Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

A place to share your experience with our Mule Team knives.
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Ramonade
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#61

Post by Ramonade »

NCJohn62 wrote:
Thu Mar 31, 2022 7:47 am
[...]
I know this is supposed to be in the 62 HRC range, I can only imagine how good it would be from some of the makers who are taking it up to 63 or 64. I think I am done with using this in the kitchen and will finally get around to putting a handle on it 😁.
I wish you a happy handle !
Your comment on the Hrc is something I've told myself already. I've seen test of this steel with HT bringing it to 64 / 64.5 Hrc, the results were even more impressive. Particularly when it comes to edge retention.

Personnally, having such properties already makes me more than happy with the actual edge retention, 1 or 2 additionnal points would only be a bonus :grin-big eyes
:respect In the collection :respect : Lots of different steels, in lots of different (and same) Spydercos.

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Soanso McMasters
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#62

Post by Soanso McMasters »

I’m really impressed with mine. I’ve not beaten on it much, but now that camping/gardening season is closing in I’ll get my chance. I’ve been continually impressed with ease of sharpening.
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chkn
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#63

Post by chkn »

Soanso McMasters wrote:
Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:57 pm
I’ve been continually impressed with ease of sharpening.
Same, though I kind of took it for granted because I'm used to carrying around knives in S90V and 20CV. It's great to have something that, while it may not hold on to the edge forever, is made blazing sharp with ease.
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Evil D
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#64

Post by Evil D »

I got mine out today to do some more yard work the stupid way.

I started off with a fresh edge off the brown rods apexed at 30 inclusive. The bevel on this knife is somewhere between 25-30, but is lower than 30 by a good few degrees because the 30 slots micro bevel it.

Anyway. There may be a proper name for this kind of cut around bushcrafting circles but I've always just called this "beavering", where I make hard carving/twisting cuts alternating in the way you might make chops with an axe. It works pretty well. This sapling/bush (I think it's a dogwood?) is stupid hard stuff, I have a bunch of it growing around my back yard and it's what I usually cut when I'm doing knife tests like this, it's so dense it's hard to cut even when it's green and even a sharp edge tends to want to slide off of it more than cut it.

I only got pics of two ~2 inch branches that I cut, but I did cut some other various branches around the yard.

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This one looks chopped but I just made so many carves from the front that when I cut back on it from the other direction it showed all the different layer cuts I had made.
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Afterwards it was still sharp enough to sloppily slice phonebook paper, but was noticeably more dull. This steel is far from a miracle steel when it comes to edge retention, but it didn't chip or roll and I'm telling ya I went ham on those cuts and gave it a lot more lateral force than I'd ever put into a folder.

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And then just to terrorize you lot who hate the idea of using pocket knives for your food, I went straight to cutting up some potato wedges afterwards and I didn't even wash it off first :exploding-head

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ykspydiefan
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#65

Post by ykspydiefan »

Obviously the D is for Dangerous, eating off an unclean knife!

I like your test, from one steel to the next you will get a good feel of how well or how many of those branches you can get through before dinner, or lunch.

I am astounded that you can still find a phone book, I can remember the last time I saw one.

Thanks for posting it up eh.
Spyderco: Tenacious G10, Waterway, Para 3 Spy27, Pacific Salt H1, In the Mule Team Stable(Z-Max, Z-Wear, S45VN, Magnacut, SRS13/SUS405, M398, Aeb-l, 15v)
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Evil D
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#66

Post by Evil D »

ykspydiefan wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:49 am


I am astounded that you can still find a phone book, I can remember the last time I saw one.

Thanks for posting it up eh.


They are MUCH smaller now and don't come around as often, I actually requested the ones I have.
All SE all the time since 2017
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Ramonade
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#67

Post by Ramonade »

We can't find any in France anymore, except olders ones that some people somehow kept.
I found a good alternative : School supplies catalogs. My school receives 5 of them each year and the pages are of the same thickness !
:respect In the collection :respect : Lots of different steels, in lots of different (and same) Spydercos.

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ykspydiefan
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#68

Post by ykspydiefan »

Burying the Competition, since sometime in February.

IMG_20220415_092348411_2.jpg

MagnaCut vs 20cv(from another company)

OK, so once we get past, different geometry, different ergos, different company, we can get to different steel.

