The Mule steel should be kept secret unilt AFTER we have bought them!

[Unsub]

I had a brainstorm on another thread when I realized that what I expect a steel to do is going to totally cloud my judgement. If we want the Mule team program to get as good a data as possible we should have a blind study. We buy the knives not knowing what steel it is and then give our impressions of the steel and how it performs. After a month Sal tells us what the steel is.

We could mark the knives Mule Team #2. I would have no problem paying for a steel I did not know in advance so long as it is a decent cutlery steel. It would also probably keep the speculation down. It would yeild better data and be kind of interesting.

Also I would like to compare the Mule to existing Spyderco knives with similar geometry and popular steel. Which knives have the closest geometry to the mule and what steels do they have? The Caly JR/UK-PK is obvious.
I have a Strider ED that is like a 2/3 scale model of a Mule so S30V is taken care of.

I have wanted an excuse to buy a ZDP Caly anyway

 

[choubbi]

that makes sense, this way our appreciation of the steel would only be biaised by the price. Maybe this would keep a part of the buyers away from this project, too.

This would be a more scientific comparison if we didn't know how the steel is supposed to behave, I totally agree with you on this point.

 

[Unsub]

Thanks Choubbi ,I expected a bit more from a French Hellsing fan than the average Spydernutt and you have not disappointed me. I am interested to see what percentage of people trust Spyderco enough to pay their money before they find out what it is.
I am guessing higher than most other companies based on the shiney footprints reputation encourages a lot of trust.

 

[choubbi]

I am guessing higher than most other companies based on the shiney footprints reputation encourages a lot of trust.

This would of course limit the orders to guys who are aware of the mule team project, and willing to test new steels, not only to have a knife in the latest steel they've heard of.

Since I'm willing to test as much mule team versions as I can afford, buying without knowing the steel is an attractive idea, but those who want to test specific steels or just get a knife in specific steels certainly won't like the idea. I think a poll would be a good idea to know whether people want it to be this way or not.
I don't know if Sal and the others at Spyderco prefer to have less feedback (but more objective) on all the mule steels or more feedback (but a little biased) on some specific hype steels. I think they prefer to know which steel is really better to the users, depending on their specific uses, more than measuring their selling power to knife knuts (after all, we're only a small part of their customers).

(PS: Hellsing rocks! I particularly love the butler's gloves/strings weapons)

 

[The Mastiff]

The idea may be wonderful for you but I would want nothing to do with it. I trust spyderco completely but that has nothing to do with wether I want the mule or not. I decide that using several factors, one of which is the steel type. Joe

 

[The Mastiff]

By the way IIRC, this was one of the things we decided on when we first began figuring out the program. The "blind" , unmarked mule wasn't real popular. Joe

 

[choubbi]

By the way IIRC, this was one of the things we decided on when we first began figuring out the program. The "blind" , unmarked mule wasn't real popular. Joe

I didn't know that, if this has already been discussed and spyderco chose to mark the steel, then there was a good reason.
For a scientific comparison it would clearly be better to have unmarked mules, but after all the objectivity of the results are not the only factor, and if the others decided that marked mules were better, so be it.

I found a thread talking about that on spyderco.com's forum, you probably talked about that one: http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27538&page=9
There's a quote from Sal from that thread, which brings to me a new light to the Mule Team project:

Hi guys,

Both Bolstermanic and Sleeping Robot bring up good points.

I will say that this is not designed to be a "scientific" study. The "controls" are not there. Each persons' opinion may vary because of their personal experience.

We will be doing our own testing on the different steel mules, and we will have some going to others for some blind testing that they will be doing.

My purpose in this project was to give each person the opportunity to acquire a sample for their own personal reasons, be it testing, making their own handle, etc.

sal

So after all I was just a bit too serious about that mule team project.

 

[ilbruche]

Might be a good idea for some Mules but I don't think most people want a "mystery" blade. Knowing the steel lets you know how it is best sharpened and gives you an idea of what to expect from it. I wouldn't want to waste my time trying to figure out the properties of the steel myself. I'd rather test the cutting ability of the knife.