Spyderco Mule Team - 2nd run

1) BG42

Sal,

It would be interesting if the steel type was unknown to the user, and coded in such a way that after a period of time the type would be made known. This would ensure complete objectivity of the testers, which is difficult given the amount of material that is written about each of the steels that have been suggested.

Kirk
 
Hi Sal, here are a few

CPM M4

CPM 3V

M2

Btw, I really like the Mule in 52100 that just arrived from CO.
 
3v, H1, M4

not so exotic VG-10, 440C, Ats-34.

Instead of only thinking about the more exotic steel's, maybe look at the more more commonly known steels for a baseline performance of the Mule design.
 
well, I was gonna do it at post 50, but I wasn't around :)

M4 37
3V 36
M2 28
D2 21
Super Blue 19
13C26 14

Michael. D said M2 or M4 as his first choice, so I gave them 2 points each. Not like my scoring is official or anything anyway ;)
 
At some point we'll need a benchmark steel whose performance most people have a feel for, like VG-10, for this exercise. But that time isn't yet! I love the idea of CPM-M4, but I think we're talking about a big uptick in price. I like how a bunch of the guys want 13C26 run hard, I think that'd be great, and it'd be less expensive. 1095 run super hard would be interesting too, but not as exciting to most people...
 
I've heard most people say that 1095 gets brittle in the 62+ RC range so it would be interesting to use a knife of this steel + a high hardness level to see just how brittle we're talking about. I'm interested in the edge retention of a high hardness 13C26 knife myself, as its the only aspect I find lacking in the steel as Kershaw heat treats it.
 
CPM M4, and the other CPM high performance steels will be much more to use. Probably more to transport now too. I talked to crucible not long ago for a price on S125V and got a case of sticker shock from it. I'm used to 1095, D2 etc. This is some expensive stuff in comparison. I guess when you add every element known to man into the steel it's gonna cost a bit. Looking at the catra results that Sal ran it's in a world of it's own as far as stainless steels go. It's got to be a beast to grind. Joe
 
Looking at higher steel cost, plus an extra 500 degrees in austenizing and tempering temps, with longer hold times. An M4 mule wouldn't cost $40, I'd wager.
 
hardheart said:
Looking at higher steel cost, plus an extra 500 degrees in austenizing and tempering temps, with longer hold times. An M4 mule wouldn't cost $40, I'd wager.
Click to expand...

M4 was a decent price increase on my Krein Ultimate Caper over D2, so it will definately cost more than the 52100 Mule. While I would personally prefer to see high hardness 13C26 first, especially after using a 63 rc Santoku in AEB-L by Larrin Thomas, I wouldn't mind CPM M4 at all in the next Mule (it seems like the overwhelming public favorite now). I have been very happy with it so far in my Ultimate Caper, trying it in a utility blade shape instead of ultra thin hollow grind would be interesting. I am going to thin my Ultimate Caper out to 5 per side in the next couple days, I'll have to see how it likes that (9 per side allows it to rip through thick clam packs and to ribbon up soda bottles without any issues on a .007" thick edge).

Mike
 
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