S110V Mule observations after some extended use (hunting pics within)

[bearfacedkiller]

This is a thread as well as a followup post that I posted over on the Spyderco forum a couple of months ago and I thought I shared it here too but it appears as though I did not so I will just copy and paste it here. Some of you have already seen it but some have not so I hope this is helpful.

So I have a few mules but the one that I use the most is definitely my S110V mule. I have been using it a lot ever since the first day it came out. It is my hunting knife, ice fishing knife, camping knife and it has seen quite a bit of use in my kitchen and around the house, yard and garden. It has also spent many days riding in my lunchbox at work. It has worn a set of halpern scales the whole time and it has been at least a year since the last time I had them off. Probably even longer, I can't actually remember when it was. It gets used to cut up fish for bait all winter long and is also used to gut some of the fish I catch. After a long day of icefishing I sometimes am too tired to deal with my gear and just leave my sled in the truck. I have had to thaw the mule out of a block of ice from the bottom of my sled a bunch of times. It was used all summer as a camping knife too. There are also at least a couple of times that my wife has run it through the dishwasher and it has sat in my kitchen sink dirty a bunch of times. This fall it was used to process a mule deer and an elk cow both as well as a few grouse and rabbits. The scales have not been off through any of this and no rust preventative has been used. If dish soap or hot water doesn't get it clean I will sometimes use some mineral spirits or isopropyl to clean it. I will just let the pictures fly from here and you can see for yourselves.

My ice fishing sled in case you didn't know what i was talking about. It can get water/snow in it and then it refreezes and the mule (as well as a ton of other stuff) is always freezing to the bottom of the sled in up to an inch of ice. I have had to bring a block of ice into the house and run it under hot water to get my mule out.

Dressed out my mule deer this year and used the mule when I got home to further process it. It spent that whole day covered in blood and gunk and was just washed with a little dish soap and hot water.

Cleaned some grouse and rabbits. Yes, we can shoot grouse with a rifle or handgun here in Colorado. This doesn't get the knife real dirty but it was raining on me a bunch that week. Gonna hopefully use the mule on some ducks here soon too.

Plenty of use in the kitchen and a few trips through the dishwasher.

It has also seen some use around the yard and in the garden.

On a recent elk hunt I used the mule to bone out a large elk cow. I was so exhausted and had so much stuff to do when I got home that it took me two weeks to get all my gear cleaned up and put away. Two weeks after I boned the elk out I finally pulled my S110V Mule and my BK15 out of my pack and expected to find a bunch of rust on them. The weather was nice when I shot the cow and it was nice until I got about halfway through boning it out but things got cold and wet after that. The knives were unfortunately put away wet and all gunked up. I know, I know, I should take good care of them. When you shoot an elk 2 miles from a road by yourself the clock starts ticking and with the weather turning priority number one is always getting the meat taken care of. It was five trips humping 70 pounds each time to get all the meat and my camping gear out. So when I pulled this thing out to my amazement it didn't have any visible rust or staining on it. I right away assume that S110V is every bit as stainless as I have come to think it is if not more and then I pull the slab of 1095 out of it's sheath only to find that it is rust free too. Hmmm... How could this be? There was such a heavy film of grease on it that it was well protected is my guess. It was harder to clean up than I thought and with a bunch of gunk crammed in around the handle slabs and tang I decided that that the scales were gonna have to come off to get it clean. I was anxious to see what was under there after all this time anyway and while there was a good bit of rust it all cleaned right up with some steel wool and a few bore brushes to get the holes in the tang and then a little mineral oil wipe down. So after a bunch of field use and food prep and a trip or three through the dishwasher this was all it had and it cleaned up well.

The operation. Boning it out and packing it out in a backpack. This is right before the weather changed.

The weather packing it out. Yuck.

The dirty knives. No, I don't have small feet.

Disassembly.

The rust on the scales seems to have stained a bit. Most of it came off but not all of it. They look way better than this now though.

A little steel wool, a couple of bore brushes and some mineral oil and it was good to go. The blade is spotless too.

Didn't have to do anything to the 1095 but wash it wish some hot water and it looks that same as before. Hmmm... There is a little rusting where the logo is cut into the coating but that is it. Fatty elk saved my knives. I had never left them this dirty for this long before and I guess I got a little lucky.

