MT02P – Mule Team Fixed Blade featuring CPM®-M4

[MCM]

M4 Osborne Gaucho??
Is it coated?

[nathan310]

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but...

It says Rc 58-63, does this mean different portions of the knife will hve different Rc?

Or different knives will have a completely different Rc over the whole knife than other knives?

Please explain this to me.

And BTW thank you to Sal, Kristi for this oppurtunity to try the best steels at a affordable price.

:confused:

[GoMeR]

I really like m2 steel so m4 is very interesting to me! The gaucho and the 710 are all i have heard about from production makers thus far. Can't decide if want a gaucho or not, its an odd knife to me. There are a few customs makers using m4 as well. I hope i will be lucky enough to get an m4 mule to give it a good testing!

[Ed Schempp]

Cpm M4 might be reasonable to sharpen by "high speed tool steel standards" but it will take a lot of work to sharpen as far as knives are concerned. I'm more of a fan of the more user friendly steels like the previous mule of 52100 or VG-10 for stainless steels. By the numbers, Cpm M-4 will be in the Cpm S90 and S125 range in difficulty in sharpening. The Cpm 154 is really nice finishing steel and will take a mirror polish and is more in the VG-10 to ZDP 189 range in sharpening difficultly.

Result may vary; and I do all my sharpening with a belt grinder. Spyderco ceramic sharpening systems are the best...Take Care...Ed

[Civilian]

Glad I checked in, I am thinking this will be my only Spydie purchase this year.
But there are reassons why. :D

[GoMeR]

LOL nice! That looks like fun, I would give up some spydies too! :D

[The Mastiff]

M4 Osborne Gaucho??
Is it coated?

Yes, and yes.

I'm on the list for the 710 also. I just sold a M2 710. The Guacho is sure funny looking. That has been turning a lot of buyers off.

Wear resistance can also be affected by hardness, as well as total carbide fraction, and type of carbides. CPM 154cm has a total carbide fraction that's higher than S30V. Even at higher RC's, is there any doubt that CPM 154cm is easier to sharpen than S30V? Crucible lists carbide Percentages of M4 as 12.5% BTW, and 154cm as 17.5%. S125V is listed as 28% carbide fraction, S30V as only 14.5%. 440C is 12% total, so just looking at catbide total, or fraction doesn't tell everything. Type of carbides means more when you are sharpening, total has a large effect on how tough a steel can get.

My experiences may be different with the mule. I'm not attemting to contradict Ed. He's forgotten more than I'll ever know about steel, knives etc.

I'm just giving my experiences with 1 knife, that Ive sharpened and stropped. I've not reground it, or made any knives with it ( CPM M4) like Ed has. I'd reccomend taking Ed's word over mine , to be honest.

Better yet, make your own descisions when you get your mules. That's exactly what they are for. Joe

[Ed Schempp]

I judge grindability to be in a direct relationship to the ease of sharpening. I usually grind large pieces when the metal is annealed, and small pieces after hardening and tempering. All the large pieces are finish ground after hardening and tempering. I go through 3M 977 belts at up to 4 times the rate with most of the Cpm vanadium steels that I do with ATS-34 or most of the Carbon steels I use. ATS-34 is a Japanese copy of 154 CM. The Cpm 154 CM is much better than either the ATS-34 or the original 154 CM. The new material is much softer and much easier to grind in the annealed delivered state. The Cpm 154 takes about the best polish I have seen on Stainless Steel. Phil Wilson makes a great filet knife, and it is getting to be his preferred steel.

Chrome Carbides are about RC 68, Molybdenum and Tungsten carbides are about RC 74, Vanadium Carbides are in the low 80s RC. ZDP is just loaded with Chrome Carbides giving it RC 67-68; but that material is easier for me to sharpen than S30V.

Mastiff, thanks for bringing some good information forward. That is the idea of the mule project; finding out about the characteristics of different steels. The good part is we will get to see for ourselves. All steel is good, just different...Take Care...Ed

[gac]

44 hours to go. In case you're counting.

[HaroldB]

Tic ..... Tic ...... Tic , :D

[Halfneck]

Pain to sharpen - lost me right there.

Someone can have my 2. Heck I've hardly used my Mule in 52100 & that's just wrong.

[GoMeR]

I am gonna have to disagree that m4 is gonna be really difficult to sharpen. M2 is not hard to sharpen at all IMO and they are supposed to be some what similar. The Rockwell hardness of M4 is along the lines of the M2 i have used as well. I use an Edge Pro and it makes short work of just about every steel i have used it on. You can tell a differance in what steel you are sharpening but it does well with just about everything.

Without having tried M4 i cannot say for certain but if its remotely like M2 it should be an amazing blade steel. Of course that is the point of the Mules, to see how the steels will perform and if people will like them.

[TazKristi]

Sorry for the delay in replying, been a bit under the weather. There will be 600 MT02P available tomorrow morning.

Kristi

[yablanowitz]

Well, I hope it takes more than an hour to sell them all, since I don't get off for lunch until 11:00 MDT. Maybe I can throw my boss off her computer for a few minutes. :D

Sorry to hear you are not well Kristi. I hope you feel better soon.

[whkento]

Yeah, I'll have to stay up until 1 am my time, but it'll be worth it! :D

Take care, Kristi.

[The Deacon]

Well, I hope it takes more than an hour to sell them all, since I don't get off for lunch until 11:00 MDT. Maybe I can throw my boss off her computer for a few minutes. :D

Sorry to hear you are not well Kristi. I hope you feel better soon.

Have two words for you. Phone Order. :D

+1 on the feel better soon Kristi.

[HaroldB]

This is gonna be a fast ride to "SOLD OUT" land, me thinks :cool: :spyder:

[GoMeR]

I am interested to see how fast the mules actually do sell out. A little more then a month ago there was a very limited run of the benchmade 710 in cpm-m4. Started out as 100 total and was raised to 200 total. It took several days for them to sell out which was much slower then i thought. Anyone remember how long it took for the first mule to sellout?

[jeffbr]

Got my Mule! It did charge $8 for shipping, even though the announcement said domestic shipping was free, so I figure this is a glitch that will be taken care of after the fact. Thanks!

[PSU]

A Mule is coming my way!

Got my Mule! It did charge $8 for shipping, even though the announcement said domestic shipping was free, so I figure this is a glitch that will be taken care of after the fact. Thanks!

My shipping was free.