Got My Mule (Photo Heavy)

V

Vivi

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Got a Mule in a trade recently. Going to need to get another for field carry since I like the pattern quite a bit for a smaller FB for the woods. This one I just wanted to beat around and test.









Handle hardly damaged from being whacked with a hammer and khukuri spine several times.

I just got a cheap magnifying glass and tried to take photos at 100x magnification. They didn't turn out well. I'll get a better magnifying lens in the future that hooks up to my computer for this. The texture at the break is strange looking. The white patches you see are mostly debris from wiping it off on my shirt and pieces of wood.








The tip broke by stabbing the knife into a log and then giving it a strong whack with the spine of my khukuri. Wasn't surprised it broke.

The steel has been working well for me. Got a patina easily as I expected. The polish helps some. The slight patina you see beneath the crud from being thrown around the woods today was from slicing up a pizza and leaving it sit for 15 minutes.

The edge wasn't as thin as I like my knives so it didn't carve wood too well. It seems durable though, and has shown pretty good edge holding. I banged the edge with the spine of my khuk a few times and ran my fingernail down the blade and hardly felt a thing. Was digging around in wood all night and doing what chopping such a small knife is capable of and the edge wasn't any worse at the end of it.

I'm going to do some edge retention testing with the blade that's left.
 
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Umm...

Looks like pieces of abused steel that might have been part of a knife, and three pictures of hamburger at low resolution.

Or maybe burnt toast.

Have you thought of using a stick of dynamite to test edge retention? Remember to keep a steady hand when you cut into it.
 
Eventually some real testing on a mule.
How hard were you hitting that thing to make it snap?.
Also how would you say it holds up too the other top steels from spyderco even though i know its not stainless?.
Does the edge roll or chip.
Any info well apriciated thanks.
 
These_Nutz said:
Eventually some real testing on a mule.
How hard were you hitting that thing to make it snap?.
Also how would you say it holds up too the other top steels from spyderco even though i know its not stainless?.
Does the edge roll or chip.
Any info well apriciated thanks.
Click to expand...

The knife was stabbed in about an inch deep then I gave it an arm swing with the khukuri. Didn't swing especially hard.

I haven't done enough regular cutting to comment on edge holding, but from the little I did I'd imagine it would be above 8Cr13MoV, close to VG10 and under S30V. I might be off though, I'm not familiar with the steel.

The edge was stable under chopping and batoning through wood. I gave the edge a little tap with the spine of the khukuri and detected no damage with my unaided eye and fingernail. Giving the edge some taps with a hammer it sort of mashes and rolls over looking at it with magnification. No chipping from that. I did some chopping into a corner of the steel neck of the hammer and the same thing happened. The edge deformed and rolled but no chipping, and even the damage sustained was rather minimal. I plan to try batoning through nails and other harsh cutting later today and see how the edge holds up.

I chopped at the Mule with a cheap kitchen knife. The Mule wasn't much thicker at the very edge. The damage to the kitchen knife was much greater, but I was surprised in that one of the first few chops knocked a chip off the Mule's blade. Small, round chip that's shorter than the edge bevel, about .8mm deep.






I left the tip in tap water for 5 hours and there was very slight graying overall but other than that no effect on it. I'm going to do a measured concentration of salt and water overnight and will report back in the afternoon.

---------------

Would like to hear feedback from others who have used / abused their Mule's in whatever fashion.
 
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This is IMO exactly why spyderco are offering two knifes too people.
Not to make extra cash on Ebay.
 
shangchi108 said:
Umm...

Looks like pieces of abused steel that might have been part of a knife, and three pictures of hamburger at low resolution.

Or maybe burnt toast.

Have you thought of using a stick of dynamite to test edge retention? Remember to keep a steady hand when you cut into it.
Click to expand...

Are you not aware of the clearly stated reasons for the Mule's creation?
The Mule was made specifically so that users can test the relative merits of different steels in a standardized platform. You don't test steels by wiping them gently with a soft cloth, and placing them in a safe, waiting for the secondary market value to increase.

Vivi and TheseNutz have the right idea.
 
Here the tip was soaked in salt water (1 cup of water, 1 tbsp salt) for 7 hours. Only a slight darkening.



Here the blade was wrapped in a paper towel soaked with Apple Cider (Not from concentrate) for two hours. Weird design.



 
I love my Mule to abuser her like that but it is nice to know it can handle some abuse. I much prefer knives with thinner sharper edges to ones that are better crowbars than knives.

So whhen is the new Mule2 coming out?
 
Very cool testing.:thumbup: The paper towel/ cider patina is bizarre- in a good way.

I can't wait to get my micarta shaped so I can start using mine.
 
I'd say that mule is hardly done.
It wouldn't take long to regrind the tip and there looks to be plenty of edge left.
 
Joshua J. said:
I'd say that mule is hardly done.
It wouldn't take long to regrind the tip and there looks to be plenty of edge left.
Click to expand...

True. Even if I don't regrind the tip I'm still going to do edge retention testing with it. I'm going to try a run of VG10, S30V, ZDP189 and 52100. This knife is hardly done, I have a lot more to throw at it.
 
Make sure you talk to Uncle Jarvis on the Busse Forum. You two are cut from the same cloth!!
 
Have you cut any metal yet im intrested to see what happens there?.
More poeple should be doing this with there spare Mule.
There should be a failure test or something designed for this and all future mules IMO.
 
1kimo4u said:
waste of a knife.
Click to expand...

Why was the Mule not intended as a cheap way for the average user to test knife steels?.
Thats the concept i got and if he paid for it then why would you complain if he chooses to break one up so others like me can learn from his testing.
If i get a hold of two next time at the going rate then im going to test one to failure too.
 
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