New Reinhard Muller Liner Lock, CPM S90V

I

idahoguy

Joined
Feb 8, 2013
Messages
222
Two days ago I received a new knife that I ordered about four days before. I can't afford to go out and buy whatever I want often, but the blade steel, CPM S90V, and the style were more than I could resist. The price drew me in, $149.00 (No tax). The knife is designed in Germany, made in Italy, and sold in Canada from an outfit called Bushcraft Canada. Paul at Bushcraft was great help.
On first inspection, the desert ironwood had a uniform but lusterless finish. The lock-up is rock solid, in fact it it is a little tight upon releasing the liner lock, but is loosening up, perfect. I rubbed a little Tru Oil on the scales and got them looking great. I was going to drive it for a while before I tuned up the blade, but that lasted less than an hour. At 20 degrees per side, with the factory grind, it was cutting paper pretty well, but not shaving. I'm average at sharpening, but I'm very impressed with how user friendly the steel is for sharpening. I reprofiled it to 30 degrees inclusive with 120 grit silicon carbide on my Edge Pro, then went to a 11-1/2" Norton 280 grit silicon carbide
bench stone, followed by an old blue medium diamond hone. Then I touched it up lightly on a Spyderco ceramic bench stone. At that point it flew through paper, and would cut hair a little. I took it to my strop (which usually degrades an edge for me), which is loaded with green Cr Ox paste and slurrys from India, silicon carbide, and diamond bench stones, kind of a shotgun approach to stropping. That knife has a shaving edge on it now that was one of the easiest things I've done. I struggle with some of my knives and get to the point of putting them away to punish them, but everything I did to this knife made it better. Anybody else have any experience with Reinhard Muller knives?
 
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It has been my EDC for this week- my shaving knife so far! Mine has the dark green G-10 on it and the lock up is solid.

Got it off a trade here.

Mueller2_zpsbbc00c08.jpg
 
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Thanks for thet info Idaho guy and Dang Jay you shave with S90v thats impressive! I figured it wouldn't be a good shaver with all the carbides. For me s90v even polished has a very aggressive bite. I've been thinking about this blade for awhile, s90v just happens to be one of my fav steels:thumbup:
 
It wasn't much of a review, just my initial observations. Yes, shaving with the knife shows some good techniques on that steel. Perhaps Jay could share with the class! As for the link to the topic of stropping, I read that thread before, and was confused by how many different approaches to stropping there are.
What drew me to the knife in the first place, besides the steel, is the fact that with the carry clip, the knife isn't to large to EDC. The blade shape and size makes it a good companion in hunting/butchering season. Last year we butchered four hogs and many deer on the property. I discovered just how abrasive hog hair and skin is. I'm looking forward to this fall. So the knife has dual purpose for me.
I think Reinhard Muller heat treats to 58 or 59, and others like Phil Wilson take it to 60 or 61. Perhaps the somewhat lower hardness makes it easier for a guy like me to sharpen. I'm the new guy here, so I'm guessing.
I tried to attach a picture, but couldn't do it. Mine is a liner lock, yours is a lock back. Their website shows the differences.
http://www.workwearcanada.com/products/detail.cfm?product=1048
 
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Here is the german site of Reinhard Müller

http://www.mueller-messer.de/

Here in Germany these knives have an excellent reputation. They are all made in very short runs and Mr. Müller is making direct selling, at least in Germany for keeping the prices low. I don´t own one now, but I have one on my short list for this year. As much as I read about these knives - excellent materials and great users.

Just my 2 Cent.
 
To post pics, upload them on photo sharing site. I use flickr. Then take the BB code, it stars with
.
Sample of what Jay posted: [IXG]http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/JayGoliath/Mueller2_zpsbbc00c08.jpg[/IXG]
Hope Jay doesn't mind, I changed the img to ixg.
 
