn’t want to excessively sharpen the knife because it is someone else’s knife, and other people will be sharpening it, so I just sharpened it enough to be usable. I am used to simple carbon steels (white, blue) and ginsan, which are all easy to sharpen. Sharpening Magnacut was different for me. The steel felt hard and like it didn’t want to be abraded. The knife/stones did not release much slurry/mud, and everything seemed to take more time to happen. With the time I spent, my simple carbon or ginsan knives would have gotten sharper than the Magnacut knife ended up being, but that could just be my fault. For me, I will probably stick to simple, really easy to sharpen steels like white, blue, and ginsan, but that is my personal preference because I like easy sharpening and don’t need long edge retention at home.
Fit and finish:
Really nice! The spine and choil are rounded nicely, and the knife is really comfortable to hold and use. I LOVED the handle. It felt really nice to me. The sanded polish on the knife looked good.
Use:
You will have to take my points here with a pinch of salt because I am left handed (and this is a right handed knife), and I didn’t get the greatest edge on it.
The profile was a lot better than I was expecting, but the tip was a little high compared to what I prefer.
This knife cut well. The knife is thin overall/at the spine, but it still has decent food release for how thin it is (I am sure that it would have better/good food release for a right handed user). I care most about food release when cutting apples into ~1cm slices for lunch, and for this task, the pass around knife had better food release than my flatter ground knives, similar food release to my Kikuchiyo Yohei gyuto, but not as good food release compared to my Takeda gyuto.
The knife wasn’t super super thin behind the edge, which has pros and cons. It felt sturdy in use and never felt delicate to me, but it caught up a bit in really dense carrots (a better edge might have helped some). It behaved well in everything else and cut well/smoothly.
That is everything that I can think of. Hopefully, what I said was accurate. I am relatively inexperienced compared to many here, so I would trust the opinions from other users more than myself.
I was traveling for work during part of my week with the knife, and I am only a home cook, so I didn’t use it a ton, but here are my thoughts:
Condition when I got it:
When I got the knife, the tip was rounded, and there were some light scratches from sharpening. The knife was completely dull. It wouldn’t even initiate a cut/bite into newspaper with the grain.
Sharpening:
Given how dull it was when I received the knife, I had to sharpen the knife (more than I was expecting). I didn’t want to excessively sharpen the knife because it is someone else’s knife, and other people will be sharpening it, so I just sharpened it enough to be usable. I am used to simple carbon steels (white, blue) and ginsan, which are all easy to sharpen. Sharpening Magnacut was different for me. The steel felt hard and like it didn’t want to be abraded. The knife/stones did not release much slurry/mud, and everything seemed to take more time to happen. With the time I spent, my simple carbon or ginsan knives would have gotten sharper than the Magnacut knife ended up being, but that could just be my fault. For me, I will probably stick to simple, really easy to sharpen steels like white, blue, and ginsan, but that is my personal preference because I like easy sharpening and don’t need long edge retention at home.
Fit and finish:
Really nice! The spine and choil are rounded nicely, and the knife is really comfortable to hold and use. I LOVED the handle. It felt really nice to me. The sanded polish on the knife looked good.
Use:
You will have to take my points here with a pinch of salt because I am left handed (and this is a right handed knife), and I didn’t get the greatest edge on it.
The profile was a lot better than I was expecting, but the tip was a little high compared to what I prefer.
This knife cut well. The knife is thin overall/at the spine, but it still has decent food release for how thin it is (I am sure that it would have better/good food release for a right handed user). I care most about food release when cutting apples into ~1cm slices for lunch, and for this task, the pass around knife had better food release than my flatter ground knives, similar food release to my Kikuchiyo Yohei gyuto, but not as good food release compared to my Takeda gyuto.
The knife wasn’t super super thin behind the edge, which has pros and cons. It felt sturdy in use and never felt delicate to me, but it caught up a bit in really dense carrots (a better edge might have helped some). It behaved well in everything else and cut well/smoothly.
That is everything that I can think of. Hopefully, what I said was accurate. I am relatively inexperienced compared to many here, so I would trust the opinions from other users more than myself.
Just got the knife, looks great so far, the edge is working for me, I might do some sharpening on Gesshin 2k just to see how it feels. The grind and taper is good.
Just took it to the stone, first the sharpening itself actually feels pretty good, not the glassy and non-engaging feel of some other PMs. But it is still much harder to raise a burr than any carbon I've touched, probably took me longer than SG2. I used Gesshin 2k and stroped it on Gesshin 4k, as said before, while I definetly dont doubt with enough time and patience it could get as sharp as carbon steel, it is much harder to get to the same level of sharpness.
