Magnamax performance discussion

[vivi]

well the bait knife is surprising me. it cut all these strips and still has a bit of rough scrape shaving ability.

[vivi]

geeze, probably not going to get to the mule tonight. this comparison knife just won't quit

[Jeb]

That looks awesome there. I look forward to see how things progress. V, this pic looks like the guys that get in trouble with the captain of the boat and put in the spud locker to peel potatoes lol.

Don't ask how I know! Let's just say I always spoke my mind when the captain was being a idiot lol. Ironically I can't even eat potatoes either, love them too, they just nuke me lol.

[Naperville]

@vivi keep going!

I am living the moment with you.

[vivi]

I'm thinking about dropping the edge angle of the mule a little before I test it.

Compared to the bait knife it's thicker behind the edge.

Think I should go a head with the current edge that's close to factory angles or drop it down a bit?

Undecided.

[Jeb]

One think is for sure, the Mule is noted more thick a blade and it's going to be harder to draw through the cardboard. I don't know how you get away from that either.

[vivi]

One think is for sure, the Mule is noted more thick a blade and it's going to be harder to draw through the cardboard. I don't know how you get away from that either.

yeah, even if I take the edge bevel down, the spine is still going to be 3x the thickness of the comparison knife. probably should have thought about that before I cut up 3x trash bags of cardboard strips

[Naperville]

One think is for sure, the Mule is noted more thick a blade and it's going to be harder to draw through the cardboard. I don't know how you get away from that either.

yeah, even if I take the edge bevel down, the spine is still going to be 3x the thickness of the comparison knife. probably should have thought about that before I cut up 3x trash bags of cardboard strips

As long as you are having fun keep going! I am sure that it beats anything on TV.

I'd be interested in the highest cutting performance. Take the bevel down if you think that it will cut more cardboard in the test.

[cabfrank]

Up to you, but I'd leave it as is. You could always test again after thinning if you want.

[navin johnson]

If one holds the blade closer to parallel than perpendicular while cutting cardboard, it negates the thickness of the spine quite a bit

[Brock O Lee]

If one holds the blade closer to parallel than perpendicular while cutting cardboard, it negates the thickness of the spine quite a bit

Yup, there is a lot less wedging when you cut at say 45 degrees, compared to cutting perpendicularly. I’ll just leave these old photos here since you brought the topic up.

Thin UKPK (2.5mm) vs thick Military (3.7mm).



Both wedge when cutting at 90 degrees, but noticeably less with the thinner blade.



Wedging almost disappears for both when cutting at 45 degrees because the material has space to move away.

[vivi]

perfect illustration. cutting cardboard that way definitely makes it easier.

I'm going start cutting cardboard with the mule as is. Then if time allows try thinning the edge a bit and doing a different test with it and something closer in specs. Maybe one of my temperence fixed blades.

I want to do a test that dulls the blades faster but doesn't damage the knife. Maybe poly rope.

[vivi]

I wasn't happy with the sharpness I got on the mule touching up the factory edge at 20dps with my coarse medium brown rods.

Which is the case with any factory edge for me. I always get much better edges once I remove it.

So I used a DMT Coarse to remove the factory edge grind lines but maintain a similar angle.

Based on eyeball estimates and sharpmaker use I think the factory edge was around 18 degrees show side, 14 degrees back side. 15 degree sharpmaker slots made a microbevel on the back side but hit the shoulder of the show side. of course I could be introducing human error with my technique.

new edge got much sharper. It was cleanly shaving off the DMT Coarse, and with my freshly cleaned coarse medium sharpmaker rods in the 20 degree slots it will aggressively shave without needing to contact the skin.

I have to say the steel was a pleasure to finally sharpen for real. Definitely wear resistant, but very easy to deburr like most high hardness steels. Didn't feel difficult to work with on a DMT Coarse, which is much finer than I use for reprofiling.







I'll be posting updates on the amount of cardboard cut over the next few days. It's absolutely gliding through it with this edge, slices or push cuts. Holding front end sharpness quite well....still cleanly shaving with ease after cutting a large trash bag worth of strips.

[PM2Josh]

If I could ever fimd a Mule in Magnamax on the Spyderco site that is in the Mule format and not sold out in minutes. I will jump on it.
And no Ebay Magnamax mules for me. Far too much money for my blood. I really want a Magnamax Mule.

[vivi]

3 large trash bags full of 1/2" to 1" wide strips.

Still cutting smoothly, no snags. Still has some shaving ability left.

Starting to think this is the real deal. Sharpens nicely, killer edge holding, solid corrosion resistance and seems reasonably tough.

I'll see how much more it can cut on this same edge over the next few nights.

[hobbyist]

3 large trash bags full of 1/2" to 1" wide strips.

Still cutting smoothly, no snags. Still has some shaving ability left.

Starting to think this is the real deal. Sharpens nicely, killer edge holding, solid corrosion resistance and seems reasonably tough.

I'll see how much more it can cut on this same edge over the next few nights.

But the real question is... did it do better than your Walmart knife?

[vivi]

3 large trash bags full of 1/2" to 1" wide strips.

Still cutting smoothly, no snags. Still has some shaving ability left.

Starting to think this is the real deal. Sharpens nicely, killer edge holding, solid corrosion resistance and seems reasonably tough.

I'll see how much more it can cut on this same edge over the next few nights.

But the real question is... did it do better than your Walmart knife?

yes. the magnamax mule is at 3 bags worth, and walmart knife did 2 and just started a 3rd.

both can keep going at this point, neither is what I'd consider done.

The walmart knife is dragging more despite the thinner stock, and requires more of a slice.

The mule still goes through fine on more of a push cut motion.

The first garbage bag worth there wasn't a huge difference admittedly. Mule held the shaving sharpness a little longer. As I cut more, the differences become more noticeable.

[Spyderwebs]

I'd love some new 3.4 - 4" knife designs with 2.5mm stock similar to the Schempp Bowie or slightly smaller.

Thinner stock really helps with sliceyness and most models wouldn't suffer at all with .5mm thinner stock.

Or a thinner BTE grind with the existing stock thickness. Either would achieve similar results

[Larrin]

Fun testing!

[vivi]

four bags of strips cut. not looking forward to measuring how many feet it all adds up to!




Takes a bit more effort getting through the 4th bag than during bags 2 & 3, but the cuts are still clean with no snagging. Cutting the cardboard down to roughly 10" tall sheets, so the blade is still cleanly slicing through 10" of cardboard in one heel to tip slice.

I'll try to shoot a video of how it's doing when I start the 5th bag. Should have filmed it when it was fresh, but I suppose I can always sharpen it after the test to show how it cuts at peak sharpness.