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Magnesium Knife Handles Won’t Kill You—Probably

Magnesium Knife Handles Won’t Kill You—Probably

Magnesium panic, gear talk, and a new series that actually cuts deep.

Taylor Martin
May 09, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

In partnership with

Hey—

I took a few weeks off from the EDC Weekly—not just due to travel, but to put together the final pieces of something better.

That something is Deep Cuts—a new weekly video and podcast that now works hand-in-hand with this newsletter. It’s louder, opinionated, and packed with gear worth talking about.

Episode 1 is live now, and we’re kicking it off with:

A deep dive into whether magnesium handles are actually dangerous
A sharp community carry feature from @6x6matt
A new segment called Keep, Trade, Toss
And a giveaway winner announcement

The show’s built to evolve—but it’s finally where it needs to be. From now on, this newsletter and the series will fuel each other every week.

Let’s do the damn thing!

Deep Cuts
Carry Commission Drop
Sponsors
Carry of the Week
Is Magnesium Dangerous?
Giveaway Winner
Trivia

Deep Cuts

The very first episode of Deep Cuts is live right now over on the Best Damn EDC YouTube channel. It’s a brand new, community-driven show that will happen weekly, where I’ll answer questions or reply to comments on topics I find interesting, show you all the best and latest gear to come across our desks, and share some opinions I’ve been keeping to myself for far too long.

Brass Topo Zippo. Left: Two-week patina. Right: Brand new.

Also, the new version of the Best Damn EDC Topo Zippo dropped since we last spoke. At the time of writing, a few are left in stock.

Carry Commission Drop

From left to right: Rustic Heirloom Hitchhiker Honeycomb, CC x Big Idea Design Ti Lookout Topo, CC x JRW Gear Tough Clip Brass

Last night, we had one of our sickest drops yet over on Carry Commission. The Hitchhiker returned in a brand new colorway—Honeycomb. It’s a vegetable tan leather with insane pull-up. We also customized some Ti Lookout Fixed Blades from Big Idea Design and gave them the Carry Commission spin. And, at long last, we restocked the JRW Gear Tough Clips in both brass and titanium.

Tough Clips and the Honeycomb Hitchhiker are still in stock but the Topo Lookouts sold out shortly after the drop.

If you don’t want to miss future Carry Commission drops, sign up for email updates.

Carry of the Week

via @6×6matt

I may add a few things depending on the day, but these are the items that are almost always with me.

I still love my Alpaka wallet, as the zipper pouch keeps me from losing small items. I always have one (or two…or three) Covert Instruments items with me but the Riv Pick always stays in the wallet.

I didn’t think about including the Wazoo belt last time I was featured but if I am wearing a belt, this is this one. There are plenty of other goodies cached in there.

I still have the Panerai but the Breitling Navitimer 46mm in green is on my wrist more often than not.

Lastly, I decided to add the 711L ratchet to my minimalist keychain and the Railer bit holder keeps my trusty PB Swiss bits in place in case I need them while away from the house. If I take much more than this, I usually carry the Paladin33 Outback Omega Ultralight. I think I can blame Taylor for that purchase.

Matt

Is Magnesium A Dangerous Handle Material?

Let’s talk magnesium. @Obsidian_One on YouTube dropped this take:

He’s not entirely wrong. Magnesium does burn at a ridiculous 5,610°F, and once it’s going, good luck putting it out. That’s all widely documented.

But to ignite it? You need to shave it down—like the firestarter blocks—and heat it to about 883°F. As a solid bar, like a knife handle, it’s way harder to light. You’d need to hit it with direct flame…and stay on it for a while.

Obsidian_One’s skepticism isn’t misguided at all. One of the first things I asked Work Sharp when they told me they were using magnesium was, “Can you start a fire with it?”
They tried. They couldn’t. And there’s a reason for that: they’re not using raw magnesium. It’s an alloy—I don’t know the exact spec, but it’s clearly more stable and has an even higher ignition threshold.

And let’s be honest: if your RMX handle does somehow ignite, the fact that magnesium burns at 5,600 degrees is probably the least of your problems. You’re already incinerated by that point.

The more valid concern? Corrosion.

Dan Dovel—the mad scientist behind the RMX—showed us that uncoated magnesium will corrode if exposed to water. That’s not speculation. It’s just chemistry. Like anything else, it’ll need some care. The real question is: how long will it last? Or how badly will it corrode?

Even with Cerakote, constant button friction is going to wear through the coating eventually. What happens then? How quickly does it corrode? Can the button stick? Can you knock it loose? Will that affect tolerances? Is it fixable?

Dan’s carried a raw RMX for over three years. Several folks at Work Sharp have done the same. They had other prototypes in different materials on hand in Ashland—aluminum, steel, and titanium—and they still landed on magnesium alloy. That tells me they trust it.

That said… I still kind of want to grab a few RMXs and beat the hell out of them. Maybe even get my hands on a raw one and see what it takes to make it corrode to a point it’s unrecoverable.

Giveaway Winner

Benchmade Mini Bedlam

Last month, we announced we’d give away a Benchmade Mini Bedlam. We’re choosing the winner a little later than expected, but the winner of this Mini Bedlam is Nathan M. We’ve got yet another one up next.

If you’re not signed up for the email list, subscribe now to enter. Good luck.

Puzzle

The Sebenza is the flagship model from Chris Reeve Knives. What does “Sebenza” mean in Zulu?

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