Mule Team XL?

[vivi]

no choil.

[JoviAl]

Still got a little finishing work to do to the spine to make it beautiful, but in my opinion it is one extremely handsome knife as a straight spine! It feels surprisingly significantly more nimble in hand than the modest amount of steel removal would suggest, presumably as the weight bias has moved backwards towards the handle. I’ve put a gentle bevel on the spine that I will turn into a round profile with my belt grinder when I get in to work on Monday.

I am really looking forward to putting it to some hard use over the next few weeks in this permutation to see how (if at all) it varies from the previous leaf blade iteration. I can’t help but wonder how magnificent this would be as an SE knife as well

[Manixguy@1994]

WOW ! Looks outstanding, like the SE idea too . MG2

[BeggarSo]

First thought this looks like a Military XL Fixed blade. Love it!

Oh and finger choil = Yes gotta be able to choke up on something like that.

[cabfrank]

That looks excellent!

[Coastal]

Love the looks of that!

[Scandi Grind]

This kind of looks like a straight spined boning knife now. Pretty curious how that will perform. What was the original stock thickness on this knife?

[JoviAl]

This kind of looks like a straight spined boning knife now. Pretty curious how that will perform. What was the original stock thickness on this knife?

I quoted it somewhere on this thread a while back, but off the top of my head stock thickness was 3.2mm at the widest part of the heel, and sub 2mm at the tip. It’s thinner now as I’ve removed some of the blade height (where the stock is at the thickest part of the V). Having used it exclusively all day yesterday at work it is really light and has become if anything even more of a Jack of all trades. It lacks the weight of the more chopping oriented knives I usually favour for work (I do a lot of hacking and chopping), but it is a delight to use and so light feeling compared to my usual options. It does feel almost like I’m using a really ergonomic 6 inch boning knife.

[JoviAl]

I think these would be extremely popular with people who like trying different steels in the kitchen or as a general use outdoors knife. I wouldn’t baton thick stuff with it, but it’ll definitely split two finger thick branches for a fire, feather sticks just fine, preps fruit and meat like a champ (finger clearance notwithstanding) and absolutely violates cardboard with this less tall blade/thinner max thickness stock. The Magnacut is stellar for this length and multidisciplinary use, but I would imagine one in clad Rex45 or HAP40 to be absolutely mind blowingly good for a camp kitchen application. In my humble opinion it would be a great platform for mule testing steels for use in larger format knife blades like culinary or choppers.

[vivi]

I think I could go either way on full leaf shape or straight spine, but I'm definitely not interested in a choil of any sort.

Your mod looks good. Doubt the Mule XL would have been much of a chopper stock so I see no real drawbacks to doing that mod. I tried it with a Manix XL and enjoyed the results.

[sal]

Hey Al,

Thanx much for being part of the R&D team. What is the thickness of the spine after making it straight? Do you think the current thickness would be good for a test Mule 6" blade?

sal

[Bill1170]

This kind of looks like a straight spined boning knife now. Pretty curious how that will perform. What was the original stock thickness on this knife?

I quoted it somewhere on this thread a while back, but off the top of my head stock thickness was 3.2mm at the widest part of the heel, and sub 2mm at the tip. It’s thinner now as I’ve removed some of the blade height (where the stock is at the thickest part of the V). Having used it exclusively all day yesterday at work it is really light and has become if anything even more of a Jack of all trades. It lacks the weight of the more chopping oriented knives I usually favour for work (I do a lot of hacking and chopping), but it is a delight to use and so light feeling compared to my usual options. It does feel almost like I’m using a really ergonomic 6 inch boning knife.

I performed a similar modification on a FFG Endura while converting it to an Emerson Opener (AKA a waved knife). The reduction in spine thickness made it a higher performer in all-the-way-through cuts in cardboard and fleshy plants. It was already a good cutter, but thinness is a good attribute for through cuts.

[JoviAl]

Hey Al,

Thanx much for being part of the R&D team. What is the thickness of the spine after making it straight? Do you think the current thickness would be good for a test Mule 6" blade?

sal

My pleasure.

