Mule Team 7?

[prisoner6]

How does one get one of the Mules? Do they go up for general sale or do you have to pre-register for purchase?

[Hector Castro]

They only sell them to the people already signed up! Sorry. You should have been here when the first ones came out.......


Ok just kidding. If you buy me one, I will tell you the secret to order one...................




Go to the regular spyderco website and sign in to create an account. The next time a mule team model is announced, you can call the SFO Spyderco Factory Outlet and order them. The SFO phone number is the retail sales number listed on the spyderco site.

Wait a cotton picken second, inmates can't have sharp weapons!!!!!!!!

[billy blade]

I am very concerned about what is going on over at Spyderco right now. Maybe the person heading up the Mule Team program has been kidnapped. This is the only reason I can think that the program has been help up so long.

If you are the culprit in holding the Mule Team Captain hostage, please release him. The Steel Afi's here will gladly support your psychiatric treatment so we can have our next run of Mules. :D

Has anyone received a ransom letter? What are their demands? I bet we could come up with the funds to pay the Ransom demands :D

[JNewell]

LOL :eek:

Not sure if anyone can tell, I am patiently awaiting the release of the next Mule. Maybe patiently is a term used loosely..... there I go, talking to myself again! :D

How there's a good smile (friendly laugh) over coffee :D

[xdshooter]

I wish more info had been provided re the ZDP mule. Are we to assume that the chemistry is off on these blades so that it's not really correct to call them ZDP-189? It's some mystery steel that resulted from an error?

I don't think so. From what I remember, the chemistry is on spec, and that determines the grade. The heat treat was the problem, which was kinda the point of the mule team project in the first place. To learn. The heat treat on the larger ZDP blades to the higher rockwell numbers doesn't work the same as on the smaller blades, like a Delica for example.

I just wish the "re-heat treated" blades would have been put back up for sale. Oh well. I've got my original ZDPs, and they aren't going anywhere.

[dsmegst]

I don't think so. From what I remember, the chemistry is on spec, and that determines the grade. The heat treat was the problem, which was kinda the point of the mule team project in the first place. To learn. The heat treat on the larger ZDP blades to the higher rockwell numbers doesn't work the same as on the smaller blades, like a Delica for example.

I just wish the "re-heat treated" blades would have been put back up for sale. Oh well. I've got my original ZDPs, and they aren't going anywhere.

Hmm, that's different than what I've read. I was under the impression that the re-heat treat was not a viable option, as in they tried and failed. Otherwise, they would have been made available again. :confused:

Either way, I'm still making some removable scales for mine.

[jabba359]

I don't think so. From what I remember, the chemistry is on spec, and that determines the grade. The heat treat was the problem, which was kinda the point of the mule team project in the first place. To learn. The heat treat on the larger ZDP blades to the higher rockwell numbers doesn't work the same as on the smaller blades, like a Delica for example.

I just wish the "re-heat treated" blades would have been put back up for sale. Oh well. I've got my original ZDPs, and they aren't going anywhere.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the chemistry was off. A re-heat treat didn't fix them.

We regret that we will not be able to ship any additional MT04P, ZDP-189 Mules. Our research indicates that the problem goes beyond the heat treat. We are unable to re-temper the knives as we had originally thought. They are not repairable and we will not be shipping any additional pieces. We’ve done extensive testing on both the folders and the fixed blades with ZDP-189 and found that the problem is only in the fixed blades and that the makeup was different.

[ABX2011]

Yeah, like I said. More info would be nice.

[xdshooter]

Hmm, I missed that part about the makeup. I guess it is a good question ABX2011; if the chemistry was out of spec for ZDP-189? Or was the chemistry fine, but the steel structure was wrong? Just because they are not repairable or re-treatable does not mean the steel is not ZDP-189. Bad grain size, or a bad quench resulting in a bad phase change?

[Hector Castro]

I saw that Sal said Mule yesterday! I am so excited. Now Taz needs to make the announcement!

[Hector Castro]

Any updates? Did anyone hear anything at the blade show?

[defenestrate]

Hmm, I missed that part about the makeup. I guess it is a good question ABX2011; if the chemistry was out of spec for ZDP-189? Or was the chemistry fine, but the steel structure was wrong? Just because they are not repairable or re-treatable does not mean the steel is not ZDP-189. Bad grain size, or a bad quench resulting in a bad phase change?

grain size and phase change should be correctable by either annealing or raising the entire sample up to transform temp and requenching (if this steel is actually heat treated in the same manner as a standard quench/temper/annealable type steel). If the makeup was actually wrong, Kristi was almost certainly referring to actual alloying chemistry being incorrect. Too much or not enough of an element, making it impossible to heat treat properly in the first place. This is my understanding.

[Scottie3000]

I heard a rumor that ZDP-189 is somewhat of a dynamic animal. Which is to say that it's formula may still not be entirely finalized. Notice how the only elements released are 3.0% C, 20% CR? Whats the rest? Top secret!

Anyone else know anything about that?

[defenestrate]

I always thought the data was sparse for the same reason that it can only be heat treated by the manufacturer in Japan.. Highly guarded trade secrets more or less.. But there being some variability would also explain and make sense re: the mule issues.