Mule Team

[MacLaren]

Lol, this thread sure got rid of all that Mule Team stock.

I don’t know how you sleep at night. FOMO struck and just I ordered the PD#1.

:D :D

[BornIn1500]

Personally, I think it would be great to have a Mule in a cheap(ish) steel in constant supply, like the Mule Team 05 in 9Cr18Mo that was $19.95. People who want to try making a handle of their own or simply wrap some paracord would have an easy and pretty cheap way to get into the world of Spyderco. I assume the $70+ price of the current ones stopped a lot of people from buying one of these exotic steel Mules. I know mundane steels isn't the point of the Mules, but I think Spyderco would fill a niche to sell cheaper ones as a sort of starter craft knife.

[legOFwhat?]

Like shooting fish in a barrel....

Hehe 3 pma11's and leather sheath enroute. You even made me break my "no new knives 19" pact :)

[TomAiello]

I think this thread might have been responsible for driving RWL34 and PMA11 out of stock.

Just the PD1 (CruWear) left now.

[ABX2011]

Looks like MT27 in PD1 is the only one that's still in stock.

[Capt'n Boatsalot]

My PD1 Mule arrived earlier this week, and I was planning on swapping the Halpurn 3D scales on my K390 Mule onto the PD1. (K390 will get thin scales from Halpurn). I was pretty worried about what the K390 Mule would look like under the scales. Below are photos of what I found.

There was definitely rust, but not as bad as I had feared. I used the K390 alot in the kitchen. I tried to keep the handle end dry and clean, but didn't use any other special precautions. So it did sometimes get wet, and obviously that made its way under the scales. (I did apply Frog Lube before putting the scales on, but that was several years ago.)

Below is a before picture and another after I used some Bar Keepers Friend to clean it up. I'm going to try steel wool to get it a bit better before putting scales back on it.

I checked my 4V Mule too, and it had only a very little bit of corrosion, but was unsurprisingly much better than the K390. (It also has had less exposure simply due to being newer.)

Overall, the results are not entirely unexpected.

K390 Before Cleanup:


K390 After Cleanup with Bar Keepers Friend:


K390 After final cleanup with steel wool:


And a family photo. Really nice knives. I'm sad to see the program end...

[legOFwhat?]

My PD1 Mule arrived earlier this week, and I was planning on swapping the Halpurn 3D scales on my K390 Mule onto the PD1. (K390 will get thin scales from Halpurn). I was pretty worried about what the K390 Mule would look like under the scales. And a family photo. Really nice knives. I'm sad to see the program end...

Do you plan to still use the K390 in the kitchen or is it being reassigned? Nice family btw! :D

[Capt'n Boatsalot]

Do you plan to still use the K390 in the kitchen or is it being reassigned? Nice family btw! :D

Thanks! Yes, it will certainly still be used in the kitchen - it's just getting broke in! :p

My thinking was the tougher steels - 4V and PS1 - should get the more hand filling 3D scales and the super edge holding would get the thin scales. All will continue with the same duties though. I like the size as a useful paring knife size the kitchen.

[Tucson Tom]

Do you plan to still use the K390 in the kitchen or is it being reassigned? Nice family btw! :D

Thanks! Yes, it will certainly still be used in the kitchen - it's just getting broke in! :p
.

Those photos are exactly what I found with my PMA11 Mule that I was using in the kitchen. I was using the bolt on scales, and there is simply no way to prevent capillary action from drawing water under scales, and no way short of heating up the knife (which I do not recommend) to get it out of there.

So for me, it is the LC200 Mule for a kitchen knife. I have the PMA11 all cleaned up (just like you!!) and plan to make a real fixed blade out of it and epoxy the scales on. Now that will keep water out!! But first I have to get my scale making skills ramped up to speed -- I don't plan to just epoxy on the bolt on scales. You could do that of course and that would certainly solve the problem, but I have grander things in mind.

