What's the fan favorite metal used so far in the Mule Team releases?

karbon

karbon

Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Messages
1,291
Looking to buy a Mule Team here soon.
What's the fav metal choice so far?

Other than Damascus...what would you chose?
Just trying to narrow my choices a little. I'm still a newbie on the metals...

Thanks

Karbon
 
You mean steel. Well you might be in luck as far as not being able to decide which to get. Many of them are discontinued now, so thanks to that alone, your choices will be pretty narrow. Get which ever one you can, you gotta start somewhere.
 
My pesonal favorites are S90V and CPM M4. Good luck finding either. Elmax didn't impress me, Super Blue was pretty good, M390 was okay. I really liked the second release of the Cruware, too.
 
I only own an Elmax mule--- not impressed either. I do have spydies in several other steals and I must say XHP,m4, and m390 are my favs
 
I'd say Cruwear. But I'd recommend buying directly from Spyderco the Mule that is currently available - CTS-XHP. It's a good steel for a good price.
 
karbon said:
Other than Damascus...what would you chose?
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You cant just disregard the Suminagashi (I dont call that one damascus) - its the best looking of the lot:D

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But I want the Super Blue - both in Caly and Mule and I want it NOW!:cool:
 
Best steel depends on your viewpoint. There is always the tradeoff between hardness and toughness, toughness and corrosion resistance, etc. The thing about the mule series is that they have been produced in a lot of different steels. The one that is currently available is a good steel that is reasonably priced. Any of the previous series that are out of production can be relatively expensive to buy on the secondary market but they are somewhat available if you really want them. I kick myself for not getting the Cruwear back in the summer but I did get the XHP as soon as it was available. Don't wait, you never know when they will sell out.
 
bdmicarta said:
Best steel depends on your viewpoint. There is always the tradeoff between hardness and toughness, toughness and corrosion resistance, etc. The thing about the mule series is that they have been produced in a lot of different steels. The one that is currently available is a good steel that is reasonably priced. Any of the previous series that are out of production can be relatively expensive to buy on the secondary market but they are somewhat available if you really want them. I kick myself for not getting the Cruwear back in the summer but I did get the XHP as soon as it was available. Don't wait, you never know when they will sell out.
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what's the toughest?
what's the best balance of Hard/Tough?
 
karbon said:
what's the toughest?
what's the best balance of Hard/Tough?
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What is "best"? Are you looking for the steel with the highest toughness rating, or do you just want to be able to say "This is the toughest knife on the market"? If you want something "tough" so you can pound it through cars with a rock, you're looking at the wrong knives.

Every steel is a compromise. They are all good, just in different ways. None of them contain skill. Knives that cut well seldom make good crowbars. The mule team knives cut fairly well.
 
I know...Not looking for a pry bar, just looking for the better blend of hardness and toughness in the material available in the series.
Just trying to take the suggestions of the knowledge base here to help sway my selection.

Again, I'm a steel newbie here trying to learn as much as I can.
 
karbon said:
just looking for the better blend of hardness and toughness in the material available in the series.
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Again when you say "blend" you have to decide which is important. You make it harder and it is less tough, make it tougher and it is less hard. And you can lose corrosion resistance in there too. Also keep in mind that the design of the mules doesn't lend itself to them being real tough knives, they are probably better at slicing than toughness because the blades are relatively thin towards the tip.

Go to spyderco.com and search for "mule". You will find descriptions of all of the past mules including a little information on the steels. They have used a wide variety of steels all the way from tool steels up through some of the best stainless steels.

I'm not a steel expert (and forgive me if I get off in my generalizations here) but I see steels such as 52100, Cruwear, M4, Cobalt that I recognize to be tool steels, probably not very corrosion resistant but should be tough. I see steels such as M390, Elmax, S90V, XHP that are the better stainless steels but may not be as tough as the tool steels but are probably plenty corrosion resistant.

You have to do some searching to find good hard information about how one particular steel compares to another steel. The production of the steel is very scientific but the testing and ranking isn't always as scientific. Some people have published test results that rank some steels but I don't know of a source that ranks all of the steels using the same test standards. Toughness is even harder to quantify. And the steel itself is just one part of the equation, the heat treat and the edge geometry are equally as important. Some manufacturers seem to be better at heat treat and of course all knife models have their own unique edge geometry. I read where one person really likes one particular steel but another person claims it isn't any better than another steel. Just about the time I think I have part of it figured out I read something that throws me for a loop again.
 
bdmicarta said:
Just about the time I think I have part of it figured out I read something that throws me for a loop again.
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This is exactly what I am struggling with. I have a ton of time over here I'm trying to kill and reading as much as I can on the materials and make ups in the steels. I am a formulating chemist (UV/EB coatings and adhesives) and I understand the give and take with formulations and assume as much with metal/steel. As the % varies so do the resulting properties. I also want to be clear that I'm looking at the Mule addition as a cutting tool, and not a chopping blade or pry tool. Only trying to gain forum users opinions and suggestions.
 
Favorite - S90V
I really like the M390, Cruwear & Super Blue as well. I missed the M4 mule but I have the M4 Bradley and the Manix 2 so I'm sure it would be near the top of my list if I had one. I haven't used my XHP yet, but I really liked it in the Manix 2 Sprint.
 
Great info guys.

I appreciate it.

Now if anyone needs anything archery (LOL) that's where my expertise lies. LOL
 
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