Yes, everybody please feel free to sharpen. We’re here to learn about the steel. I’d say do it on the way in, not on the way out, to let the next guy have the full experience. And polish and thin or whatever, if that’s your thing.
Also can I request folks take a photo of themselves with some piece of produce stuck on the edge or on the tip? I want the knife to be able to entertain its fellows on the block, one day, with a slideshow from its travels.
Also can I request folks take a photo of themselves with some piece of produce stuck on the edge or on the tip? I want the knife to be able to entertain its fellows on the block, one day, with a slideshow from its travels.
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Definitely. Diamond stones make sharpening MagnaCut a total breeze.
After a week of testing, I will be shipping the knife towards @Delat tomorrow.
Edge Retention:
So far the steel has hold up really well in my home environment, its edge retention certainly exceeded my workload and still holds a very sharp edge, I have resharpened it again on Gesshin 2k only to test it again on stone. This time it is still very much time consuming than my other steel, it is not glassy but rather catchy, not a hard steel to sharpen but a time consuming one to sharpen to a high sharpness. I would say it has better retention than my experience with SG2.
Toughness:
The edge itself is very very tough both due to the steel and grind, even tho the knife itself it thin, I never have to worry a bit about potential chipping. If I can choose a steel to make a CCKish thin cleaver or a semi-flexible fishing knife this would be it.
Corrosion resistance:
Nothing to say here, I live in LA and don't have to deal with much rust anyway, Larrin showed it to be one the best corrosion resistant PM steel on the market and I trust him.
Fit and Finish:
Great, all rounded and very comfortable to use, I'm not a small gyuto guy but this one makes me want to buy one, being closer to the tip helps alot with some precision work.
Grind:
Sophistic and very tough, seems more oriented towards food release and toughness, but TBH I would like it thinner behind the edge and move the convex part down alittle bit, it did well in softer ingredients but notably need more force to push through thick carrots and daikon. I also prefer a thicker spine but that has more to do with the stock steel not the maker.
Edge Retention:
So far the steel has hold up really well in my home environment, its edge retention certainly exceeded my workload and still holds a very sharp edge, I have resharpened it again on Gesshin 2k only to test it again on stone. This time it is still very much time consuming than my other steel, it is not glassy but rather catchy, not a hard steel to sharpen but a time consuming one to sharpen to a high sharpness. I would say it has better retention than my experience with SG2.
Toughness:
The edge itself is very very tough both due to the steel and grind, even tho the knife itself it thin, I never have to worry a bit about potential chipping. If I can choose a steel to make a CCKish thin cleaver or a semi-flexible fishing knife this would be it.
Corrosion resistance:
Nothing to say here, I live in LA and don't have to deal with much rust anyway, Larrin showed it to be one the best corrosion resistant PM steel on the market and I trust him.
Fit and Finish:
Great, all rounded and very comfortable to use, I'm not a small gyuto guy but this one makes me want to buy one, being closer to the tip helps alot with some precision work.
Grind:
Sophistic and very tough, seems more oriented towards food release and toughness, but TBH I would like it thinner behind the edge and move the convex part down alittle bit, it did well in softer ingredients but notably need more force to push through thick carrots and daikon. I also prefer a thicker spine but that has more to do with the stock steel not the maker.
Knife arrived yesterday. The tip is slightly bent, which I think a previous user mentioned. Hard to get it to show in a photo but I attached a couple anyway. Other than that it’s in good shape and was still reasonably sharp. I went ahead and did a touchup on an SG4000 to get the best first impression once I use it.
My SG4000 was barely up to the task - see post-sharpening photo. Usually it would have a lot of swarf after the amount of sharpening I did, but the magnacut seemed to just be saying, “oooh stop, that tickles!” to my stone. I’d probably invest in diamond stones if I was going to build a collection with steels like this. I didn’t raise a burr, but managed to get it sharp enough to push cut newspaper so it’s ready for action.
My SG4000 was barely up to the task - see post-sharpening photo. Usually it would have a lot of swarf after the amount of sharpening I did, but the magnacut seemed to just be saying, “oooh stop, that tickles!” to my stone. I’d probably invest in diamond stones if I was going to build a collection with steels like this. I didn’t raise a burr, but managed to get it sharp enough to push cut newspaper so it’s ready for action.
