For kitchen duty, I'd recommend something a little more stainless.
For hunting and fishing, being stainless should be an even higher priority than in the kitchen. At least you can quickly clean a knife in a kitchen. In outdoor environments, that won't happen. Z-max is far from an ideal hunting and fishing knife. I think people are really reaching to justify buying this z-max.
I agree with you concerning the stainless property in a hunting and fishing knife. My 20-cv mule is probably my favorite because I can completely neglect it without worry. However, if one religiously takes care of their equipment, it isn't a problem. I regularly go fishing with either a k390 delica or a rex-45 military (and I regularly wade out into fresh water). I definitely wouldn't do this in saltwater! If the knife gets dunked, I'll dry the knife as best as I can and then oil the blade with a bit of oil / grease from my nose. The knife will get a proper cleaning and oiling once I get home. As I understand it, rex-45 has worse corrosion resistance than maxamet and I haven't seen any corrosion yet. Please correct me if I'm wrong on its corrosion resistance. I also have friends who use inexpensive 1095 tool-steel knives for both hunting and fishing without problems. Still, you're right about one thing. If cleaning and oiling a knife isn't a priority, any tool-steel isn't appropriate for hunting or fishing.
Pro tip: vasaline has a higher viscosity than oil alone and will tend to cling to the blade and stop pin a little better than oil, especially when taking an unavoidable ride into water. For my tool-steel mules, I apply car-wax to the handle and let it dry before attaching the scales. Seems to be working fine.
Does anyone know where to get Micarta scales for a SPyderco Mule? Thanks.
I've bought a few from Halpern Titanium.
K-390 on hand: Mule Team 17, Police 4 G-10, Endela (burlap micarta), Endela backup, Endura (canvas micarta), Straight Stretch (now blade-swapped with G-10 Stretch), Delica Wharncliffe, Dragonfly Wharncliffe, & Dragonfly Wharncliffe shorty mod Note to self: Less is more.
I’m in! I have the Maxamet Mule and look forward to trying to compare them. On paper this doesn’t look too much different than Maxamet but we shall see!
I have had absolutely zero issue sharpening Maxamet and expect this to be no different.
Yeah Triple B (Deadboxhero) has talked about these two steels being really similar but that maxamet has a slight edge over z-max if I remember right. I have both steels but haven’t sharpened maxamet yet so can’t comment on the similarities in sharpening.
I have a maxamet mule but plan to get this one too to compare. It's interesting how cheap this is. I think I paid like $110 for the maxamet mule.
Deadboxhero has talked about these two being really similar but maxamet has a little more of something in it and so it performs a little better in one of the areas of comparison may have been corrosion resistance or edge retention I can’t recall which it was..
U posted this at 4pm my time. To the CET Europeans: isn't this going to drop at 5pm? :confused:
Michael 48 Spydies, 44 different models, 43 different steels . Grail knife, still to be acquired: original Tuff by Ed SchemppFeel free to help me find one at a reasonable price...
U posted this at 4pm my time. To the CET Europeans: isn't this going to drop at 5pm? :confused:
It is Monday and i could be having a major brain fart, but they are 2hrs behind me. 9am mt = 11am est = 5pm cet. If your timestamp of my post said 4pm... I don't know? :confused:
Thanks for the support. Oh how I'd HATE to miss this because of any technicality.... :eek:
Michael 48 Spydies, 44 different models, 43 different steels . Grail knife, still to be acquired: original Tuff by Ed SchemppFeel free to help me find one at a reasonable price...
For kitchen duty, I'd recommend something a little more stainless.
For hunting and fishing, being stainless should be an even higher priority than in the kitchen. At least you can quickly clean a knife in a kitchen. In outdoor environments, that won't happen. Z-max is far from an ideal hunting and fishing knife. I think people are really reaching to justify buying this z-max.
I agree with you concerning the stainless property in a hunting and fishing knife. My 20-cv mule is probably my favorite because I can completely neglect it without worry. However, if one religiously takes care of their equipment, it isn't a problem. I regularly go fishing with either a k390 delica or a rex-45 military (and I regularly wade out into fresh water). I definitely wouldn't do this in saltwater! If the knife gets dunked, I'll dry the knife as best as I can and then oil the blade with a bit of oil / grease from my nose. The knife will get a proper cleaning and oiling once I get home. As I understand it, rex-45 has worse corrosion resistance than maxamet and I haven't seen any corrosion yet. Please correct me if I'm wrong on its corrosion resistance. I also have friends who use inexpensive 1095 tool-steel knives for both hunting and fishing without problems. Still, you're right about one thing. If cleaning and oiling a knife isn't a priority, any tool-steel isn't appropriate for hunting or fishing.
Pro tip: vasaline has a higher viscosity than oil alone and will tend to cling to the blade and stop pin a little better than oil, especially when taking an unavoidable ride into water. For my tool-steel mules, I apply car-wax to the handle and let it dry before attaching the scales. Seems to be working fine.
A lot of knife makers use epoxy to seal in the handle tang to prevent corrosion under the scales right? Are you using car wax to have removable handle scales or something?
A lot of knife makers use epoxy to seal in the handle tang to prevent corrosion under the scales right? Are you using car wax to have removable handle scales or something?
Yeah, I like to keep the handles removable. Ultimately, I'd like a set of micarta handles, but that may be a bad idea for fishing. Epoxy would certainly make the handles water-tight.
I'm still not decided on this mule team -- mainly because I don't need another mule team. However, I'd certainly like another mule team. Guess I should make up my mind quickly!
Just got informed that my Mom's Cataract surgery got moved up a couple of hours, not sure if I will be able to order one after all. Ugh!
I know how you feel, been waiting on this one for awhile. But as timing would have it I am in Guatemala City for work and will be using a VPN to sign in and purchase. Just too many variables with the connection, credit card, leaving a few minutes after order time for the airport, etc.
