Is there anybody that has all of the Mule's, 1-11? If so which ones do you prefer and why?
Thanks,
VG-10
Mule Teams
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yablanowitz
- Member
- Posts: 6917
- Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2006 2:16 pm
- Location: Liberal, Kansas
I have them all, but haven't put handles on the ZDP or BD1 mules. I'm looking for something nice to put on the ZDP and just haven't gotten around to the BD1 as of yet.
My favorite would also have to be the S90V, with M4 and 52100 close behind. I've liked S90V for a long time, so that wasn't a surprise. The Mule was my first in M4 and I love the relative ease of sharpening that it enjoys (and my M4 Military shares the same strengths). The 52100 takes a wonderful edge and I've slowly been convexing the edge to where it really slices great. It's also easy to touch up the edge and the patina looks pretty neat.
Since those are the first 3, I'll give my impressions of the rest
#4 ZDP - no handle, and not much use yet, but I expect the same as other ZDP blades
#5 9Cr13MoV - Impressive for the price. A decent all around steel, these 2 are my beaters
#6 S35VN - Just finished this one a month ago and it's a good steel. It seems to be slightly finer grained than S30V (a good thing, IMO) with good edge holding. I don't use S30V enough to know how it compares.
#7 Damascus VG-10 - Have a temporary handle on this one and it acts like VG-10.
#8 Super Blue - My kitchen Mule - Takes a great edge and I love the patina (after my wife let it surface rust) Haven't tested it too much for edge holding, but it's a real pleasure to work with in food prep
#9 Cobalt Special - Seems pretty decent all around, but I haven't taken the time to really wring it out yet. Takes a wonderful edge with relatively little effort
#10 BD1 - No handle, no experience yet
#11 M390 - will be ordering this week.
Have I ever said that I really like this project? :D
My favorite would also have to be the S90V, with M4 and 52100 close behind. I've liked S90V for a long time, so that wasn't a surprise. The Mule was my first in M4 and I love the relative ease of sharpening that it enjoys (and my M4 Military shares the same strengths). The 52100 takes a wonderful edge and I've slowly been convexing the edge to where it really slices great. It's also easy to touch up the edge and the patina looks pretty neat.
Since those are the first 3, I'll give my impressions of the rest
#4 ZDP - no handle, and not much use yet, but I expect the same as other ZDP blades
#5 9Cr13MoV - Impressive for the price. A decent all around steel, these 2 are my beaters
#6 S35VN - Just finished this one a month ago and it's a good steel. It seems to be slightly finer grained than S30V (a good thing, IMO) with good edge holding. I don't use S30V enough to know how it compares.
#7 Damascus VG-10 - Have a temporary handle on this one and it acts like VG-10.
#8 Super Blue - My kitchen Mule - Takes a great edge and I love the patina (after my wife let it surface rust) Haven't tested it too much for edge holding, but it's a real pleasure to work with in food prep
#9 Cobalt Special - Seems pretty decent all around, but I haven't taken the time to really wring it out yet. Takes a wonderful edge with relatively little effort
#10 BD1 - No handle, no experience yet
#11 M390 - will be ordering this week.
Have I ever said that I really like this project? :D
42 Spyderco fixed blades and counting...
It will be interesting to see how people who have the S90V and M4 mules feel that the M390 one compares. I'm quite impressed with it so far but I don't have the others to compare it to.
Peter - My :spyder:'s:
Caly~3.5 (VG-10 & S. Blue); Para2~(20CP~M390~S30v); Military~(M390~S30v); Endura & Delica~4~FFG; Native~(S30v); Caly~Jr.~(ZDP); Manix~2~(M4); Ladybug~3~(VG-10. SE); Mules~(M390).
Caly~3.5 (VG-10 & S. Blue); Para2~(20CP~M390~S30v); Military~(M390~S30v); Endura & Delica~4~FFG; Native~(S30v); Caly~Jr.~(ZDP); Manix~2~(M4); Ladybug~3~(VG-10. SE); Mules~(M390).
