Spyderco Forums

Looks great! Sort of a Temperance meets Stretch design. I like it alot.

Wouter

I still don't know what a mule team is, lol....

Lostification wrote:I still don't know what a mule team is, lol....

read the first sticky on the general discussion board.

NOW, I am happy. Sal, Taz, all of you. Thanks. My christmas will now be a happy one.

BK6

The scales on the one with a handle are made from G-10. The Boltaron (high line Kydex) sheaths were made by Scott Gere.

Mike Sastre also has a sample of the model as well.

I don't know if anyone is planning on making scales, although it's not all that hard to make your own. All of the models will be the same so scales should be inter-chanageable.

Cliff, are you still planning your test with Phil?

I didn't get a lot of feedback on the next Mule team steel question so I guess I will select one.

sal

I didn't get a lot of feedback on the next Mule team steel question so I guess I will select one.

I have confidence in your taste in steel
*coughCPM M4* must have been something in my throat, sorry. :rolleyes: Joe

tonydahose wrote:read the first sticky on the general discussion board.

I have.. many times... It's just not really clear. This is how I see it ~~ They are designing a fixed blade knife that they will try different steels on every once in a while and you have.. sign up to buy them or get on a list. The term Mule team is what confuses me most, lol...

I'm taking physics in school right now and THIS mule team is more confusing, lol...

Mule is as in "test mule or development mule", common to the car industry when they are designing a new model car they make up a few cars to try new and different things on to see how they compare and see what works and what doesn't. To most, they look unfinished and maybe even ugly, I kinda like them for the function they fulfill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_mule

For instance here is a mule for the new '09 Camaro, but with a Middle East Lumina body over the Camaro chassis and drive train.
http://www.leftlanenews.com/chevrolet-c ... ure-2.html

Also, this test mule for the next generation of the BMW Z8 with a sheet metal body.
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=348

Same thing here, multiple different steels on the same knife with identical characteristics so the only thing being tested is the steel, not grind, blade shape, etc. The focus is on testing the variable, ie. the new steel, and keeping costs down, not on aesthetics. The "Mule Team" I imagine is the team of folks working on this project.

The Mastiff wrote:I have confidence in your taste in steel
*coughCPM M4* must have been something in my throat, sorry. :rolleyes: Joe

If Santa gets me what I want this year I will be getting a CPM M4 Krein Ultimate Caper. That said, I would love to see either 12C27M ran hard or 13C26 ran all hard, but those don't seem to be popular choices around here.

Mike

do we have a ballpark figure of the price on this?

sal wrote:The scales on the one with a handle are made from G-10. The Boltaron (high line Kydex) sheaths were made by Scott Gere.

Mike Sastre also has a sample of the model as well.

I don't know if anyone is planning on making scales, although it's not all that hard to make your own. All of the models will be the same so scales should be inter-chanageable.

Cliff, are you still planning your test with Phil?

I didn't get a lot of feedback on the next Mule team steel question so I guess I will select one.

sal

Thanks for that info Sal. I am going to make some scales - so its great to know that they will be interchangeable profiles. If you have a blank handle lying around somewhere (and otherwise not headed towards becoming a knife) I could put it to good use for getting a head start on scales.

I've been eagerly anticipating their arrival and look forward to ordering day!

Sincerely,
CWO

I have all sorts of handle material I want to test as well, and this seems like a great platform to do so. I have some Colobolo, bamboo, Zircote, some custom Micarta I made, burlap Micarta, Canvas Micarta, I have some Kevlar scales I want to try, So cool textures of G-10... Anything else that crosses my mind. I wonder what Lacewood would look like... :) Can Anyone else see Carbon Fiber bolsters with Lacewood Handle... :D

Yes, price? I haven't seen anything come across e mail. I signed up for this a long time ago sorta gave up =) Also I didn't catch the steel type, I'll read back thru for that.

If Santa gets me what I want this year I will be getting a CPM M4 Krein Ultimate Caper. That said, I would love to see either 12C27M ran hard or 13C26 ran all hard, but those don't seem to be popular choices around here.

That's my kind of christmas present. As far as the 12C26/7M and 13C26 I have to admit I don't have anything against them , or the idea of running them that hard. I just look at this as a way to get some steels tried out that I normally wouldn't see. The design is a really excellent , ergonomic utility piece too.

I've been trying out some Japanese steels lately. OU31, which I like, and R2 which I don't. The R2 is a HSS which Kobelco ( now owned by hitachi?) won't release the composition of, as is par for the course lately. It's the first steel knife I've ever worried about breaking the tip on just putting it in it's molded leather sheath. You can tell it was pitted deeply before it was finished also. So far, I still like Super blue, and ZDP 189, and yes, VG10 the best.

The more I look around the more I see how much time Sal had to have put into steel selection, for instance, and heat treatments. Take it easy Mike and hopefully Santa will not decide to keep that knife for himself. Joe

Sal,

I'll get a sample sheath to you soon - been dealing with a big backlog and a little "bump in the road" that happened right after Blade. Sheaths pictured look good. "G" clips or TekLoks? Like the idea of custom/interchangeable handles.

Hey Simple man, thanx for the great explanation.

Price? I heard something about 39.95 for the 52100 version.

Joe, thanx fer noticin'

Hi Mike,

thanx. Hope things are ok with you. Thanx for the kind comment on the sheath. When you get a sheath designed, why don't you post a pic. I think many will want to have sheaths made.

We just about have production on our new G-Clip. Thanx much for your help with the design. it's swiss cheese holes so there are a variety of positions available. We'll make them available to you and Scott to add them to sheaths if the junky's want them.

sal

Tricod wrote:I have all sorts of handle material I want to test as well, and this seems like a great platform to do so. I have some Colobolo, bamboo, Zircote, some custom Micarta I made, burlap Micarta, Canvas Micarta, I have some Kevlar scales I want to try, So cool textures of G-10... Anything else that crosses my mind. I wonder what Lacewood would look like... :) Can Anyone else see Carbon Fiber bolsters with Lacewood Handle... :D

Hi Tricod, sounds interesting. You'll have to post pics. Do you plan on making scales for others?

sal

great news.... I can't wait... :cool:
makes me feel like a kid in a candy store .... :)

sal wrote:Hi Tricod, sounds interesting. You'll have to post pics. Do you plan on making scales for others?

sal

Pictures... of course!, Why wouldn’t I :) . Just got to get the knife first. (If you can’t tell I'm really excited about this one.)

Scales for others, absolutely... if anyone is interested that is… From what I can tell from the pictures it should be pretty easy to make scales for them and make little “kits” with the scales and the hardware to attach them.

So Sal, you don’t want to send me an AutoCAD file for the knife do ya? :D

cobrajoe wrote:Man those look great. I suppose I'll need to buy to and figure out how to make one into a folder :D

They are not very far from the Calypso jr. IMHO.