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idahoguy said:
Two days ago I received a new knife that I ordered about four days before. I can't afford to go out and buy whatever I want often, but the blade steel, CPM S90V, and the style were more than I could resist. The price drew me in, $149.00 (No tax). The knife is designed in Germany, made in Italy, and sold in Canada from an outfit called Bushcraft Canada. Paul at Bushcraft was great help.
On first inspection, the desert ironwood had a uniform but lusterless finish. The lock-up is rock solid, in fact it it is a little tight upon releasing the liner lock, but is loosening up, perfect. I rubbed a little Tru Oil on the scales and got them looking great. I was going to drive it for a while before I tuned up the blade, but that lasted less than an hour. At 20 degrees per side, with the factory grind, it was cutting paper pretty well, but not shaving. I'm average at sharpening, but I'm very impressed with how user friendly the steel is for sharpening. I reprofiled it to 30 degrees inclusive with 120 grit silicon carbide on my Edge Pro, then went to a 11-1/2" Norton 280 grit silicon carbide
bench stone, followed by an old blue medium diamond hone. Then I touched it up lightly on a Spyderco ceramic bench stone. At that point it flew through paper, and would cut hair a little. I took it to my strop (which usually degrades an edge for me), which is loaded with green Cr Ox paste and slurrys from India, silicon carbide, and diamond bench stones, kind of a shotgun approach to stropping. That knife has a shaving edge on it now that was one of the easiest things I've done. I struggle with some of my knives and get to the point of putting them away to punish them, but everything I did to this knife made it better. Anybody else have any experience with Reinhard Muller knives?
Click to expand...
Yes actually I own a R.A.M. folder in S90V and the damn thing was not finish ground imo because the thickness behind the edge is damn near spine thick and no matter how hard i try i am unable to thin it out because Muller basically barely ground the steel blank initially meaning it would be similar to sharpening a flat stock price of S90V and also I believe the reason for your ease of sharpening is due to a VERY low Rockwell hardness ie soft steel as I think what he was going for in his mind was a tough as nails hard use folder which was a huge swing and a miss hence the low price considering materials used and buying a 100% hand made knife! I can get mine sharp that is not the issue but it is like a quarter of an inch of steel behind the edge (slight exaggeration) you know how sometimes you run into the issue of the plunge grind not being far enough back coving thee entire blade and essentially only 3/4 of the edge is able to become sharp? That is what I am dealing with and usually you can grind a sharpening notch in and it solves your issue, WELL Muller already has ground one in and then it seems he laid the blade edge flat against his belt sander and never recovered from doing so... Bottom line, I too punish mine because it is fat and unfit for use for it sits in my collection of "never-yday carry" rotation so if anyone would like to buy it and thinks that they can sharpen or regrind it into a usable knife or wants to keep it a thick chunky-boy for cutting railroad spikes in half then by all means contact me at kevin dot auman 2059 at Gmail
idahoguy said:
Two days ago I received a new knife that I ordered about four days before. I can't afford to go out and buy whatever I want often, but the blade steel, CPM S90V, and the style were more than I could resist. The price drew me in, $149.00 (No tax). The knife is designed in Germany, made in Italy, and sold in Canada from an outfit called Bushcraft Canada. Paul at Bushcraft was great help.
On first inspection, the desert ironwood had a uniform but lusterless finish. The lock-up is rock solid, in fact it it is a little tight upon releasing the liner lock, but is loosening up, perfect. I rubbed a little Tru Oil on the scales and got them looking great. I was going to drive it for a while before I tuned up the blade, but that lasted less than an hour. At 20 degrees per side, with the factory grind, it was cutting paper pretty well, but not shaving. I'm average at sharpening, but I'm very impressed with how user friendly the steel is for sharpening. I reprofiled it to 30 degrees inclusive with 120 grit silicon carbide on my Edge Pro, then went to a 11-1/2" Norton 280 grit silicon carbide
bench stone, followed by an old blue medium diamond hone. Then I touched it up lightly on a Spyderco ceramic bench stone. At that point it flew through paper, and would cut hair a little. I took it to my strop (which usually degrades an edge for me), which is loaded with green Cr Ox paste and slurrys from India, silicon carbide, and diamond bench stones, kind of a shotgun approach to stropping. That knife has a shaving edge on it now that was one of the easiest things I've done. I struggle with some of my knives and get to the point of putting them away to punish them, but everything I did to this knife made it better. Anybody else have any experience with Reinhard Muller knives?
Click to expand...
 
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