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The Mastiff
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- Posts: 5952
- Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2006 2:53 am
- Location: raleigh nc
1) Super blue
2) CPM M4
3)52100
4) Cobalt special
I like these for the edges they take, the ease of sharpening and overall performance of the steels. Note that wear resistance isn't always tops for me, but I do factor it in. None are what I would call lacking, but they aren't S90V either.
I prefer hard, thin edges that have the best (IMO) combination of edge stability and wear resistance. Those two attributes are typically not found together. The best edges possible have very small carbides and not many of really wear resistant ones ( 12C, 13C, AEBL, etc. for stainless, white Hitachi, W1, O1, 1080, etc for carbon/alloys are some of the more well known in the cutlery group)
The best and most wear resistant edges typically come from carbides, large amounts of hard vanadium carbides in a steel that is fairly hard (like S90V at rc 60-61, S110V at RC 63-64, etc are some examples)
CPM M4 is an excellent example of having it both ways. It's very wear resistant when heat treated properly yet it still takes very nice edges. Not the thinnest edges, nor the highest vanadium content but it sure does seem to do pretty darn good especially above RC 63 in folder or medium FB use.
Being stainless isn't a must with me. When I was growing up no seriously good knives were stainless ( I've never been thrilled by Buck's early 440C blades and couldn't afford them anyway when young). I was brought up to put the tools back where they belong, and use them for their design purpose and always maintain everything. Whether an axe, a hoe or a rake, tools were taken care of and used for their designed purpose.
We had a foot pedaled whetstone for larger gardening and such tools, and whetstones for smaller. You learned to sharpen properly if you wanted to make your job easier especially when going after ever present weeds that were taller than I was. :)
2) CPM M4
3)52100
4) Cobalt special
I like these for the edges they take, the ease of sharpening and overall performance of the steels. Note that wear resistance isn't always tops for me, but I do factor it in. None are what I would call lacking, but they aren't S90V either.
I prefer hard, thin edges that have the best (IMO) combination of edge stability and wear resistance. Those two attributes are typically not found together. The best edges possible have very small carbides and not many of really wear resistant ones ( 12C, 13C, AEBL, etc. for stainless, white Hitachi, W1, O1, 1080, etc for carbon/alloys are some of the more well known in the cutlery group)
The best and most wear resistant edges typically come from carbides, large amounts of hard vanadium carbides in a steel that is fairly hard (like S90V at rc 60-61, S110V at RC 63-64, etc are some examples)
CPM M4 is an excellent example of having it both ways. It's very wear resistant when heat treated properly yet it still takes very nice edges. Not the thinnest edges, nor the highest vanadium content but it sure does seem to do pretty darn good especially above RC 63 in folder or medium FB use.
Being stainless isn't a must with me. When I was growing up no seriously good knives were stainless ( I've never been thrilled by Buck's early 440C blades and couldn't afford them anyway when young). I was brought up to put the tools back where they belong, and use them for their design purpose and always maintain everything. Whether an axe, a hoe or a rake, tools were taken care of and used for their designed purpose.
We had a foot pedaled whetstone for larger gardening and such tools, and whetstones for smaller. You learned to sharpen properly if you wanted to make your job easier especially when going after ever present weeds that were taller than I was. :)
"A Mastiff is to a dog what a Lion is to a housecat. He stands alone and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race" Cynographia Britannic 1800
"Unless you're the lead dog the view is pretty much gonna stay the same!"
"Unless you're the lead dog the view is pretty much gonna stay the same!"
I meant to add in the post above that I haven't had a chance to put the M390 blade to any sort of meaningful use. Based on specs and other reports, it should be very impressive.mongatu wrote:It will be interesting to see how people who have the S90V and M4 mules feel that the M390 one compares. I'm quite impressed with it so far but I don't have the others to compare it to.