I’ll double check when I get home with my calibrated Mitutoyos, but on work’s analogue calipers it is showing at 1mm at the tip (before it transitions to secondary bevel) and 2.4mm at the heel of the blade above the spydiehole. I’ve bevelled and polished the spine (apart from the last 1cm at the tip which I use on fire steels), and it has (coupled with the reduced maximal stock thickness) significantly improved its cutting performance in through cuts of thick materials (I know, not any surprises there but worth mentioning).

Regarding thickness for a potential run of 6 inch mules I think this is a good middle ground - thick enough for multiple uses but still plausible for food prep. I’m not sure if it is too great a compromise and that a 2mm to 1mm taper might be an order of magnitude better for testing for food prep knives if that is the goal (@vivi?), but as it is it is better in the kitchen than most of my commercial colour coded handle chef’s and butcher’s knives. Maybe a taller 3mm stock blade with a lower angle taper from edge to spine might be an improvement (and at the same time improve knuckle clearance on the standard mule handle).

Fundamentally it depends on your desire (or lack of) to maintain fidelity to the original mule design. As it is, it is one heck of a versatile tool

[JoviAl]

Update - with my calibrated callipers it is coming out at:

Heel above the spydiehole (green arrow) - 3mm
Tip (before secondary bevel - red arrow) - 1.45mm

It’s not dramatically thinner at the heel or the tip, but the thickness change midway down the spine where the hump of the leaf has been removed has made a significant difference to how it feels in the cut.

[JoviAl]

I think I could go either way on full leaf shape or straight spine, but I'm definitely not interested in a choil of any sort.

Your mod looks good. Doubt the Mule XL would have been much of a chopper stock so I see no real drawbacks to doing that mod. I tried it with a Manix XL and enjoyed the results.

Yeah, it was never the best chopper simply due to its relatively light weight blade. Not terrible, but not anything to get excited about (have I mentioned how good the JM2 is at that for such a pocket friendly knife? ). It is however pleasingly proficient at pretty much everything without it being so task specific that it is a one trick pony. Would I want to carve a wooden spoon with it? Probably not everyday, but it can (I did one earlier during a tea break). Choose it over a laser thin petty for food prep, nope - but it can do it well enough. It’d be fantastic for boning out and parcelling a deer. For me it falls into that much underrated but super useful genre that is the kind of multifunctional knife design you could backpack with and never lament not having chosen something else (plus it is super lightweight and slim).

[vivi]

those are the types of blades I enjoy in the outdoors, so I'm excited for this one.

I've carried everything into the woods from Victorinox 4" paring knives as my only knife, to super thick usses, and everything in between.

For single knife trips I've found something around 5-7" with a little heft but nothing crazy is the most versatile. Just enough length and oomph to make a decent pocket machete and baton wood without thinking twice, but not too heavy and forward balanced to be miserable for carving and food prep.

The Temperance 2 is currently my favorite spyderco for that role but the extra cutting edge of the Mule XL may let it steal that spot.

[sal]

Hi Vivi,

The Temperance 2 was a design to be an ultimate fixed blade carry knife, for me, regardless of cost. I bring mine with me when when I travel. Hard to beat, in my opinion.

sal

[BeggarSo]

Hi Vivi,

The Temperance 2 was a design to be an ultimate fixed blade carry knife, for me, regardless of cost. I bring mine with me when when I travel. Hard to beat, in my opinion.

sal

Would that be in a Spydie edge or plain edge?

[vivi]

Hi Vivi,

The Temperance 2 was a design to be an ultimate fixed blade carry knife, for me, regardless of cost. I bring mine with me when when I travel. Hard to beat, in my opinion.

sal

I would say you succeeded. The Temperance 2 is an incredible design and the quality and execution are the best I've seen in any production fixed blade. The level of quality rivals my most expensive fixed blade, a Winkler Belt Knife.

VG10 was a good choice too. Easy to field sharpen, shouldn't ever rust on me in the outdoors, and plenty of edge retention for the role.

Very happy with mine. Hoping to track down a second some day.