DeathBySnooSnoo wrote:I know that when steel is heat treated too high that it becomes brittle and I am not asking that the M390 be pushed to its max. Not even to 62, but to 60-61, which as it has been said will give it significant advantages over the other steels that we are currently seeing (S90V and M4). And in this case, being the Mule project ($70) and not a $300 production knife I would think that it would be a prime time to get the steel to that level of heat treat and let the consumer see if there are any issues with it at that level. That rather is the point of the Mule project is it not? If every new steel is under-treated and we see no real difference then what is the point really? If we get S90V, M4, 20CP and M390 that are all behaving more or less the same...then why bother? Why not just use one of the steels and leave the rest.
That is all I am saying really, the Mule project is great and I love that all these new steels are being tested, but I think that by playing it safe with some of the steels the whole point is being slightly missed. I know that by treating higher there would likely be more waste, more blades that perhaps didn't make the cut (pun not intended) and that would drive costs up, but we are getting extremely lucky to get the steels that we are for the money they are charging I would think that a lot of the people that buy them would pay an extra $10 maybe $20 to get these new steels at as close to their best as possible.
I am sure that Sal and Spyderco have reasons for treated each steel the way they do, and perhaps as I do not know all the background info that they do, I should not question why this Mule was treated to 59-60 rather than something slightly higher, but I am curious.
The thing you are missing is that only through testing will the differences really show up.
Under normal use you may or may not see a difference in edge retention and or how they cut depending on material being cut, edge finish ect.
A lot of the steels are much closer in performance than people would think they are under normal use and some are really so close it would take CATRA to see the difference.
M390 is different than S90V and S90V is different from M4, they all react different in how they cut.