Experiences with Cobalt special yet?

[toomzz]

Hi there,
I was wondering if there are any experiences with the latest mule yet?
I am referring to mule #9, the Seki-city cobalt special. Enlighten us!

Cheers,
Tomas

[gunnut35]

I have one but i have not used it much. I like it and it reminds me of my caly3 because it has the lamination line you can see one the blade. I just made some olivewood scales for it so now i can start using it. For the price the mules are a excellent deal.

[xavierdoc]

I've been getting to know mine over the last few months:

It's the gray handled one (orange is S90v)



batoning:



feather (fuzz) sticks:


Same knives, different day, different place- more batoning


More feather sticks (with folding cousins):


So what can I tell you? It withstands batoning and can make feather sticks :D

In seriousness, though, the steel takes a really sharp edge without undue effort. It feels sharper than the S90v edge (both were sharpened at the same time, same geometry). In practice, I can't detect a difference between the S90v and the Cos3 in terms of absolute sharpness. The Cos3 does have some slight edge damage but I can't find my loupe and it's too late (0200hrs here) to start mucking about with macro pics, so I can't tell what sort of damage it is. I'll take some pics over the weekend if I get the chance.

Finally, both knives are in kydex sheaths which often scratch working blades- the cladding steel of the Cos3 has scratched more than the S90v. Can't remember what the steel is (420J?) but I guess it is somewhat softer than the core.

Gut feeling is that I like this steel.

[xavierdoc]

Here are some edge pics:

Small chip in Cos-3 blade:


Another area where the edge has deformed slightly:



Pretty much the same area but showing scratches (probably from debris on the blade during insertion/removal from kydex sheath.)


Scratching of soft outer steel:


The CPMs90v edge after the same use (most used portion of blade selected for pic as no specific area of damage to home-in on)



Please note- my intention is not to gripe about the Cos3 Mule, I'm quite happy with it and it has seen some reasonable use to cause the edge-wear seen. Also, I am not putting Cos-3 head-to-head with S90v, it just happened that these were the two newest mules (to me) so went out together.

The CTS-20CP Mule will be an obvious candidate for comparison to S90v, a la Ankerson tests.

[toomzz]

Hi XD, thanks sofar for your oustanding pics. Very educational.
The reason I started up this thread is that I had some (minor) chipping with light kitchen use on COS3. Maybe the optimal quenching and tempering-procedure is not there yet for this laminate? Sal, please enlighten us!
Was sandwiching a matter of brittleness of plain COS3?
Comparing S90V to COS3 is comparing apples and potato's of course :rolleyes:

How about resharping XD, what your experience on that?
Come on guys, there must be more experiences on COS3. Bring it on!

Cheers,
T.

[Armalite Native]

Sorry for the noob question - are we talking about Cobalt Steel? If so I have a couple of Extrema Ratio knives and am satisfied with the performance of cobalt. It seems to be quite a "stiff' steel but works really well and shapens easily. Alot of people seem to poo poo it but I find I like it a bunch better than AuS8 but less than VG10. In a scale of performance vs wear out of my steels I put it just a bit below ATS 34 but beware the edge - I find 20 degrees works far better than a finer angle which seems to roll the edge.

[toomzz]

Yes, the latest mule in Cobalt Special...
Thanks for your input!

T.

[Mr_Moe]

So, some more time's past by now. How do those of you having the MT09 feel about the steel? How does it perform? Thanks.

[bgDjigit]

Great thanks to xavierdoc, for the shared info. Ill be grateful if you make similar test with the super blue steel or leastwise tell some impressions. Also question from toomzz about resharpening of cos3 is interesting :)

[bgDjigit]

Great thanks to xavierdoc, for the shared info. Ill be grateful if you make similar test with the M390 or leastwise tell some impressions. Also question from toomzz about resharpening of cos3 and m390 is interesting :)

[DCDesigns]

BUMP, anyone else wanna chime in on Cos? im amazed at the lack of info on it!

[jtoler_9]

In my impatience for the MT12 to be re-released I am contemplating getting the COS mule which is still somehow still available. I think it's safe to assume that since this mule was not the most recent released, that it was not the most popular Mule model. So my question is does anyone think it's worth grabbing a COS mule to slap some nice wood scales on? Any thoughts from anyone using their COS mule still?

[JLS]

I've enjoyed mine for the last couple of weeks. I finally got around to making a Kydex sheath for it and have been using it lately. On Monday it got used to cut up quite a bit of cardboard and it did well. There was some definite blunting, but the sharpening was quick and easy.

I love how easy it sharpens up and it take a truly scary edge. Edge holding is good, but I need to spend some more time with it before forming a real opinion. Christmas packages and breaking down boxes afterward will be it's next test.

I would definitely approve of wood scales...as you can see.

[xceptnl]

I've enjoyed mine for the last couple of weeks. I finally got around to making a Kydex sheath for it and have been using it lately. On Monday it got used to cut up quite a bit of cardboard and it did well. There was some definite blunting, but the sharpening was quick and easy.

I love how easy it sharpens up and it take a truly scary edge. Edge holding is good, but I need to spend some more time with it before forming a real opinion. Christmas packages and breaking down boxes afterward will be it's next test.

Any post-christmas updates on the Cobalt Special Mule? I went ahead and ordered one anyway.