MT34P – CPM REX T15 Mule Team Dropping Soon!

[Bolster]

...but it would be nice to have T15 do something, anything better than 10v and K294...

Or is it the balance and trade-offs that are unique to a particular steel, rather than being better or best at something?

But I like your idea of experimental heat treats! Imagine being able to get an upscale steel in different hardness/toughness configurations!

[JoviAl]

Had a horrible moment just now when I realised I’d miscalculated the timing of the drop and it was yesterday (my time) than tonight

Managed to get one just now - I’m so relieved, I’ve been looking forward to this one for months!

Right - back to work again…

[vanka]

I’m excited to see how Spyderco cooked these up, but this season of releases has me thinking about the future. T15, 10v, the upcoming K294 and 15v are all in the same ballpark of performance. I am curious if they heat treated in a way to distinguish these more from one another. I suspect that is what they do with M390 and 20cv for example; with the latter running a point or two lower- and they seem to really drive the idea of 20cv being a tough steel in the marketing. Maybe I’m completely wrong about that, but it would be nice to have T15 do something, anything better than 10v and K294.


As steel guys, sharpening guys and not just knife guys; don’t you want more nuance between the steel on your mules? How many of these ~10v hss steels can we get in one year? Maybe it is time to start rereleasing the most popular mules with experimental heat treatments rather than just exhaust the alphabet soup of available knife steels. At this rate, It may not be long before we’re scraping at the bottom of the barrel for new steels to choose from.

I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot of different steels in future. The real we don't see a lot of steels is that the foundries can't or won't produce them in the required quantities. Sometimes it is the price they ask. I imagine solid Damasteel ds93x or Damacore Dc18n mule would be a tough sell considering the price. Most steels have to be in the range of 60-120$ for the finished product. Me personally would like to see a run of Z-max with improved HT. S390 also have a good potential, Kase knives from Switzerland is using it in a regular basis.

[tcarltonw]

flipper deterrent.

those who buy these things for a quick buck.

shyster flippers

It sounds as if you're very angry about people who put in extra effort and make a few bucks off of those who would choose to sleep in. Have you always hated Capitalism, or is this a more recent development?

Were you able to buy the knife that you wanted today? If not, I might be willing to part with mine. But it won't be cheap.

But if that extra effort is having multiple people order for you or to set up bots to try and rig the game it turns into taking steels out of the hands of those who actually use them/want them. It's a slimy, wormy, bottom feeding way to make a couple extra bucks and flippers can all ride a big bus and meet their end like the O'Dyles!

That being said I was able to stop what I was doing at work for ~ 5-10 min and pick up two. Very smooth drop. Thank you everyone at Spyderco.

[standy99]

Older Mule guys would know there was always a few left over from each batch. Even at 500 pieces a run.
The amount of new “my first Mule” that come here for every drop always shows the healthy interest.

Certain steels like 15V and Magnacut will always sell out within a few hours and some like AEB-L will sit for a bit while others will take a day or two.

Buy them, use them, test them and most importantly tell us all about them. It’s what Spyderco and Sal want.

Flippers aren’t here a day after the drop so I don’t waste my time thinking or commenting on them

[JRinFL]

... What do you think the new building will mean to you and me? Lower pricing? New models? Increased market saturation?

Speaking only for myself, but based on Sal's comments over the years, the new building will mean seeing new models arriving faster. Sal has hinted that there is an extreme backlog in Golden and that is what's holding up new models.

[Fireman]

I’m always happy to play with new steels. Question is, which handles

[weeping minora]

468 still available as of less than a minute ago. Which means just over half of the reported ~1100 pieces have sold..

Might have to pick up another one or two if they're still around by the time I receive and get a day worth of use out of mine. Really anticipating getting this one in-hand!

[electro-static]

mine just arrived today, really well made, really sharp. Taiching knows their stuff

[Bolster]

It looks like 1100 were produced which means everyone who wants one can get one and they’ll be around for a while unlike 15V & MagnaCut.

Interesting. Calculating from a total of 1100, LoW noted 299 had sold in the first ~20 minutes, meaning about 15/minute were selling on average for the first 20 minutes (very likely most of those sales crowded into the first few minutes). Between ~20 and ~30 minutes it appears the rate slowed to around 4/minute. Seems reasonable, you’d expect the crush at the beginning to trail off by the half hour mark.

[standy99]

2 is a good total for me…
1 for a handle
1 for a keep sake in box

5 is great, I bought 4
Gives me 2 for making for friends or a newbie to knives who doesn’t want a custom knife but will buy a Spyderco Mule with a custom handle….

[CLOK]

Received mine yesterday and just got around to inspecting them. They all look really great, blade edge is very sharp and a perfect grind, unlike what some of us experienced with the AEB-L with the high grind. Taichungs QA is amazing.

Noticed a slight difference in the T15 though, towards the back of the handle there is an extra almost detent looking spot milled into it. Wonder why they did that, if it was for tool holding or what. Previous Taiwan mules did not have it. Not a complaint, just a curiosity since I hadn’t seen it on other Mules.

All of these releases have the stockpile of mules growing rapidly and not nearly enough handles yet…I have a lot of handles to make.

[blairtm1977]

Received mine yesterday and just got around to inspecting them. They all look really great, blade edge is very sharp and a perfect grind, unlike what some of us experienced with the AEB-L with the high grind. Taichungs QA is amazing.

Noticed a slight difference in the T15 though, towards the back of the handle there is an extra almost detent looking spot milled into it. Wonder why they did that, if it was for tool holding or what. Previous Taiwan mules did not have it. Not a complaint, just a curiosity since I hadn’t seen it on other Mules.

All of these releases have the stockpile of mules growing rapidly and not nearly enough handles yet…I have a lot of handles to make.

I belive that detent at the back is where they checked for hardness. I agree that the grind is perfect for factory. Super sharp that I can do push cuts with ease. I may have to pick up another one if they are this good.

[sal]

Hi Blairtm,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[weeping minora]

Received mine yesterday and just got around to inspecting them. They all look really great, blade edge is very sharp and a perfect grind, unlike what some of us experienced with the AEB-L with the high grind. Taichungs QA is amazing.

Noticed a slight difference in the T15 though, towards the back of the handle there is an extra almost detent looking spot milled into it. Wonder why they did that, if it was for tool holding or what. Previous Taiwan mules did not have it. Not a complaint, just a curiosity since I hadn’t seen it on other Mules.

All of these releases have the stockpile of mules growing rapidly and not nearly enough handles yet…I have a lot of handles to make.

Still awaiting mine (delivery expected Monday).. Can you post a picture regarding what you are referencing?

[blairtm1977]

This is the dentent that is present. Look like a hardness test

[CLOK]

Still awaiting mine (delivery expected Monday).. Can you post a picture regarding what you are referencing?

Sorry for the delay. Trying to find a way to share a picture on here. Finally found a way…had to screenshot my image and degrade the quality. Here is the difference between REX 76 and T15, both from Taichung.

[CLOK]

This is the dentent that is present. Look like a hardness test

Yeah, that looks to be what I’m talking about. Towards the back of the handle on the show side.

[weeping minora]

This is the dentent that is present. Look like a hardness test

Yeah, that looks to be what I’m talking about. Towards the back of the handle on the show side.

Thanx blairtm1977 and CLOK!

It does indeed look like an impression from a hardness poke. I wonder if that means there was a wider variable in hardness that Spyderco was looking to keep a track of, or if there's a potential for Spyderco to start sharing the RC of MULES? I don't recall there being many, if any, previous MULES shipped with such visible RC test markings.

[Justintoxicated]

mine has the small mark as well.