Some Spyderco Mule 52100 prelim work

Kohai999 said:
I swear this is like talking with Cliff all over again.....
Click to expand...

I certainly am sorry that you feel like this, considering that, by your own words, hated Cliff. I can say for myself that I have not attacked any knife maker and get along with the few that I had contact with.

Well, hence forth I will stick to the topic at hand.
 
Wow, Cliff still inspires hate from beyond the cyber grave.

Actually I think the OP would be very interesting to him. You can always go to his website and bring it up, or even go to spyderco.com, where he's known to pop in now and then.
 
Wow, the OP goes out, buys it, tests it (which sal developed the mule for) and STILL gets hit with flak?
 
I put on a jaislandboy inspired self adhesive gauze handle and used my Mule some. It cut a pizza box into a large pile of tiny strips and did the same to a soda bottle. No issues with edge durability at the factory geometry, and whiole it no longer shaves it is still cutting well. I will rebevel it to about 10 per side and see what happens. I need to find some hardwood to cut or some other test of edge durability to see where I start to get trouble. It will be interesting to see how it sharpens, though I imagine it will need less pressure than my usual Super Blue, ZDP 189, VG-10, and CPM M4. The blade profile and edge thickness is very similar to my R2, so I will probably be able to test out some differences between VG-10 and 52100 at high hardness on similar blade lengths and shapes.

Oh yeah, Sal, do I have your blessing to thin out the edge bevel?

Mike

Edit to add: Since Sal didn't respond (happy holiday!) I took it upon myself to do a quick rebevelling. I took it to 9 or 10 per side, and the DMT XX Coarse only took a few minutes to do it. I refined the edge with a DMT Coarse, cut off the burr by cutting directly into a Spyderco medium stone, and then did a 12 per side microbevel. It was cutting free hanging hair at DMT coarse and shaving above the skin, similar to the factory sharpness. At DMT Fine it tree tops pretty good. This steel gets pretty sharp. I can't wait to refine the edge some more, but family time is calling right now. I'll report back on further sharpening and how the edge holds up to some cutting.
 
Am I the only one who is very surprised that this is the only posted test on these knives? Did the collectors grab them up faster than the testers?
 
db said:
Am I the only one who is very surprised that this is the only posted test on these knives? Did the collectors grab them up faster than the testers?
Click to expand...
Know what you're saying ... as I watched the mule team thing unfolding months ago, I initially liked the idea of basic mules: just a good piece of steel in a very simple blade configuration, no thought to making it convenient to add scales, etc. Someone even suggested shipping them with no edge in order to save money. Under those kinds of circumstances I could easily picture myself and other steelheads buying a number of mules to work with and learn from ... and then, maybe, at the end of it, it'd be fun to take one or two that really impressed and make knives out of them.

As the project unfolded, other concerns seemed to move to the fore, and I began to wonder just who was going to be buying these. And when the final product was unveiled as a fully finished, Spyderhole-branded blade, ready for handling, I figured the steelheads were no longer in control.

Not saying this is a bad thing, or, that at $40, these aren't affordable enough for serious testing. Just not what I originally thought it would be. And if with each mule team release a couple other people step up like gud4u has, I still have hopes it'll turn out to be very informative. But I think you're right, db, most of these have been scooped up by folks with much different ideas in mind.

My real concern is that the project doesn't carry forward, and we never see the wide variety of steels some of us originally imagined. And again I'm not faulting Sal or Spyderco, to even undertake this sort of thing is commendable.

Just a thought: what if half a dozen or so of each mule was released for pass-around, with the caveat that if you sign up you really intend to put the thing to work and post reviews and comments?
 
Here is my user report:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=528291
since then I have used it a good little bit. Mostly in the kitchen, I did finally have to touch up the edge with ceramic as it was not shaving arm hair. It took 4 passes to get it shaving sharp again. I like the blade style and think this is a great project. Not only can you test a steel at a great price but people new to Spyderco can see how well they do w/ their heat treats and such. I was hoping to use this knife for batoning but I am alomst certian it would destroy it and since its not replacable I don't want to take that chance. I wish I could contibute more but my time is limited and I have couple other knives I am working with as well.
 
Thought I'd give this thread a few joules with the old defibrillator ... anyone done any additional work?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top