I have been feathering away, still making tinder packs to gift to outdoorsy friends. I have been going for speed and volume and not really pulling the punches. More specifically, I have followed through and smacked into the cutting board with both blades, numerous times, too many really.

What I can tell. Cutting and prepping gifts is fun. "MagnaCut", on a factory edge, stropped numerous times is much more powerful to say than "20cv". When friends receive the pack they demonstrate more impact hearing, "I cut this with my MagnaCut Mule." vs "I cut this with my 20cv H@&^#." Hands down, no one follows up on 20cv, numerous people want to know what MagnaCut is. 100% of the time people are baffled that I have time or care enough to whittle them a bag of shavings.

The MagnaCut munched kiln dried spruce and pine by the tub full and begged for a second round.
Under magnification, the 20cv showed very small chips out of the edge from hitting the cutting board.
Cut for cut I could not tell which one was really holding an edge better or longer. I did 2 tubs per blade.

The MagnaCut stropped back to really sharp really fast. 20cv stropped back to really sharp, not as fast. Testing on paper, the 20cv did not catch or hang up on the chips.

Definitively. My 20cv is a folder and will ride in a pocket, MagnaCut Mule gets top spot in my pack. Both are great knives.

Outside of objective, measurable performance, the MagnaCut Mule puts on a better show(performance) than any other knife I own. It is new, exciting fun to use and my non knife friends are interested in what I am making with it.
Spyderco: Tenacious G10, Waterway, Para 3 Spy27, Pacific Salt H1, In the Mule Team Stable(Z-Max, Z-Wear, S45VN, Magnacut, SRS13/SUS405, M398, Aeb-l, 15v)
ykspydiefan
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#69

Post by ykspydiefan »

I did not think this cheap microscope, intended for kids, or my shaky hands would yield any result. This is the MagnaCut Mule under the scope.
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I speed whittled 2 more yoghurt tubs of shavings being careful to follow through and slam the cutting board 50 or more times. Ok, its not cutting nails but it does represent a common careless cutting error.

The result is very micro chips out of the edge, barely visible in the center of the light. There are 2 chips or one defined tooth, it is so small that it would not exist for any normal knife user. But, it is there and it has been fun doing what I can with the stuff I have to see it and see what this steel can really take.
IMG_20220417_094541156.jpg
Spyderco: Tenacious G10, Waterway, Para 3 Spy27, Pacific Salt H1, In the Mule Team Stable(Z-Max, Z-Wear, S45VN, Magnacut, SRS13/SUS405, M398, Aeb-l, 15v)
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Ramonade
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#70

Post by Ramonade »

Really nice! It's cool that this thread gets a lot of reports.
I finally can make handles so I'll be able to gift one of my 2 MC Mule to my father in a couple of days. When it comes to careless error while cutting, he's one of our very best !

There's almost no sharp knife in their house, cause they use Opinels and such, very thin blade stock. So even if you cant tell the spine from the edge they manage to cut with those :rofl

Ill ask him to tell me periodically what he and my mother did with it and how they feel about and such.
I'll leave the stabbing 2by4s, cutting hard plastic and all that fun to myself ^^.
:respect In the collection :respect : Lots of different steels, in lots of different (and same) Spydercos.

Robin. Finally made an IG : ramo_knives

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chkn
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#71

Post by chkn »

While washing some dishes and my Magnacut Mule I somehow managed to jam it tip first into a ceramic plate. Wasn't too worried about it since I do dumb things like that all the time, but when I tried to touch it up on the Sharpmaker I could feel a tiny "hook" of metal keeping the knife from sliding past the tip of the rods
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Busted out the diamond rod and wore it down a bit, resharpened the whole thing, only took me a few minutes to fix it up
Also found out that the side cutouts in the Sharpmaker cover are perfectly sized for holding a Mule up for pictures
alphaneuron9
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#72

Post by alphaneuron9 »

I need a Magnacut mule! How did you guys get yours? In other words, can you give me advice on how to get the next mule that interests me?

Thanks!
Alex
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#73

Post by Coastal »

alphaneuron9 wrote:
Fri Jun 24, 2022 8:16 am
I need a Magnacut mule! How did you guys get yours? In other words, can you give me advice on how to get the next mule that interests me?

