M398 mules have arrived

[Hatuletoh]

I genuinely appreciate that Spyderco doesn't take a week to "process my order" after I make a purchase.

Took the new mule to several big boxes I'd saved for today, and even slicing the pieces into just slightly larger than confetti-sized squares, my thumb/arm hair tests can't detect any change at all to the keenness of the edge. Quite remarkable.

[Bristlecone pine]

Agreed! Got my M398 Mule on Friday and broke down several big boxes into strips. The edge lost a little of its keenness after a couple hours but was returned to shaving sharp after a quick strop. This is my first Mule but I am really enjoying this steel so far. The steel feels like the CTS-XHP on my Chaparral.

[defenestrate]

Nice, Mine should arrive early next week. Looking forward to them.

[clinton1]

Got mine today. Fast shipping, I thought. Side note on the missing barrel spacer. One that came from Halpern Titanium was not threaded. I contacted them, and they are sending a new one out tomorrow morning. I can't say enough about the quality of their product, and the quality and speed of their customer service! A truly top notch company.

Finally thanks to Spyderco for keeping the Mule Team rolling!

[sal]

Hi Bristlecone Pine,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[SpyderEdgeForever]

sal, those are beautiful knives. Well done!

[Skidoosh]

Interesting that it is still available. I'm going to compare it with my PD1- a knife no one bought but everyone loves cruwear. Go figure.

[standy99]

Interesting that it is still available. I'm going to compare it with my PD1- a knife no one bought but everyone loves cruwear. Go figure.

Put a Micarta handle on a PD1 and probably the most used of my Mules.

[Brant]

I got mine the other day. Today I had the worst time getting the handles on, the bottom hole on the mule was a tad tight, just the tiniest bit. Barrel would sink flush one way, not go in on the other side. I don’t have a drill press, a round file did nothing to the temper. I did sand/file down the barrel just enough to seat it halfway. Anyone else see tight tolerances like this?

Looks good now!

[Bristlecone pine]

Got the M398 dull enough to test it on some sharpening stones. An extra course dmt ate it up to set the apex. Went from that to a medium spyderco benchstone. This steel has good wear resistance, I had to run it on the medium stone for a long time to reduce the scratch pattern from the extra course. Finished it on the medium stone and stropped it....Scary sharp, takes a keen edge.

[standy99]

I got mine the other day. Today I had the worst time getting the handles on, the bottom hole on the mule was a tad tight, just the tiniest bit. Barrel would sink flush one way, not go in on the other side. I don’t have a drill press, a round file did nothing to the temper. I did sand/file down the barrel just enough to seat it halfway. Anyone else see tight tolerances like this?

Looks good now!

There was one past mule that had this issue with the holes…Not sure which one…

Having probably 10+ different mules steels and a few of each, You do get the occasional one hole on a Mule that needs a piece of rolled up sandpaper for a little bit.

Find myself doing this a bit due to having Metric pin bought in Australia and the Mules having Imperial holes.

[aprivetera]

Arrived in time to go cabin camping. Made short work of a half frozen chicken. Very pleased to have a super sharp Spyderco that's stainless.

[hereiamu1]

I got mine the other day. Today I had the worst time getting the handles on, the bottom hole on the mule was a tad tight, just the tiniest bit. Barrel would sink flush one way, not go in on the other side. I don’t have a drill press, a round file did nothing to the temper. I did sand/file down the barrel just enough to seat it halfway. Anyone else see tight tolerances like this?

I just got mine today. The knife is fine. It is the barrels that are messed up. The ones I got today have a rough finish and are .002" bigger. In the picture the barrels on top are the ones I got today and the ones on the bottom are older ones.

[defenestrate]

The edges on my M398s are not as sharp as I usually see. Not really a problem with touching them up, I just noticed that. It's rare that I get a mule that won't shave me fairly easily. tese weren't dull, per se, just not quite as eken an edge as I'm used to. I guess it's time to get some scales and touch them up for use.