Spyderco Mule Team ZDP last day available at high hardness

D

DMS1

Joined
Jan 16, 2007
Messages
149
I just caught this browsing another forum last night. The spyderco ZDP mules are a finished fixed blade knife, minus handles and sheath. The are being made in several different steels for comparison. Here is where my details are likely off, but as I understand them: ZDP was to be offered this summer, but during the heat treat the batch of knives all came out at 67 rockwell. Apparently there was some interest, and some blades were offered finished at that hardness without warranty. NOW, spyderco is offering these knives through today only at the high hardness, with warranty. After today, the remainder of the batch is supposed to go back through the heat treat process (after annealing I would suspect) and re-hardened to 62-64 rc (I think).

Since the knife is offered under warranty, I snatched on up. If there is any damage, they will be replaced with the softer of the models. I have not seen much of the Mule on this forum, I am curious what everyone thinks. This is my favorite steel, and I suspect the knife will go to Phillip Dobson for some of his awesome handles. There are some G10 handle kits available for $25 with hardware.

Dwaine
 
The Mule Team project is a great idea. It's a great utility-blade with a comfortable handle shape. The grind is nice and thin, too. It's the only production fixed blade I might allow myself to buy.

Super-hard ZDP certainly catches my interest. I want to see how sharp that stuff can get. Maybe I won't have to buy one to find out. :D
 
Actually I believe TazKristi verified that the harder ones WILL be under the warranty of all the others, but the replacement will be a softer one (since they won't have any hard ones left).
 
Man, if I actually had more use for knives I would order one to see how long a 67 hardness edge holds up. But with my lifestyle I really only need to use kitchen knives and X-actos with any frequency. Though I want one just to have, I'd rather someone who would actually put that high hardness ZDP blade to work get it.
 
Grapevine said:
But with my lifestyle I really only need to use kitchen knives and X-actos with any frequency.
Click to expand...

Mules actually make pretty-good kitchen utility knives. I would be afraid to use something that hard for a lot of tasks, but I think it would work great in the kitchen where chances of chipping would be minimized.

3614520327_2ffcf2a429_o.jpg
 
Just for the record, the ZDP-189 Mules were indeed released earlier this year. As far as I know, they were heat treated to the same hardness used on Spyderco's ZDP folders. There were reports of several of these knives cracking and breaking during the process of having handle scales installed. Sales were discontinued, the remaining stock was all tested and found to be close to the same hardness. It seems the optimal hardness for folders may be too hard for the larger steel mass of fixed blades. They were offered again at original hardness for a short time to allow those interested to obtain them, then the remainder will be treated to a lower hardness.

TazKristi did not say what the hardness was on those tested, but the target hardness for folders is Rc 64-65. One person who tested his own Mule at work got an average of 66.4 for 6 readings, with a high of 67.1, so these could be pretty hard.
 
yablanowitz said:
TazKristi did not say what the hardness was on those tested, but the target hardness for folders is Rc 64-65. One person who tested his own Mule at work got an average of 66.4 for 6 readings, with a high of 67.1, so these could be pretty hard.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the clarification. I know I missed one of these on ebay in october that finally sold for $102, at the time when they were pulled from sales to re-check the hardness. The advertised knife stated 67rc, so that is where I read it and assumed they were all the same. There must be a bit of a difference if Spyderco is going to discontinue the sale to re-heat treat them to around 64rc
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top