Mule Team #4 - Pics

HaroldB

HaroldB

Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
630
It's finally here!

The delivery driver just dropped off the ZDP-189 Mule and it's AWESOMELY sharp :D

Now let's see your pics -

9486312-lg.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice. :thumbup:

Is this the first Mule not made in Golden, CO? Just wondering. :)
 
Yep.

The 1st three are Golden, but #4 is Seki City, Japan.

Kinda a shock at first but an awesome blade ~;-)
 
Mine should be here tomorrow, then it will be off to Tom Krein for some Canvas Micarta and kydex like my M4 Mule which I just revived from Tom this week. I just rebevelled my M4 Mule to 9 degrees per side all the way to .05 micron, and it is spectacularly sharp. I will do the same to my ZDP Mule and I'll have a great chance to compare my 2 favorite steels head to head in identical knives. I am in Mule heaven this week getting these 2 within 2 days of each other.

Mike
 
I will do the same to my ZDP Mule and I'll have a great chance to compare my 2 favorite steels head to head in identical knives
Click to expand...

I believe this is exactly the kind of testing and usage Sal has in mind when going to the trouble of making these for no real profit. Please let us know how they compare. Personally, I can get M4 sharper than ZDP, but if they are exactly the same geometry, width, polish etc. , that is about as good a test as we can do without lab equipment.

I don't see myself having the time or resources to do this for a while as I'm scheduling another surgery but I'm getting one to keep for later. These should match up well in some respects.

I'll be looking forward to getting mine.I ordered today.

I'd much, much rather have a complete set of mules than state quarters, stamps, or just about anything else I can think of. So far so good, with a couple extras of #M01 & M02
 
The Mastiff said:
I believe this is exactly the kind of testing and usage Sal has in mind when going to the trouble of making these for no real profit. Please let us know how they compare. Personally, I can get M4 sharper than ZDP, but if they are exactly the same geometry, width, polish etc. , that is about as good a test as we can do without lab equipment.

I don't see myself having the time or resources to do this for a while as I'm scheduling another surgery but I'm getting one to keep for later. These should match up well in some respects.

I'll be looking forward to getting mine.I ordered today.

I'd much, much rather have a complete set of mules than state quarters, stamps, or just about anything else I can think of. So far so good, with a couple extras of #M01 & M02
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about that, Joe, I wish you all the best:thumbup:
 
I just had surgery 4 months ago Joe, so I know the misery. I really wish you well. As for the Mules, I agree that Sal's concept was to compare and contrast vastly different but interesting steels in the same platform, and that was one reason I was so pumped up about the project when was announced. I personally think the Mule is a great platform with it's excellent slicing FFG/Leaf utility bade and nice ergors. I agree about M4 getting sharper than ZDP-189, I just comfirmed that again last night when I sharpened my M4 Mule for the first time. The only downside to M4 IMO is you have to do a little more to keep it from rusting than you do with stainless, but truthfully just wiping it down after getting it wet has worked great for me in my climate. ZDP-189 is an excellent steel as well, and offers higher hardness and more carbides over M4, but I still prefer M4 because it gets sharper and holds it's very sharp edge a bit longer. Now I will get to see if that holds true when using identical knives instead of a folder vs. a small fixed blade, which is my previous reference between the 2 steels. I really like Tom Krein's G-10 on my customs, but I think I like the Green Canvas he put on my Mule even better than the G-10. It is just a very interesting and nice looking handle, with all of the bumps and swells in exactly the right places to fully take advantage of the excellent inherent ergos of the Mule. I really recommend Tom Krein's work for handles and Kydex on the Mules if you don't want a DIY project.

Mike
 
Gosh, I wish I could take a picture, but my two MT04 knives are missing in action somewhere along the supply line, either UPS or the package guys at work. Sorry, not a very constructive post, I know.

Let us know how it works out for you. I'm especially interested in corrosion resistance.
 
I just rebevelled my M4 Mule to 9 degrees per side all the way to .05 micron, and it is spectacularly sharp. I will do the same to my ZDP Mule and I'll have a great chance to compare my 2 favorite steels head to head in identical knives.
Click to expand...


I'd be very interested in this, a chance to see how well two very high end steels perform in a true head to head comparison. For that matter, it would be really cool to see how all four compare- I'd be just as curious to see how well 52100 stacks up against the other three.
 
From what I understand the manufacturer of ZDP-189 stipulates that it is made and heat treated in Japan. Thus why it is made in Japan vs Golden CO.

Tom
 
tenman said:
I'd be very interested in this, a chance to see how well two very high end steels perform in a true head to head comparison. For that matter, it would be really cool to see how all four compare- I'd be just as curious to see how well 52100 stacks up against the other three.
Click to expand...

In a rope cutting test I did the 52100 was the best performer but on coarser materials M4 and S90V went much further. 52100 is no slouch, it was very surprising how well it faired against the others.
 
Tom Krein said:
From what I understand the manufacturer of ZDP-189 stipulates that it is made and heat treated in Japan. Thus why it is made in Japan vs Golden CO.

Tom
Click to expand...

No, this is not true. Common myth. Most likely some middle man try to take advantage on not Japanese speaking Americans (as usual). Like W&H had to buy knives make blade out of kitchen knife blades and then send them back to Japan - they rather need to find honest representative in Japan.

ZDP189 easily available from here for example:

http://www.hatta.co.jp/price.html

But when I contact them - they pollitely suggested me to learn Japanese first, I guess they are so proud of their language. You need someone who knows Japanese or better located in Japan. I have few blanks without any troubles for myself.

I already posted about this several times and several custom knifemakers managed to. ZDP189 heat treatment - same as for ATS-34 and as I understand it was HT here by Paul Bos as well.

Thanks, Vassili.

Hitachi is pretty big public corporation and I doubt it will be limiting their customers in such a way.
 
knifenut1013 said:
In a rope cutting test I did the 52100 was the best performer but on coarser materials M4 and S90V went much further. 52100 is no slouch, it was very surprising how well it faired against the others.
Click to expand...

Do you you have any details on your tests?

Thanks, Vassili.
 
nozh2002 said:
Do you you have any details on your tests?

Thanks, Vassili.
Click to expand...

Not really, I test for my personal knowledge of how the blade will perform. The only real details are, equal lenghts of manila rope cut a equal number of times. In the end the 52100 mule was the sharpest with the least edge damage according to visual inspection and feel. It may be unfair to say though because each steel degrades in a different way, especially CPM steels.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Not really, I test for my personal knowledge of how the blade will perform. The only real details are, equal lenghts of manila rope cut a equal number of times. In the end the 52100 mule was the sharpest with the least edge damage according to visual inspection and feel. It may be unfair to say though because each steel degrades in a different way, especially CPM steels.
Click to expand...

On my tests 52100 (SR101) also show slightly better results then CPM M4 and I did not tested yet CPM S90V.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Hi Vassili,

you do have talent. That's why we put up with you.;)

Thanx for the support.

The mule team pieces are very hard. All of the steel-heads said as hard as possible so we did. They're in the 65 range. We've not made such a large piece of ZDP before, so this is a good test for us as well.

Let us know how she responds to cutting and sharpening. Can you whittle hair with it from us?

Can the hard edge handle hard cutting?

sal
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top