Dawson Knives' own John Roy sat down with Larrin Thomas, master Metallurgist, creator of KnifeSteelNerds.com and inventor of ProCut and MagnaCut steel.
“I don’t call myself a knifemaker,” Larrin told John Roy, “but I have made knives.”
Like John, Larrin was practically born into the world of steel. His father, Devin Thomas, is a skilled and well-respected Damascus steel forger. When Larrin was 16, Devin took him to the Las Vegas Custom Knife Show. He was fascinated—from that moment forward, he thought about steel the way a fisherman thinks about a gentle lake.
He wanted to learn everything about metallurgy, so he scoured his father’s books, especially early drafts of Metallurgy for Bladesmiths, written by Dr. John Verhoeven, the result of 15 years of bladesmithing and knife steel treatment.
He wanted to learn everything about metallurgy, so he scoured his father’s books, especially early drafts of Metallurgy for Bladesmiths, written by Dr. John Verhoeven, the result of 15 years of bladesmithing and knife steel treatment.
Larrin's original passion was knife steel. So he went onto BladeForums.com, where he debated other posters on the merits of various steels. This would eventually inspire him to create his website, Knife Steel Nerds.
From there, he studied materials science at the University of Nevada–Reno before pursuing his doctorate in metallurgical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Through the long years of graduate school, his wife Jessica stood by his side as they raised two children together. Professionally, he began his career in Pittsburgh, working in the automotive steel industry, even as he quietly nurtured a separate passion—the world of knife steels.
Obsessed with perfection
For a time, Larrin tinkered with the reigning champions—S30V and S35VN—using his equations to nudge their chemistry. Each tweak made one property better but another worse. “I can make it a little more wear-resistant, but then it gets a little less tough. Do I really want to make something 10% different and call it a new thing? That’s not exciting.”
Larrin’s obsession with knife steel history pointed him toward a different path. In his book The Story of Knife Steel, he traced Crucible’s early experiments: their S60V stainless carried 17% chromium, but later S90V dropped to 14%—and paradoxically became tougher without losing corrosion resistance. If 14% was better than 17%, how much of that chromium was actually needed? Thomas realized the answer was closer to 11%. “What if we used just 11% and balanced every other element together?” he wondered.
That insight became the seed of MagnaCut. To test the idea, he went to Niagara Specialty Metals and Crucible Industries. It's risky for steel manufacturers to experiment with new steel alloys - each trial requires a significant investment of material, time, testing and process development before the first bar ever rolls off the line. Niagara was intrigued; Crucible was skeptical. “To them, I was just an internet metallurgist, a Monday-morning quarterback,” he recalled. They quizzed him, probing for weak spots in his grasp of steelmaking. “I answered mostly correctly—or at least correct enough. They didn’t give me a score at the end,” he joked.
One shot to get it right
But he also brought receipts - the data, the models, and the PowerPoint slides. “This is going to work for this, this, and this reason,” he told them. Eventually, he convinced both companies to take the gamble.
What happened next was almost unheard of in metallurgy: the first heat of MagnaCut came out exactly as calculated. No second or third iteration, no years of adjustment.
“Normally, you don’t get things on the first try,” Larrin admitted. “If we had whiffed, MagnaCut would not exist.”
“Normally, you don’t get things on the first try,” Larrin admitted. “If we had whiffed, MagnaCut would not exist.”
New frontiers
When Larrin introduced ProCut in May 2025, John Roy was immediately intrigued: "On paper, ProCut represented all the best traits of traditional high carbon steels, but rebalanced, refined and made better - and you can't beat the classics. I really wanted to get some in the shop and try it."
Across their 50+ year history, Dawson routinely spends weeks or even months testing a new steel, including developing a custom heat treat that will highlight its strengths. Accordingly, John and his brother, Dennis, put ProCut through the same process and then a series of hardcore shop "torture" tests. First, toughness and flexibility. Then, sharpness and edge retention.
“We were pounding into Unistrut,” John said with a chuckle. “Not something I recommend trying at home, but we like to go to extremes to demonstrate how capable our knives are for the tasks they were actually designed for. And honestly, Dennis and I were blown away with how ProCut performed. Stayed super sharp, no edge chipping or rolling. Incredible lateral strength."
In slicing tests, ProCut even held a slight edge. “You could actually hear the difference,” John continued. “We cut through stacks of paper, applying almost no pressure, and you could hear ProCut’s finer edge sing through.”
Across their 50+ year history, Dawson routinely spends weeks or even months testing a new steel, including developing a custom heat treat that will highlight its strengths. Accordingly, John and his brother, Dennis, put ProCut through the same process and then a series of hardcore shop "torture" tests. First, toughness and flexibility. Then, sharpness and edge retention.
“We were pounding into Unistrut,” John said with a chuckle. “Not something I recommend trying at home, but we like to go to extremes to demonstrate how capable our knives are for the tasks they were actually designed for. And honestly, Dennis and I were blown away with how ProCut performed. Stayed super sharp, no edge chipping or rolling. Incredible lateral strength."
In slicing tests, ProCut even held a slight edge. “You could actually hear the difference,” John continued. “We cut through stacks of paper, applying almost no pressure, and you could hear ProCut’s finer edge sing through.”
Dr. Larrin Thomas, his lovely wife Jessica and their children. To read more about the doctor's latest projects, visit Larrin's website: knifesteelnerds.com.
Always looking ahead
“I’ve been exceptionally impressed with the steels you’ve put together — both MagnaCut and ProCut,” John Roy said. He leaned forward, concluding with the question that every knifemaker has on their mind: “So, are you working on anything new?”
Larrin smiled. “I’m always working on something,” he said. “You never know when it’ll come out.”
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