After all of the use I have put this through rust has been a complete non issue for me. I am sure water has been perpetually trapped under the scales as the knife is regularly subjected to wet conditions and to me this amount of corrosion is acceptable. I wiped the tang down with a generous amount of mineral oil this time before installing the scales and will take the scales off more often for a cleaning and oiling but other than that I am beyond super pleased with this knife.

Thanks for making such an awesome knife Spyderco!!!!

Another post I made in that thread.

It has been a great knife and a great steel. I am not trying to sell it as a super stainless steel or anything and I do not consider it to be the greatest steel for all applications. When I first got the Mules ( I have a pre-need replacement ) I was unsure what to expect and I kind of expected the worst. I thought it would be chippy, not totally stainless and impossible to sharpen. It has been none of those things to me. It came from the factory with a rather obtuse angle on the edge bevel and required significant reprofiling which I did with the sharpmaker and the diamond rods. It actually didn't take that long at all. As you can see I am terrible about maintenance (except for sharpening) and it hasn't rusted or pitted and I have scraped it against a ton of bones while processing game and the edge hasn't chipped at all. The only damage the edge has sustained so far is a very slight roll about an inch long mid blade and another slight roll about 1/4" long closer to the tip. I did this at some point while processing my mule deer this year but I was scraping and cutting against bone a bunch and I used it to separate joints so I probably did it at some point hitting some bone. I actually like the steel for game because I don't like to stop and sharpen and my required minimum level of sharpness for that job isn't atom splitting or anything. When camping or backpacking I like a nice easy to sharpen knife because I enjoy sharpening, especially when camping, and I like a very, very sharp knife around the campsite. I do not find S110V difficult to sharpen but as you progress through the grits on the sharpmaker it takes longer with each grit as you go finer. Sure, the diamond rods eat all steels about the same but by the time you get to the fine and ultra fine rods you can really see the difference in grindability. I can get it just as sharp as other steels but it isn't worth the effort for me. I finish it on the brown rods so it shaves clean and call it good. That doesn't take me long and it holds that edge very well. I like S110V and use it often and am glad I have it but it couldn't be my only steel. It wouldn't be my first choice for EDC but it will certainly hold a very functional edge all the way through boning out an elk which is great.

 

[Guest5160]

Nice write up man, I read the entire thing just out of curiosity. Thanks for sharing. :thumbup:

 

[dcfis]

What would you prefer for edc? Thanks for the write up

 

[bearfacedkiller]

What would you prefer for edc? Thanks for the write up

I like pretty much all steels. I like my knives very, very sharp and I enjoy touching my knives up often. I may touch up a knife everyday before it hits my pocket so I like steels that balance ease of sharpening with edge retention for EDC. Sorry but I couldn't really pick a favorite. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[rodriguez7]

Thanks for the read, nice country up there. I'm south of you in the gila wilderness in N.M. We got 2 elk this year, but i didn't get a chance to use a spyderco this year. I have a mule in 4v that I need to try out sometime. I'm guessing you didn't need a touch up in the middle of breaking down your cow? I would imagine s110v would hold up well. Cuz all hunters know that's a true test of edge retention. Elk hide is rough.

 

[NickRepublic]

You said, " It came from the factory with a rather obtuse angle on the edge bevel and required significant reprofiling which I did with the sharpmaker and the diamond rods." How long did that take you?

 

[bearfacedkiller]

Thanks for the read, nice country up there. I'm south of you in the gila wilderness in N.M. We got 2 elk this year, but i didn't get a chance to use a spyderco this year. I have a mule in 4v that I need to try out sometime. I'm guessing you didn't need a touch up in the middle of breaking down your cow? I would imagine s110v would hold up well. Cuz all hunters know that's a true test of edge retention. Elk hide is rough.

I didn't touch up but I probably should have. Both knives were so dull that they would barely cut printer paper. The S110V was impressive and stayed sharp way longer than the 1095. I think a 600 pound cow is just too much for a knife with only a 3.5 inch blade. I definitely gave the Mule a thorough workout. Yeah, Elk hide is tough on knives. This girl seemed especially dirty and dusty which probably didn't help.

 

[bearfacedkiller]

You said, " It came from the factory with a rather obtuse angle on the edge bevel and required significant reprofiling which I did with the sharpmaker and the diamond rods." How long did that take you?

If I had to guess it came with and edge that was around 40 degrees or a little more maybe. I reprofiled it down to 30 degrees and I believe it took under an hour. I reprofiled it as soon as I got it and that was a couple years ago now so I can't say for sure. It really depends on your confidence and ability. I am a wiz with the Sharpmaker so ymmv.