CPM MagnaCut in stock
Yes, for a buyer who wants edge retention, toughness and corrosion resistance at once: the verified records rate all three excellent. Designed by metallurgist Dr Larrin Thomas and produced by Crucible, it runs about 1.15% carbon, 10.7% chromium, elevated vanadium and niobium and about 0.2% nitrogen at 60 to 64 HRC, and it is widely reported as the best combination of the three in a mainstream production stainless.
Most stainless steels face a trade: raise the carbon for wear resistance and the chromium gets locked into carbides, costing corrosion resistance. MagnaCut was designed around that problem, keeping chromium in solution rather than in carbides while using vanadium and niobium carbides for wear resistance.
The nitrogen addition supports the same goal. The result is a steel that does not force the usual compromise.
Edge retention is excellent. Toughness is excellent, which is the genuinely unusual part at this hardness. Corrosion resistance is excellent despite the modest chromium figure, because of where that chromium sits.
Around 62.5 HRC is commonly cited as the sweet spot for the toughness balance, with up to 65 achievable with cryogenic treatment.
It is expensive, and it is not magic. Sharpening still requires diamond or good ceramic, and a bad heat treat will still produce a bad knife. It was also introduced in 2021 and 2022, so its long-term field history is shorter than that of S30V.
If you want edge retention, toughness and corrosion resistance without trading one away, it was designed for exactly that. If you sharpen often anyway, a cheaper steel may serve you well. On the Kershaw Leek that cheaper steel is Sandvik 14C28N, and 14C28N vs MagnaCut sets the two side by side.
The grid below shows CPM MagnaCut listings from Böker, Buck, Kershaw and Hogue, chosen from the catalog when this answer was written. Each one carries CPM MagnaCut in its own specification table, and its price is read from the live catalog every time the site is built.
The full reference entry, with the published composition and hardness range and every listing we carry in it, is CPM MagnaCut in the Steel Lab.