I used the Mule in PMA11 all this week, what a different and fun experience for me! I told Larry it wouldn't go to waste, so here we are! Though it did come with those stunning Red Pearl Kirinite scales, I opted to switch to the Halperin scales he also so generously included. They have a great grip to them, also less flashy in the work place. I used it with the typical, daily warehouse duties throughout the week with the coarse, yet very sharp edge I received it with. It really never lost its sharpness throughout the week, but for the heck of it on Thursday night I gave it a couple passes on the brown rods and it brought it back to that sticky sharpness that I love.
At the end of the day Friday, I decided it was time to give it a bit of a test like I have with many of my folders. I cut 310ft of cardboard effortlessly. It was so easy I actually double up the cardboard instead of individual slabs at a time. After that I hunted down a couple different types of rope that we use here. I cut approximately 20ft of each type of rope, again with ease. That's really where I could feel the coarse finish shine! I feel like I could have cut 500ft with the same results haha. I looked around and found a crate I haven't gotten into yet and popped the straps and decided to cut those down a bit too. Grabbed a piece of printer paper and it easily sliced through along the entire edge.
Though carrying the Mule at times was uncomfortable, trying to find the perfect placement for it in the sheath...using it was a blast and a pleasure! Such a different experience, but it's going make me look into other smaller fixed blades here in the future. Not that any of my Spyderco folders feel flimsy in hand, this is just a different feel. Like nothing can stop it. I could have kept going with the testing, but honestly my hand that wasn't using the knife began to tire from gripping all this stuff while my right hand with the Mule just breezed through material. This won't be the last time you'll be seeing this knife on the forum! :D
*I tried to take a picture of the edge after all this, but my hands were shaky and none of the pics came out clear haha!*
I used the Mule in PMA11 all this week, e forum! :D
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Thanks, Rick! :)
These real life reports of yours are really always very interesting and valuable to me.
And such reports and comparisons actually really rare even on this great forum.
Top three going by pocket-time (update March 24):
- EDC: Endura thin red line ffg combo edge (VG10); Wayne Goddard PE (4V), Endela SE (VG10)
-Mountains/outdoors: Pac.Salt 1 SE (H1), Salt 2 SE (LC200N), and also Wayne Goddard PE (4V)
Thanks guys! It's a lot of work, but having the materials readily available at work makes it possible. I've learned quite a bit just from doing these pretty comparable types of tests over the past year and a half or so. Hoping it's helpful to others and that they also enjoy seeing some real feedback besides all those youtube "reviews" out there. Glad you enjoy it! :)
15 's in 10 different steels
1 - Bradford Guardian 3 / Vanadis 4E Wharnie
1 - Monterey Bay Knives Slayback Flipper / ZDP 189
1 - CRK Small Sebenza 31/Macassar Ebony Inlays
1 - CRK Large Inkosi Insingo/ Black Micarta Inlays
1 - CRK Small Sebenza 31 Insingo/Magnacut
I used some new brown Tri-Angles on my Sharpmaker to even up the grind angles on my PD-1 Mule. One side of the blade shines up nicely at the 30° angle setting and the other side is almost getting there. Then I'll dust off the edge using the 40°setting.
Just realized Connor is the OP of this thread, and the first to post on page 100! Pretty cool. Definitely your thread buddy! Haha
Ha! Feels like awhile since that first post. I sold off that CPM S110V Military since, to one of my co-workers, actually. He's not even a big knife guy, but he paid $130 or so for it. I guess maybe my influence is having an effect at work. :)
- Connor
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
I started in a new position this week at the company where I work. In this department we lay-up and build carbon fiber panels, so there's lots of different materials to cut in the process. I figured I'd take a Native 5 in Maxamet and a K390 Endela to see how they would stand up. The Native 5 is a factory second, so I wasn't really worried about damaging it.
Both cut thin film sheets of Nylon and Teflon, Tacky Tape and cardboard boxes with ease as you might expect. I used the Native 5 to slice maroon Scotch-Brite pads in half. That ended up taking the edge off the blade; you could run your finger down the edge with no danger of cutting it. At home, I used a CBN Benchstone and the brown Tri-Angles on the Sharpmaker to bring the edge back to life.
I used the Endela to trim resin and film adhesive off the rough edge of finished carbon fiber sheets after we removed the vacuum bagging material. The carbon was laying just off the edge of a table so I ran the blade, tip down, around the edge. I dinged the edge on lots of the carbon fiber along the way but at the end of the day the K390 held up pretty good; no nicks in the edge or scratches on the side of the blade. It was just slightly dulled in about a one inch area along the edge. If you were to hand it to someone to cut something it would still be plenty sharp for the job. I used the brown Tri-Angles to touch that one up.
Our local gorge is full of walking tracks. Sadly a noxious weed has sprung up all along them. The seeds hitch a ride on anything, particularly our dogs. It grows to ~1.2m high (4ft.) in clusters of 30ish stems. They're stalk-like, strong and flexible for their ~3mm (1/8th") diameter. As the seeds grow at the tip, they lean over the paths.
My Dragonfly 2 makes fairly short work of them, however I slice at an angle and as the blade rides down the cut, it occasionally hooks on the stalk. I stand back amused, watching my little Spyderco wiggle its way down a stem. Glad I went with orange! Oh yeah. It's a losing battle, but I persist!
Cleared some branches to build a ‘shed’ with kids in the forest. And learned in the process, that everything is a hotspot if you have baby PC hands ...
Cleared some branches to build a ‘shed’ with kids in the forest. And learned in the process, that everything is a hotspot if you have baby PC hands ...
89055AC7-E2D8-4F11-930B-789A2C8A9E84.jpeg
Hahaha, I appreciate the honesty! :p Doesn't strike me as the best model for the job, but you got it done and saw these knives can take more abuse than we can :cool:
15 's in 10 different steels
1 - Bradford Guardian 3 / Vanadis 4E Wharnie
1 - Monterey Bay Knives Slayback Flipper / ZDP 189
1 - CRK Small Sebenza 31/Macassar Ebony Inlays
1 - CRK Large Inkosi Insingo/ Black Micarta Inlays
1 - CRK Small Sebenza 31 Insingo/Magnacut
Hahaha, I appreciate the honesty! :p Doesn't strike me as the best model for the job, but you got it done and saw these knives can take more abuse than we can :cool:
Indeed. Ideal tool would be a puukko or a similar knife ... and gloves :p
's in 10 different steels
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