Thanks!
Watch this section of the forum. TazKristi posts info on upcoming releases of Mules. Be ready to order IMMEDIATELY from the Spyderco site if you're serious about a particular steel. Some steels last for awhile; others sell out quickly. On prior releases, she has given advice on how to prepare for the drop. I'm sure it's somewhere in this section of the forum, probably in some post concerning the MagnaCut Mule.
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Evil D
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#74

Post by Evil D »

Did some yard work today and brought my MagnaMule with me. It was just touched up on the brown rods, the bevel is around 25 inclusive with a 30 micro bevel.

Started things off with cutting and Coke can open because why not.

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I was working on burning out a stump and I need some more wood so I decided to go ham with batoning the begeezus out of the mule. This being my first mule, I'd never had the chance to try out anything like this so maybe this is old news. I typically would prefer a longer blade for this stuff since you lose the blade tip inside the log, but it was doable with these small logs. If I remember correctly these logs are from a sweet gum tree.

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Then I deliberately tried to baton through some knots, which didn't work so well but it gave me the opportunity to really pound on it. I did eventually split it from the other end but it took some whaling.

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This one I just couldn't hammer through no matter how hard I hit it but it split from the other end.
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The one issue I kept running into was the guard nub kept digging into the long but that's as much my own sloppy technique as anything else. It's part because I had to baton on the top/end of the handle since the whole blade wouldn't reach through to the other side so I couldn't baton the end of the blade.

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I also used it to cut a bunch of saplings and such. At the end there's no rolls or chips but it's pretty dull, it'll still slice phone book paper but not all the way along the edge. I really love the way this steel dulls. Oftentimes we obsess over how long an edge lasts of whether it takes damage or how easy or hard it is to sharpen but I think dulling characteristics need to be talked about more often.
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bobartig
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#75

Post by bobartig »

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?
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#76

Post by Michael Janich »

Dear bobartig:

Welcome to the Spyderco Forum.

Stay safe,

Mike
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#77

Post by Barmoley »

Would be interesting to see the edge under magnification. Given the activity, the dulling is most likely from deformation, rolling or possibly micro chipping. It seems unlikely to be due to wear in this case.
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#78

Post by Bolster »

Evil D wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:29 pm
Did some yard work today and brought my MagnaMule ...

Great report! Thanks!
Steel novice who self-identifies as a steel expert. Proud M.N.O.S.D. member 0003. Spydie Steels: 4V, 15V, 20CV, AEB-L, AUS6, Cru-Wear, HAP40, K294, K390, M4, Magnacut, S110V, S30V, S35VN, S45VN, SPY27, SRS13, T15, VG10, XHP, ZWear, ZDP189
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#79

Post by LimpCroissant »

Cool testing guys! I have journeyed here across the far seas from land of the Bladeforums and it's great seeing this amount of real-world testing you guys are doing around these parts, thanks for the work!
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Ramonade
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Re: Your Magna Cut Mule performance.

#80

Post by Ramonade »

My father is a photographer, he sometimes goes in swamps, really dense forests and all. I've given him my second MC Mule, with no real intention to ask a report from him.

This week, I still got one :squinting-tongue . He said that he did cut a lot of reeds, branches, flowers and all with it, kept it in the same condition in the sheath for a couple of weeks and there was no trace of rust on the blade.
He's used to being able to corrode Sandvik steels (12C27 and 14C28N are the only steels he used besides victorinox's steel), and he is so happy to not have a rusty knife when he needs it again.

He's also using this knife to eat, cutting things when it's time for "saucisson" and cheese. He's using it during meals, on a ceramic plate (sometimes it's "grès", a material close to ceramic IIRC). He said to me that he always takes extra care to not ding the blade on the plate, but of course it happens now and then.
After 3 months since the last sharpening, I just had to refresh the edge in like 5minutes and it was good to go. There was more "mini-rolls" than micro-chipping. I've noticed that his Mule and mine appear to roll way more often than they chip.

I'm sorry for this picture-less report, it's knife making summer, so I'm making knives !
:respect In the collection :respect : Lots of different steels, in lots of different (and same) Spydercos.

Robin. Finally made an IG : ramo_knives

MNOSD member 004* aka Mr. N5s :face-clouds
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