MT16P – Mule Team Fixed Blade featuring CTS XHP

[bdmicarta]

I'm not greedy, I ordered one blem.

 

[jtoler_9]

Excited for the one I have inbound. I am trying to figure out what scales to build. I think maybe some osage orange or some orange g10. What is everyone else going to use?

 

[razorburn]

I just checked if the first rates available and was surprised they're out,only blems now.The question I have is how big was the run and how were first rates and blems.

 

[ice-pic]

If you snooze you lose I just ordered one and had to go blem. I hope it is not egregious.

 

[jtoler_9]

I just checked if the first rates available and was surprised they're out,only blems now.The question I have is how big was the run and how were first rates and blems.

Check again. I see both still in stock this morning.

 

[bdmicarta]

My blem MT16 arrived in the mail today. I can't find anything that I consider a blem on it.

 

[fq55]

Nice, I ordered a Blem last night and some paracord. I've been looking for someone to do a handle and sheath since then. Looking forward to reading some performance reports as I do not know much about CTS XHP.

 

[SpyderPhreak]

How hard did they go with these? Can't seem to find that info. Might pick one up when I go up to the outlet store shortly.

 

[Sithus1966]

 

[PB Wilson]

Those scales look super grippy. Great job!

I got my duo of Mules and am looking forward to putting them to work. I've got to ream some of the holes as there is a bit of metal in some of them but it should be an easy task.

I like the look of the stonewash finish and have hopes that this steel is corrosion resistant enough to keep clean. I think it can given what I've read about XHP. The funny thing is that a piece of stone from the tumbling process was lodged in one of the smaller holes. I found a similar piece of stone in the watch pocket of a pair of jeans. Interesting to experience a bit of the manufacturing process.

 

[Sithus1966]

The funny thing is that a piece of stone from the tumbling process was lodged in one of the smaller holes. I found a similar piece of stone in the watch pocket of a pair of jeans. Interesting to experience a bit of the manufacturing process.

Those are rare and highly collectible. You need to hand onto it.

 

[SpyderPhreak]

Nice work on the handles!!!

 

[SpyderPhreak]

Since this seems like a good info consolidation thread for the mules, I am editing some info in from some of my other posts:

So what do the blemishes look like on the new Mules?

To be honest, not like much of anything. It certainly will not affect the knife in use!

The blemish is only on one side of the knife blade. It is a very minor spot at the back end of the primary grind right on the edge of the plunge line, where there is a slight high spot that appears as a line about 1/16" wide. It is hardly noticeable; You don't even see it unless the light hits it just right, and you can not even feel it. There are certainly other manufacturers out there that would not call it a blemish, but Spyderco's QC is a fw notches higher! Here are a couple pictures which show it as best as I can get it to show up (light colored line in the first pic, dark colored in the second). You can just barely see the line running along the top of where is says "CTS XHP". IMO, these Mules are a steal at $50!!! :thumbup:

 

[SpyderPhreak]

By the way, why the little notch in the tang holes? Are there different ways of making these blades depending on the country of origin? My Cobalt Mule from Seki Japan doesn't have that little notch. Just curious.

I would think the notch depends on how the blade and holes are formed. If it is stamped, laser cut, or water jet cut. One type of machine must cause that for some reason. Some of my Para 2 liners have a small notch on the outside perimeter that is similar.

I'm also surprised that small line is the only reason it made it to the blem heap. I have got high end Sprint runs with much more serious issues. Guess it just depends on the person doing the grading.

As I recall, that little notch is where the laser starts its cut. I'd have to dig all of mine out to tell you which have it and which don't.

^^^ This. Note, only the 3/16" holes have this little notch. It actually won't make a bit of difference once you put handles on. The 1/4" lanyard hole toward the butt and the 4 big 3/8" holes have a bit of "splattered" metal stuck inside of them in one spot where the laser cut ended. If you choose to use these holes (I expect to be using the 1/4" one for a lanyard tube), they will need to be reamed out to ensure the hardware fits without interference. Since the 3/16" holes have the notch instead, I won't have to worry so much about that with my mosaic pins.

My guess is that it has something to with the size of the laser beam and the smallest size of a hole it can cut without overlap in the beam. Obviously it can do a 1/4" hole in one pass without the notch, so 3/16" must be below that tolerance for beam size.

Typically laser cut parts have a small tab of material left at the point where the cut begins and ends. I would guess that the cut is done this way intentionally to avoid having a sharp sprue of material left protruding into the hole that would need to be removed in a secondary operation. The sprue would need to be removed to allow pins or screws to be inserted into the hole. Instead of having to figure out some way to remove a sprue protruding into the hole later they just program the laser to end its cut slightly "outside" of the diameter of the hole so that it burns off the sprue at the end of its cut. I could be wrong, but this seems logical to me.

 

[SpyderPhreak]

Forgot to add; these should be hardened to 60-61 Rc.

 

[Sierra_Dave]

PBWilson mentioned stonewashing and that got me to thinking. Here [hopefully] are stonewashed photos and a comparison. Note I am a bad photographer.

 

[Sierra_Dave]

Last photo shows stonewashed over a polished blade. Both "Blems" and an original non-blem. The blem is a very slight ridge which as Sal noted, cosmetic.

 

[phillipsted]

^^^ This. Note, only the 3/16" holes have this little notch. It actually won't make a bit of difference once you put handles on. The 1/4" lanyard hole toward the butt and the 4 big 3/8" holes have a bit of "splattered" metal stuck inside of them in one spot where the laser cut ended. If you choose to use these holes (I expect to be using the 1/4" one for a lanyard tube), they will need to be reamed out to ensure the hardware fits without interference. Since the 3/16" holes have the notch instead, I won't have to worry so much about that with my mosaic pins.

I always ream out the 3/16" holes before fitting my pins - just to reduce the chances of injuring the scales by forcing the pins through the rough spots in the holes.

Here are a couple of shots of my XHP Mule with some Karelian Birch scales:

TedP

 

[pap11y]

I ordered 2 blems not knowing of this post. I am still trying to find the said blemishes....

I have some tiger maple scales lined up for one

 

[SpyderPhreak]

TedP, those Birch scales look GREAT! :thumbup: Did you make them yourself?


I have some stabilized redwood burl which I am putting on mine for handles. Here's a pic:

I plan to use 3 mosaic pins and attach it permanently, along with a 1/4" SS lanyard tube at the rear.

These are 7/32" pins in Copper and Nickel Silver, so I will be reaming the 3/16" holes out a bit anyway. Just couldn't find a 3/16" mosaic pin that I really liked. I'm waiting for the burl scales to adjust to my dry climate before using them (even though they are stabilized, they've already lost over 1 gram of water weight since getting here about 2 weeks ago from the Pacific NW). Can't wait to get started though!!!