[Crux]

My PD1 Mule arrived earlier this week, and I was planning on swapping the Halpurn 3D scales on my K390 Mule onto the PD1. (K390 will get thin scales from Halpurn). I was pretty worried about what the K390 Mule would look like under the scales. Below are photos of what I found.

The bottom line is that you might have considered oiling the metal handle before mounting the scales. Even some wax or lacquer would have prevented this.

[Crux]

Sometimes it seems that people will walk through a mile of broken glass to do everything there exists to protect the blade while ignoring the tang. Well I was a young lad when we landed on the moon and Tang was a big friggin deal. When it comes to knives, the tang is STILL important. ALSO!!! Don't be screwed by rust on the screws. Wax, lacquer or several oils will help.

Stand up for the TANG!

[TomAiello]

I took a Tuf-Cloth and cut it to shape under the handles, then just left it there when I screwed the scales down. It appears to have totally prevented rust on the K390. My other K390 looked a lot like yours.

[David R]

Just saw this thread. Pretty sure I got the last A11 about 10 days ago. (Correction: they seem to have come back into stock.)

I have about about a dozen different Mules and would like another 3-4 of the steels if I could find them reasonably priced. The ones I have are all interesting and fun to try. PSF27 seems to be largely under-rated as a steel. Edge holding is on par with K390, possibly better. Haven't done any testing for toughness. Some of them, like B75P seem to be rare in that sense the steel does not seem to be available. It's cool to have some of these.

I get that it may not make sense financially for Spyderco to keep making them, especially with lesser known steels since these didn't seem to sell well.

[youmakemehole]

If Mule owners don't mind committing to a certain set of scales, in return for not ever having to worry about handle rust, epoxying the scales onto the handle would be a pretty good way to go. I believe this is what many fixed blade manufacturers do to their carbon steel knives, such as TOPS with their 8 bajillion different types of 1095 fixies.

[David R]

Is epoxy water proof indefinitely? I hate to think about rust forming under a handle that can't be removed. My fishing knife is an LC200N mule. :)

[TomAiello]

If Mule owners don't mind committing to a certain set of scales, in return for not ever having to worry about handle rust, epoxying the scales onto the handle would be a pretty good way to go.

I actually like to be able to take the scales off to inspect the rusting, and compare with other mules. I guess I'm just a nerd. :)

[Skidoosh]

RWL34 Mule is still available. I still can't believe PD#1 is available when cru-wear sells out in flash.

[David R]

PD#1 shows out of stock now. These last few seem to be going in and out of stock. A11 was out and is now back in stock.

[youmakemehole]

Is epoxy water proof indefinitely? I hate to think about rust forming under a handle that can't be removed. My fishing knife is an LC200N mule. :)

It's waterproof indefinitely as long as it was done correctly and it doesn't crack. People often use just epoxy to patch their leaking boats etc. so it can definitely be waterproof and if you get yourself a decent brand it should be able to take a couple thousand psi of force after it cures, meaning to get it to fail, you will have to hang weight equivalent to 2-3 cars from one scale. Really the only way to get it to fail is to not follow instructions while you are mixing/applying /curing it. Shouldn't be very difficult, and I believe the Waterway has G10 that is similarly epoxied on to the tang as well.

The drawbacks to doing this are not being able to ever swap scales again and also potentially ruining your knife(aesthetically and ergonomically) if you don't do a perfect job the first time with the epoxy. Once the epoxy is done hardening everything is pretty much set in stone, and blowing up the whole thing to start over again is likely not going to be an option. It might be a good idea to practice on some scraps and maybe also have a belt sander available. Like with all things, attaining greatness is never a cakewalk, but i'm sure the results of this on a carbon steel blade would be well worth it. I know if I was in that situation, figuring out how to get the epoxy right would be a priority because otherwise I'd go crazy – there would be no way that I would NOT take off the scales each and every time the knife gets dunked in water I would probably stay awake all night thinking about it! :rolleyes:

[David R]

Thanks for the detailed feedback. And I'd probably worry about it too.