Fixed blade Spyderco Stretch?

anthonycastorena2014

anthonycastorena2014

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Nov 27, 2014
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So I have been dreaming up this knife for a long time. I have used my stretches for all kinds of things from kitchen work to skinning a buck. I have to say I love them! I think it would be awesome and doesn't seem too far out to manage. It would be cool if it came in several handle configurations. FRN, Stabilized wood, and G10? Long time reader first time posting. Love BF and the knowledge some of the guys have on what seems like every knife related subject. Am I crazy or would this bee awesome!?
 
The Stretch fits my hand much better than the Delica or the Endura. It's a fine knife, available in a world of configurations. IMO...difficult to transition this folder into a fixed blade, however.
The fixed-blade world has SO MANY blade and grip designs, and comes in production as well as custom offerings. I would imagine that you might have to spend a lot of time choosing from such a magnificent lineup of blades.
You will perhaps be best served, for kitchen duties, by spine thickness of 3/32" or 1/8", accompanied by a high hollow grind. (I have never skinned a deer.)
 
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The Spyderco Mule has a handle that’s nearly identical in size and shape, and with no scales coming with the knife it could have any material you wanted.
 
KingMC said:
The Spyderco Mule has a handle that’s nearly identical in size and shape, and with no scales coming with the knife it could have any material you wanted.
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Yep. Different blade shape and no choil, but the handle is there. Lots of different mules currently available direct from Spyderco at the moment as well.

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anthonycastorena2014 said:
So I have been dreaming up this knife for a long time. I have used my stretches for all kinds of things from kitchen work to skinning a buck. I have to say I love them! I think it would be awesome and doesn't seem too far out to manage. It would be cool if it came in several handle configurations. FRN, Stabilized wood, and G10? Long time reader first time posting. Love BF and the knowledge some of the guys have on what seems like every knife related subject. Am I crazy or would this bee awesome!?
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I'd love to see one as well. I started a thread about this quite a while back in th Spyderco forum here. A fixed blade Stretch with a wood handle would be amazing!
 
I didn't realize the handle shapes for the mule were so similar. I may get one and see what I think. Thanks for the feedback guys! Now to bring the idea to Sal and see what he says lol
 
KingMC said:
The Spyderco Mule has a handle that’s nearly identical in size and shape, and with no scales coming with the knife it could have any material you wanted.
Click to expand...
Spyderco Mule is a fixed blade version of Tenacious if I remember correctly.

GalvanizedHero said:
Don't buy a mule for more than $60. They don't heat treat the steel very well.
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Wow! I guess you know what you are talking about!
 
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Poez said:
Wow! I guess you know what you are talking about!
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All I know is according to jims tests with mules they retain an edge about half as long as spydercos production knives (usa made) in the same steel. They make Mules in China and Taiwan.
 
really? that is annoying... perhaps they fail to heat treat them after initial hardening? I was looking at a mule recently but haven't pulled the trigger yet. If it's just a case of tempering it, I could do that myself :)

Do you know what the issue is?
 
There has only been one Mule made in China, the 9cr18mov Mule. They have been made in Taichung since MT18, the S110V Mule, due to capacity issues in Golden. Many of the Mules have been made in Golden and some in Japan.

The Mules are pilot runs. The S110V Mule was run softer than the folders that were produced later. The Mule is likely tougher but in Jim's tests did have less edge retention than the later folders.

I do not believe that it is accurate to state that all the Mules have inferior heat treatments. That is something he has inferred from a couple of the Mules that were run harder in their later production pieces than they were in their Mules. Making a blanket statement about all the Mules based in that is disingenuous.

Part of the purpose of the Mules is to get the steels in people's hands to get feedback. It makes sense to start conservative and then increase the hardness in later knives if the durability seems adequate. I personally doubt that it is unskilled labor and botched heat treats. The Taichung factory is good at what they do.
 
GalvanizedHero said:
Don't buy a mule for more than $60. They don't heat treat the steel very well.
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That's malarkey. The mules are ran a little softer on some steels, yes, but they are not inferior heat treats. No, they aren't 100% optimized heat treats and grinds for the steels... but almost literally nothing is in production knives. They still are Spyderco knives, and except for the handful of lemons that were shipped out (and promptly taken care of by Spyderco) they are great knives for the price, and a great way to see how a lot of less common steels perform.
 
GalvanizedHero said:
Just tig weld the lock open lol. Insta fixed blade.
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GalvanizedHero said:
Don't buy a mule for more than $60. They don't heat treat the steel very well.
Click to expand...

GalvanizedHero said:
All I know is according to jims tests with mules they retain an edge about half as long as spydercos production knives (usa made) in the same steel. They make Mules in China and Taiwan.
Click to expand...

GalvanizedHero said:
Inferior heat treatments, unskilled labor. The usual problems with most Chinese knives.
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Your trolling days on here are over with... goodbye.
 
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