Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

[LimpCroissant]

Thanks for the Report Ramonade! Sounds like the stuff might just be near as good as the rumors say, concerning corrosion resistance. I still haven't tried anything with Magnacut yet, but will probably have to get something to test here pretty soon.

[rashman]

a late update on my Mule: it’s spent most of time in the kitchen butcher block and became the go to for meal prep when a chef knife wasn’t needed. stopped stropping it and would use the sharp maker every 5 to 6 weeks for about 5 passes at the most. it’s cut meat, fruits & veggies, cheese & bread - spread mustard, mayo, catchup - speared pickles in the pickle jar - splashed with vinegar- cut all the citrus and onions - de-boned, sliced, diced almost any thing in my diet. washed it in the sink and let it air dry on the dish rack. No corrosion or staining even when after i let it sit for a day or two before washing.
i’ve been super impressed! i haven’t really sharpened it, just dressed the edge - this last round on the sharpmaker i actually watched the bur come off as powder in the sunlight, that was so cool.
got some new micarta scales and have switched its role to EDC work - i’ll let y’all know how it goes!
I am picking up scratches somewhat more easily than i guess what i’d expected - from of all things cardboard.
how is everyone else’s experience with scratching goin?

[Bemo]

Really wished I had managed to snag one of these.

[Paraguy]

I bought one of these for a friend. He butchers chickens and rabbits with it- he said the edge retention is better than s30v. It's his favorite fixed blade.

[Evil D]

Wow, that's some pretty extreme batoning for a knife that size! Can you say more about how the knife dulls that you like? If it didn't roll or chip, what's left?

Sorry I missed this question.

Yeah basically, it just "blunts". I have had some real minor chips but nothing significant. Much of that yard work is along a chain link fence in my back yard and many times I've ran the edge into the fence, and the last time I was out there using it I was grabbing and cutting weeds and I actually mistook a bit of fence wire as a weed and tried to cut it, so the edge saw as much force as you'd put into cutting something so a lot more than just banging the edge onto it. That cut definitely destroyed the edge but it just wasn't as bad as other steels I've used. Then when it comes time to sharpen it doesn't feel like a tedious chore.

Like I've said in other posts, I'm not blown away by edge retention but it's at least on par with other mid range edge retention steels but has an advantage in toughness and edge stability that makes it a far more enjoyable user steel. I think it's going to be among the best steels you can choose for a do it all beater knife.

[bobartig]

Thanks for the great explanation. Man, now that I've got a REX76, I want that Magnacut Mule even more. Second run! Second run!!!

[Ramonade]

Thanks for the great explanation. Man, now that I've got a REX76, I want that Magnacut Mule even more. Second run! Second run!!!

Sadly second runs aren't a thing but you should pretty easily be able to find one there was a lot of them and there is a lot of people owning a MagnaCut Mule that dont use it.

[standy99]

Thanks for the great explanation. Man, now that I've got a REX76, I want that Magnacut Mule even more. Second run! Second run!!!

Sadly second runs aren't a thing but you should pretty easily be able to find one there was a lot of them and there is a lot of people owning a MagnaCut Mule that dont use it.

Plenty around at more than triple the price!
A lot of flippers got in on the action sadly…

[Ramonade]

Plenty around at more than triple the price!
A lot of flippers got in on the action sadly…

Well there are some places where you can find these at a more decent price, I won't hint to it since it's against forum rules. But there's a lot of Spyderco enthusiasts that do not take action in the high benefits flipping of knives/blades !

There's even a guy in France selling one for 200€, with halpern scales (but I honestly dislike the ones on it, really just 2 slabs of G10). But the market is different there, he can't even find any takers.

[FullScaler]

I've been using my magnacut mule pretty steadily for the last few months. I've used it to prep numerous fires, lots of tasks around the house, and carried it at work quite a bit too.

I've stropped and fine tuned the edge on the sharpmaker and have given it a few more decent sharpens over the last few months.

I definitely wasn't impressed with this steel straight from the factory. I felt like the edge rolled quite easily and felt pretty soft. That said, I think it may have softened a bit from the factory sharpening because now that I have sharpened off the factory edge, it is starting to perform better.

It does have really nice sharpening response. The steel just "feels" like it is giving good feedback on the stones. I have used my guided system to even up the bevels to 15 DPS and then use the sharpmaker ceramic rods for a 20deg microbevel between sharpenings. Couple this with a few light passes on the strop and this steel gets nice and shaving sharp quite easily.

I feel like this steel is more suited to a slightly "toothier" sharpen. I did take it to near mirror one time and I think it performed better with a rougher finish. The edge in these pics is a 600 grit diamond at 15 DPS with a few passes at 20deg on the white rods.

Now that I have used it a while, I am liking it more than I did straight from the factory and think it is a nicely balanced steel. It sharpens easily, holds an ok edge, and so far, has held up well to a lot of bushcraft abuse.

That said, I'm not sure it is much of a step up from the standard S30V blades and I don't think it holds an edge quite as well as SPY27. IMO, It is a solid workhorse steel, just not my favorite recent release.

I have not sharpened in a while and you can see a few rolls and micro chips in these pics. Also, there is one little spot of rust right on the edge. Not sure if it is from contamination or a weird spot in the steel mix, either way, it should sharpen out next time it's on the stones.

[steelbuckeye]

I haven’t used mine too hard, but have field dressed a couple deer this year with it and it worked well.

After dressing the last one, I got home and couldn’t find my knife. Looked everywhere, and the only other place I figured it could be was in the woods… I went back up two weeks later (yesterday) to retrace my steps, and sure enough I found it somehow, blade barrier in snow, handle sticking up! Got it cleaned up and it looks new, no issues out in there elements, covered in deer, for a couple weeks.

[Fireman]

https://youtu.be/bvPdb-n3__Q

[99Dirk]

https://youtu.be/bvPdb-n3__Q

I came here immediately after watching to see if anyone has posted it was discussing this video.

As far as I am aware this is one of the best, this party, documented examples of edge retention with MC (compared to most modern steels).

I would love to see microscopic images of the both bevels, before and after.

[cholla_remover]

Unreal. Guess I better start dual grit sharpening my knives.

[bobartig]

Wow!! is the 250/6000 dual grit edge "sort of" like a microscopic serrated blade???

I know that reissuing Mules is not a thing, but if Spyderco wanted to make it a thing for a few select steels... Magnacut, please!!!

[DansGearAddiction]

This is pretty insane. Would be interesting to see if the relative performance difference can be replicated with a CATRA test in a more controlled environment.

I think Petes' videos are always worth watching, but if you don't have time, here is the TL;DR:

Using a Magnacut Mule with a dual grit sharpening, one side was sharpened to 6,000 grit mirror polish while the other was sharpened to a coarse 250 grit; with this sharpening, Pete was able to obtain 1,550 cuts against twisted sisal rope before it could no longer reliably cleanly cut paper.

On a side note, he has a future video coming with the Maxamet Mule as well. Should be interesting to see.

[DansGearAddiction]

I know that reissuing Mules is not a thing, but if Spyderco wanted to make it a thing for a few select steels... Magnacut, please!!!

I wonder if it could be for the straight-spine ones like the SPY27 (which is a re-issue)

[Fireman]

I know that reissuing Mules is not a thing, but if Spyderco wanted to make it a thing for a few select steels... Magnacut, please!!!

I wonder if it could be for the straight-spine ones like the SPY27 (which is a re-issue)

Secondary market is your only hope I am afraid

[sal]

I'll be emailing with Gabe this weekend to try to get some tests on other steels and CBN.

sal

[Bemo]

Wow looking forward to this.