A little difficulty with big onions - video as requested by @mengwong. Now this could partially be due to sharpness - the edge I have on cleanly slices newspaper but not a paper towel. I gave the entire blade surface a rubdown with 3200 micro mesh in case of stiction, but honestly I’m not sure the micro mesh did anything at all due to the toughness of the steel.
Given how thin the grind is, I’m sure somebody with more experience (and better equipment) than me could improve the performance without too much effort.
Not sure what I’m cooking tonight - I have some short ribs so maybe I’ll get some carrots and sweet potatoes to add to the cutting videos. I suspect the knife will be smooth sailing through the carrots.
Given how thin the grind is, I’m sure somebody with more experience (and better equipment) than me could improve the performance without too much effort.
Not sure what I’m cooking tonight - I have some short ribs so maybe I’ll get some carrots and sweet potatoes to add to the cutting videos. I suspect the knife will be smooth sailing through the carrots.
I was puzzled over the performance on the onions, so I took a measurement. At the midpoint it’s .4mm @1mm BTE. Generally I like to see .1 to .2 with my own knives.
In offline conversation with @MSicardCutlery we think it’s likely the knife has lost about 1.5mm in height, putting it at the point where it’s due for a bit of thinning. If anyone downstream has better stones than me for this steel (i.e. diamonds) then a bit of thinning BTE is warranted (after checking with @mengwong of course).
I’ll be packing it up and passing along to @Malcolm Johnson later this week. FYI @mengwong, Malcom and @timebard are swapping slots.
Here’s my final video. As noted by @blokey, in its current state (needing thinning) the knife is best on softer ingredients. The hesitation with push cuts on tomatoes is entirely my fault for not having the patience to get a better edge with my stones (shapton glass) that are exceedingly slow on this very tough metal. I thought I’d gotten it reasonably sharp but the tomatoes proved me wrong. It’s certainly at the point where I’d do a touchup otherwise.
In offline conversation with @MSicardCutlery we think it’s likely the knife has lost about 1.5mm in height, putting it at the point where it’s due for a bit of thinning. If anyone downstream has better stones than me for this steel (i.e. diamonds) then a bit of thinning BTE is warranted (after checking with @mengwong of course).
I’ll be packing it up and passing along to @Malcolm Johnson later this week. FYI @mengwong, Malcom and @timebard are swapping slots.
Here’s my final video. As noted by @blokey, in its current state (needing thinning) the knife is best on softer ingredients. The hesitation with push cuts on tomatoes is entirely my fault for not having the patience to get a better edge with my stones (shapton glass) that are exceedingly slow on this very tough metal. I thought I’d gotten it reasonably sharp but the tomatoes proved me wrong. It’s certainly at the point where I’d do a touchup otherwise.
Fascinating! Anyone who’s comfortable with thinning, please feel free. @Delat i appreciate your attention to detail and the initiative to investigate. This is turning into an open-source knife, everybody help debug lol
Draw cuts really do come through, eh.
BTW, if I may suggest a plan for all the tomatoes, potatoes, onions, etc fodder… Patatas bravas!
Draw cuts really do come through, eh.
BTW, if I may suggest a plan for all the tomatoes, potatoes, onions, etc fodder… Patatas bravas!
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Looks like there was another minor mixup. I was inserted before timebard because I was out of town (not in the original post). No worries. @Malcolm Johnson can send it to me after and I'll send to @timebard after if that works.
Passaround is on its way to @superworrier, then @Malcolm Johnson after him.
Received. The choil shot is a little deceiving IMO because the edge bevel is somewhat thick actually
I got the same BTE measurements (.4-.5). I don’t think I have the stones to thin this without a ton of trouble unfortunately (also lost my patience from thinning my YTanaka AS which was a pain). I’ve used it a little but I’ll save it for the goodbye post.
I got the same BTE measurements (.4-.5). I don’t think I have the stones to thin this without a ton of trouble unfortunately (also lost my patience from thinning my YTanaka AS which was a pain). I’ve used it a little but I’ll save it for the goodbye post.
Attachments
Man o man, if I knew you lived in LA I would have asked to potentially view it when it was in town..
Should we send it next to someone who have the stone or return to MSicard for a thining?
If no one has the stones (
) to do it, I'd be happy with taking it back for a thinning.
