K390 Mule makes it to mexico - welcome to the jungle!

[hookahhabib]

I'm happy to say one of my k390 Mules made it to Mexico and into my hands today

And what a nice Mule it is! Much finer finish than I was expecting and sharp enough to shave cleanly.

While driving back from the post office, my girlfriend and I decided to stop by the river so I brought the Mule along for our walk and a couple of pics...

forgive the less than great cell phone pics!

During the walk, I noticed a tire floating in the river and pulled it out...

And then I decided to christen the Mule

it just dove right in to that nylon reinforced side-wall and worked through it smoothly ...up until I whacked it into the tires steel belting

I ever so slightly rolled some of the edge and the smallest of chip...

but I decided to keep cutting:

as i expected, it still shaved except for where I rolled the edge:

On my way home I picked up a couple freshly fallen mangoes to get a patina started before trying to fix the edge. Since I live so close to the beach and spend a lot of time near ocean water and in a constantly humid environment, I thought this a good idea.

Here it is after spending 2 hours smothered in ripe mango and then an hour and a half on SiC sandpaper (up to 1200 grit) and a mousepad - I apologize, it was already dark outside so the pics are pretty bad.

I finished it up with a leather strop and green compound. Edge damage has been repaired (and what a nice edge it takes!) and while it did take a little more time to get done, working on the k390 wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be and I do consider myself to be a novice at sharpening and edge repair...so far I'm liking this steel :thumbup:

The patina didn't come out very dark, so I'll either do it again or hope this offers enough protection from the environment to let it naturally develop a proper patina

Knowing that I have a second one of these Mules sitting at my family's house in CA, I figure I can go hard on this mule and really get to know k390. While I don't intend on treating this knife like I do my Busses and blatantly engage in non-knife tasks, I've decided this knife will not be babied...will be sure to let you all know how things go with it.

Am getting some of the local ironwood in the next few days and will attempt scales for the first time, but will go with a paracord wrap until then

 

[SoCal_kid]

Very nice post. What other steels would you compare this steel to so far?

 

[RevDevil]

Excellent thread. K390 is similar to CPM-M4.

 

[Cypress]

I'm afraid to use my Mule... The work it took to put an edge on mine was hellacious!

But just like you said, it takes a MEAN edge!

 

[hookahhabib]

Thanks guys :thumbup:

Very nice post. What other steels would you compare this steel to so far?

I'll have to get back to you on that in terms of cutting performance and edge holding since I didn't do enough cutting today to make any meaningful comparisons.

Sharpening it didn't feel much worse or more difficult than the one M4 knife I ever worked with, it just took longer to get the blade where I wanted it to be. I am of the opinion that if you can get a nice edge out of SR101, M4, or s35vn, you should be able to do the same with k390...it just will take you longer to get to that point. Maybe it's because of the more forgiving nature of using sand paper and a mouse pad as opposed to stones, possibly combined with my general inexperience in sharpening, but biggest difference in sharpening and edge repair I've noticed from steel to steel is the time required to get a satisfyingly sharp edge...I call mine done when I can whittle hair.

Excellent thread. K390 is similar to CPM-M4.

In what ways are you saying they're similar? I'll be the first to admit I still have a lot to learn about steel.

I know they're supposed to be similar in terms of rust resistance, and after today I think they're similar to sharpen. If K390 ends up being as tough as M4 in real world performance, I'd be very impressed!

I'm afraid to use my Mule... The work it took to put an edge on mine was hellacious!

But just like you said, it takes a MEAN edge!

I say use it buddy! That mean air splitting edge it takes begs for use :evil:

You'll only refine your sharpening skills more anyway, right?


I am of the opinion that the way to really prove that k390 (or any other new wonder-steel) is as great as it is supposed to be is if we have as many people as possible using them out in the real world, getting real results and then sharing those results in places like bladeforums. While I love the data and discussion that comes from the forum members dedicated to more variable-controlled scientific testing, I find it is the stories of people and their real experiences with their knives that has inspired me to find more performance from and learn more about the capabilities of my own knives...does that make sense?


(It's getting late here, I think I need to call it a night!)

 

[ToxicBot11]

Need some scales on it, then it will be more user friendly.

 

[ice-pic]

At least a paracord wrap!

 

[pearl2291]

Awesome thread!! Please keep up up to speed on how this preforms.

 

[hookahhabib]

Need some scales on it, then it will be more user friendly.

Oh yes, I completely agree with that! I would have at least wrapped it before going to the river yesterday but it was a totally random trip and I figured a completely naked mule is still better than no mule

At least a paracord wrap!

stay tuned for pics of paracord wrap sometime later today

my supplies of paracord I brought down to Mexico with me are running low, but I've managed to scrape enough together for some kind of a wrap, so will give it a go soon!

 

[wire edge]

Great pictures! From all I've seen and read, it seems K390 is some great stuff.