Mule folder question for Sal
Mule folder question for Sal
I know that the Mule series is for R&D and you know that most of us are primarily interested in folders. Please consider offering the Mule as a Tenacious blade, which it closely resembles, then we can buy a Tenacious and swap out the blade. Opening up a new sales category, replaceable blade folders, is not the intention for the Mule but it would be interesting to see the demand for this and I suspect many here would be thankful if this were available. Thanks for your attention.
Thanx for the suggestion. I see a few difficulties.
Few can really take a knife apart and put it together as well as the knifemaker that origially assembled it. We get many back from customers with complaints on the model. Inspection reveals that it had been taken apart and not propertly re-assembled. The ad may say "new in the box" but does not say someone though it was a tinker toy set and took it apart, slapped it back together and sold it.
There are often very minor differences in parts that would not be noticed without accurate measurment, or much experience, but they actually make a difference. Sharp knives and locks are a serious issue with us. It might be possible with a Slipit (non-locking folder), but also adds the extra cost of machining the tang interface.
The costs of the machining for the locki fit necessary to make a blade to fit a folder would significantly increase the cost of the part over a fixed blade blank.
One would have to purchase the core model (Tenacious or what ever) which also raises the cost of participating. the core model would have to be unchanged to fit blades. What if we want to refine the core model? How will that affect all of the blades before and after the refinement?
sal
Few can really take a knife apart and put it together as well as the knifemaker that origially assembled it. We get many back from customers with complaints on the model. Inspection reveals that it had been taken apart and not propertly re-assembled. The ad may say "new in the box" but does not say someone though it was a tinker toy set and took it apart, slapped it back together and sold it.
There are often very minor differences in parts that would not be noticed without accurate measurment, or much experience, but they actually make a difference. Sharp knives and locks are a serious issue with us. It might be possible with a Slipit (non-locking folder), but also adds the extra cost of machining the tang interface.
The costs of the machining for the locki fit necessary to make a blade to fit a folder would significantly increase the cost of the part over a fixed blade blank.
One would have to purchase the core model (Tenacious or what ever) which also raises the cost of participating. the core model would have to be unchanged to fit blades. What if we want to refine the core model? How will that affect all of the blades before and after the refinement?
sal
Sal,
Thanks for the response. To summarize:
Replaceable blades cannot be mainstreamed due to inherent dangers and customer service issues.
On the small scale of the Mule series, the increased precision required would raise the price, plus the degree of precision is such that there may be variances between production runs on the Tenacious.
Makes sense.
Thanks for the response. To summarize:
Replaceable blades cannot be mainstreamed due to inherent dangers and customer service issues.
On the small scale of the Mule series, the increased precision required would raise the price, plus the degree of precision is such that there may be variances between production runs on the Tenacious.
Makes sense.