I recently purchased the MagnaCut marking knife from Erie Lake Toolworks. The marking knife is a beautiful tool that I’m sure will last for generations to come. I haven’t used the marking knife on a project yet but gave it a test run and love the feel and quality of the tool. After placing my order I contacted Nick with a question about my order and couldn’t believe how quickly he responded.
Kit arrived well packaged. Pieces were wrapped in heavy-duty air cushion film. Wood is clean, straight-grained. Grooves and threads are machined with great precision, smooth surfaces, no torn fibers. Using it with a shop-made brass garter. Clamps securely with moderate torque (18" handle, white oak jaws). Also put some paraffin on the threads to get absolutely smooth action.
An absolute joy to use!
I originally bought one for my Lie-Nielsen #51 shooting plane. Besides taking and holding an extremely sharp edge, the MagnaCut chips significantly less than the factory A2 blade. The MagnaCut edge lasts at least 3 times longer than the A2 in the hard and abrasive woods that I use. I liked the first one so much I went back and bought several more. I use a diamond plate for restoring a chipped edge and Shapton GlassStones for honing and polishing. The Shaptons are slower, but they do work.