I put Halpern scales on mine after receiving it and it went straight to work in the kitchen. After a few days of use, I noticed some tiny dark spots around the handle. Upon removing the scales, I saw dots of rust on the entire handle. I was very surprised how it went straight for rust, no patina at all. I buffed it off, coated everything in a healthy layer of Froglube, and put it back to work.
Again, I use this in the kitchen. It gets washed after every uses, but "uses" can be long enough that acids will remain on the blade for a while. It has started to show some staining on the blade (I'm guessing the Froglube is long gone there), but the handle seems fine. I do like the staining and hope it keeps darkening (one reason I chose 4V over RWL34 is because I enjoy a nice patina on a fixed blade).
As far as performance, it's a nice knife, holds a good edge, but nothing mind blowing for my current uses. I think the high toughness is just not that important in the kitchen, especially in such a small blade. However, if I go out for a hike, I'm sure it'll make a great companion, and I absolutely love the ergonomics of the mule!
One thing to note, I live by the sea in a tropical country and I believe the tap water is very, very bad for steel in here. I've noticed more staining on my mule than on my 1095 EDC knives, and I'm thinking it might come from being regularly washed. As a matter of fact, I've even seen staining on one of my clad VG10 chef's knives :confused:
![Image](http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y142/Sid-Vicious/4vmule.jpg)