When Delat told me about the TBE I was a little surprised, but it was late so I initially discounted it as an error on my part. The next morning I set my calipers to .4mm and measured a bunch of similarly ground blades and found that the average distance from the edge where the blades measured .4mm was roughly 2.5mm-3mm. From that I concluded that the PA knife had lost some height and that accounted for the excess thickness bte. That's not to point fingers, I'd taken no such measurements prior to shipping the knife, and given the spontaneous nature of the PA it hadn't really crossed my mind to get those measurements from the first user. So I can't at all discount the possibility that this knife's geometry differed from the others on my table and that it was just thick to begin with.
This has, as of about 3/4 weeks ago compelled me to thin my grinds a bit more. Some adjustments to my grinder have allowed me to make the convexity more gradual as well.
) to do it, I'd be happy with taking it back for a thinning.When Delat told me about the TBE I was a little surprised, but it was late so I initially discounted it as an error on my part. The next morning I set my calipers to .4mm and measured a bunch of similarly ground blades and found that the average distance from the edge where the blades measured .4mm was roughly 2.5mm-3mm. From that I concluded that the PA knife had lost some height and that accounted for the excess thickness bte. That's not to point fingers, I'd taken no such measurements prior to shipping the knife, and given the spontaneous nature of the PA it hadn't really crossed my mind to get those measurements from the first user. So I can't at all discount the possibility that this knife's geometry differed from the others on my table and that it was just thick to begin with.
This has, as of about 3/4 weeks ago compelled me to thin my grinds a bit more. Some adjustments to my grinder have allowed me to make the convexity more gradual as well.
So…. I’m exactly the sort of masochist who’d love to see what thinning magnacut is like haha
Also happy to let the maker do so, obviously!
Also happy to let the maker do so, obviously!
I'm also happy to share the pain.
I suppose I just would have gone back to the grinder with a 320 or a 500 grit belt though.
Ok, can the next few gentlemen on the list confer and decide how they would like to respond to @ethompson – do you want to wait for a thinner knife or take the fatter knife earlier. Will the knife journey to Utah before Texas or Texas before Utah?
I'm not in a big hurry so if @ethompson or @MSicardCutlery want to thin it first I'm all for it.
Ok w me too if knife goes for thinning before my use
Hmm I think I got confused. Delat, Timebard, and Malcom Johnson conferred so I think Malcolm Johnson had it next. So perhaps I have made an ordering error. Regardless, I've already dropped it off at the post office so not much can be done. I'll post my review shortly
if it does go back to mr sicard for thinning (and, i assume, sharpening), and assuming i'm right that he's located in canada (?), i'm wondering if it might not be too late to join the queue for this pass-around. i wanted to ask earlier, but i have no sharpening skills of my own (which seemed to be expected of each of us), and shipping across the us/canada border increases delays and fees for everyone. if there were another canadian destination i could send it to after trying the knife (?), and if it were being sent to me sharpened (either by another tester or by the maker himself, e.g., after thinning), then it would solve both of those concerns.
over the last few months i have been wanting to save up some money and inquire about having mr sicard possibly make either an aeb-l or 52100 gyuto (or possibly buying one of his pre-made sometimes listed here), and this would be a rare opportunity to hold something in my hand that could give just a basic sense of what that might be like. i have otherwise been not very active on the forum for a while, trying to tell myself to not buy any more knives, especially with the financial situation being as it has been lately for many of us, but window-shopping and seeing what has been coming from his workshop specifically, and his still-sane approach to pricing... well, it would be very neat to try something from a knife-maker like that.
it's ok if it's too late or there are other problems with adding me to the list, but with what i saw recently in the pass-around discussions, i thought i might finally ask.
over the last few months i have been wanting to save up some money and inquire about having mr sicard possibly make either an aeb-l or 52100 gyuto (or possibly buying one of his pre-made sometimes listed here), and this would be a rare opportunity to hold something in my hand that could give just a basic sense of what that might be like. i have otherwise been not very active on the forum for a while, trying to tell myself to not buy any more knives, especially with the financial situation being as it has been lately for many of us, but window-shopping and seeing what has been coming from his workshop specifically, and his still-sane approach to pricing... well, it would be very neat to try something from a knife-maker like that.
it's ok if it's too late or there are other problems with adding me to the list, but with what i saw recently in the pass-around discussions, i thought i might finally ask.
Sure, we can put you on the list – probably at the end of the queue, so the knife could go back to @MSicardCutlery for a touch-up if needed, and then to you, and then to a buddy of mine in Toronto who can bring it to me eventually.
No worries, whoever receives it can send it to @ethompson after their turn, and then resume. I have updated the list to try to keep up.
thanks, mengwong. that's very kind of you. sounds good. much appreciated.
