Spyderco MT06 as a test for S35VN

[Gress]

Recently I started wondering how CPM-S35VN steel would compare to S30V.
It was clear I needed a Spyderco Mule MT06 to give it a try and I got one.

This is the knife the way it came:

Majority of you guys know very well what those are.
Here it is with my Strider PT.

It came new with the factory sharp edge to be used as a test vehicle

 

[Gress]

So I decided to give it a quick wrap to use it and see how capable it is comparing to my S30V blades.

It took the job of cutting branches and whittling.

I was very impressed with the performance of the steel. It cut the branches up to 3/4 “ thick with single path.

 

[Gress]

Whittling was also a pleasure and the blade was very smooth.

I like the steel a lot and from my experience with it, I believe it is one of the better and tougher ones among stainless steels. I give it advantage over S30V at this point.

 

[Gress]

After all my backyard branches cutting the blade did not sustain any scratches or chips and was as sharp as it was before. I cleaned it up and did some kitchen work with it afterwards and I feel that this knife will be my go to one for cooking and food preparation.

I am glad I ended up getting the knife in this steel. I hope Crucible will be able to produce this steel and we will have more blades from Spyderco and other brands coming with it.

 

[tuffthumbz]

where can i get one of those?

 

[gundude73]

where can i get one of those?

mule teams are limited runs, if you check out the spyderco forum frequently you can see when they post the warning that a new run is coming out. as for this particular steel you would probably have to post a WTB ad to find one

nice write up OP, and great pix! :thumbup:

 

[DennisStrickland]

gress thanks a ton for a great picture review. i've been curious as to the steel performance of this alloy. i imagine it will be some time before enough people can give us a field report.thanks for all the great photos. dennis

 

[dookie1481]

Sal stated somewhere that they WILL be using S35VN in other knives in the future.

Jay

 

[Ankerson]

I have one of those that I will be testing too thanks to Jeff.

 

[JNewell]

In addition to Sal's hints, CRK now has a fixed blade out with S35VN and, according to a recent Blade article, CRK will also be introducing more S35VN blades. I've been enjoying the relatively light use I've given my MT06 so far. More of this steel would be great.

 

[Gress]

While waiting for Ankerson's test I today decided to give it a little harder work

Enf even though I would not use it as a hard purpose camp knife and leave it to my Fehrman or Busse's, nevertheless the Mule did just fine with what I wanted it to do.

I am very pleased.

 

[Ankerson]

While waiting for Ankerson's test I today decided to give it a little harder work

Enf even though I would not use it as a hard purpose camp knife and leave it to my Fehrman or Busse's, nevertheless the Mule did just fine with what I wanted it to do.

I am very pleased.

How is the edge holding up for you.

 

[Gress]

It is holding very well I should say.:thumbup:

 

[Ankerson]

It is holding very well I should say.:thumbup:

Cool. :thumbup:

Once I get my new camera I will be ready to shoot some videos again. :thumbup:

Have to put an edge on this one, it's very sharp out of the box, but I always dress up the factory edges.

 

[Gress]

The steel seems to be very capable.
We will see what would it do once you have it at 10 degrees.
Keep in mind that the blade is thin comparing to your Busse's, give it a little love

 

[DennisStrickland]

these alloys are composition twins almost. can that little bit of cobalt & tung. in s35 make a big difference? i should know by now that sometimes a tiny composition difference can be amazing. it will be sometime before the track record will be known although ankerson [jim] certainly is no stranger to cutting tests. even so i wonder in a few years if our custom guys might not tweak these steels to astronomical performance. look what was done with 52100 & d2.

 

[Gress]

Good stuff!:thumbup:

 

[Gress]

Now I gave it a thin gray Halpern scales (I did a mod to open up the hole for a lanyard).

This Mule deserves it

 

[Gress]

After a week of quite hard use I decided to give it some care

I use a DMT diamond stones and today the only one I needed was an extra fine

And the steel was very easy to bring back to extremely sharp edge

 

[vicooo]

It's really a beautiful knife. I like this kind of shape very much.