Talking Mule Team Re-runs

[MattyBee]

So Sal wanted to separate this discussion from discussing mule team quantities, for good reason.

What would we give up to pursue older mules?

What would we gain?

What mules would we chase? What others wouldn’t be feasible to reproduce?

Should the reruns, if made, be in a different blade shape?

Thoughts?


Here’s a few of mine:

For man hours, I think to get older mules made, we would lose some of the 4 mules a year. Would it be likely to be 3 new mules a year, then some batches of old? Possibly. Could even be more demanding to make old runs and that’s hard to achieve with 3 new steels.

Would older mules “push the envelope” like new ones though? I don’t think they would. It would let newcomers (myself included) a chance at old mules, but if I just wanted the steel, many of the old mules filtered out into the knife world in other models. Some did not though.

Funnily enough, mules that have steels that are in Spyderco’s lineup, would be much easier I suspect to source and produce.

I think being the straight spine would be an interesting touch, it would separate these from the main run and show that they are newer.

How then do we determine which ones to make? One thing I know Tactile Turn uses, is the email to notify when back in stock option. They can pull interest from that for pens and then decide if they ever want to re-run a limited run. This may be a semi suitable way to determine interest. Could also see if older mules sold out quick, that may indicate some more interest. We’d need to get a way to look at old models though, not sure if that exists or is super easy to implement.

Overall, I’m still not sure if it’s a smart use of the Spyderco’s crew’s time. The prospect is interesting though. Maybe if sourcing new steels to test gets difficult, could be the time to give it a test drive?

[sal]

Hi MattyBee,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Spyderwebs]

Now that serrated mules are a thing, any re-run in SE would have a strong pull I think.

Magnacut would definitely sell out a 2nd or 3rd run, especially with a mix of PE/SE.

How many new / exciting steels are left to try?

I'd also be interested in DLC coated tool steels like M4 or K390 or 10v in a mule. SE DLC M4 sounds great...

[TimButterfield]

Now that serrated mules are a thing, any re-run in SE would have a strong pull I think.
...
I'd also be interested in DLC coated tool steels like M4 or K390 or 10v in a mule. SE DLC M4 sounds great...

That captured a couple of my thoughts also, SE and DLC. Perhaps find something that sold out quickly the first time and make a rerun of that with at least half being SE. And, perhaps a smaller rerun of PE+SE in DLC. I could see wanting a set of those in MagnaCut, though I'm not sure of the numbers for that or how long it remained available previously. Or, approaching it from the other angle of testing, which steel (SE, DLC or not) may yet end up in a folder or regular fixed blade? We we want to test just DLC or is some other coating being evaluated also?

[Warnock 25]

I'm new here and just received my first mule team blade this week. But I would agree any steel that sold out fast would be my first option for a rerun and K 390 would definitely be a must have for myself. As I already own a couple spyderco knives in the K390 and love them.

[MattyBee]

Hi MattyBee,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

Thanks Sal! Nice place y’all have here.

[TazKristi]

@Warnock 25, welcome to our forum. We hope you enjoy your time with us!

Kristi

[blueblur]

I’d love to see Magnacut rereleased in both pe and se. I’d also buy another pe MagnaMax and 2 se MagnaMax mules.

Based on my experience with se k390, I would suggest that one but since the enuff 2 is available in that flavor, I don’t see the need to put resources into a se k390 mule.

[Sterling454]

Shucks, put me down for a MagnaCut Mule if it comes back around! I would love to have a full set of Dr. Thomas's brain children in matching Mules! Would it be worth giving up one of the 4 runs per year? I suppose it depends on what the other runs are going to be.....but probably!

[Bladeops]

With MagnaMax being my first Mule, I missed quite a few interesting Mules. I certainly have an interest in older Mules. This also offers me better opportunities to compare properties of different steels, as this would be the only variable that changes. Having one variable that changes is the whole idea of a "mule" sample knife.

Steels that have my interest for reruns:
-MagnaMax SE
-K294 or 10v
-MagnaCut
-K390
-CPM 15v
-M4
-Maxamet
-S90v
-Z-Max

DLC coating on the tool steels has also my interest (or another coating).

[Jeb]

You can get some of these Mules of interest on ebay, that is where I have bought more than a few I wanted. They are not cheap, you really have to want to try that Steel, which was my case and I have bought a couple of the same Steel Mules again, that I found to be more than what meets the eye's lol...

[bobartig]

I don't like feeding the ebay secondary market. It just makes it even harder for collectors to get them from the official drops.

Would be in for MagnaCut rerelease, and MagnaMax that I just missed

[Bladeops]

I don't like feeding the ebay secondary market. It just makes it even harder for collectors to get them from the official drops.

Would be in for MagnaCut rerelease, and MagnaMax that I just missed

Exactly this! I am not in favor of supporting dealers who use Mules as a revenue model. If MagnaMax Mules appear on eBay for $200 on the same day they are released, I find that very disappointing. Then I would rather not have a particular Mule, no matter how much I would like one. I would rather give my money to Spyderco for a rerun or release of a new Mule.

[Jeb]

Oh, I agree completely with you guys about the issue with guys flipping knives or anything else for that matter on ebay, but in the same token, there has been more than a few of the steels I needed to try out for myself.

No other place had them like ebay either and oh yeah, I paid big for them. Some of which were steel like I thought it would be and bought a second...

Now the day of the release of MagnaMax, it did torque me up I was not able to buy one of each blade styles, and I blame that on the issue of me not using PayPal.

I hate PayPal, them and a dealer of theirs stole money from me many years ago and I dropped them like a hot rock.

So I missed getting the MagnaMax SE... go over and 15 minutes after the opening bell of the release of MagnaMax there was a dealer that had 3 of each edge design for 200 bucks each... what do you do?

Like this, well heck no, still want to try the MagnaMax SE, yes lol. I don't know how you fix this sort of thing either.

If no one bought the stuff off PayPal, that would most surely cure it lol. There is always someone that has to buy them though. Recently it's been me lol.

It was a real burr under my saddle though when I was right on top of the release time of the MagnaMax and couldn't secure one of each blade styles and 15 minutes later I could be three of each for only 200 bucks each on ebay.

Certainly is a conundrum with the bad taste in my mouth from PayPal lol, they flat out stole 113 bucks and change from me years ago, so it's been a real issue for me to open up and use those dogs as I once did...

Yet I still buy things off their website, I just pay three times it's worth and use a CC for it, and sometimes I don't get what I was after till it's knocked up again and it's four times it's value...

[Evil D]

I'd buy a few past Mules if they were offered in SE. The market for fixed blades with high end steels and serrations is extremely small, basically either Spyderco makes it or if someone else does I don't like their serration pattern.

[Jeb]

ED,

Trust me when I say I am trolling the SE MagnaMax Mules on ebay, I hope others buy them before I break down and buy at least one of them lol...

[scoon]

Count me in for a Super Blue Mule!

[sage047]

Honestly? I could see mule re-runs being useful for one main reason: Being able to compare the difference between the early days of a steels release to having them nailed down. I'd be curious to see just how big a difference that makes. I don't think they should look any different other than being labelled slightly different (mule 2.0? Hinny?) so that people don't get mixed up when compared side by side. I do think if they're going to benefit from enhancements in development, that maybe the lower price you get on a mule shouldn't carry over, but only for the mules I own, every other mule rerelease should cost exactly the same as it did on release, adjusted for inflation at the time of release
Jokes aside there is some conflict in me about that, on the one hand, cheaper knives are better for everyone, but on the other, there's a reason mules are the price they are, as we found from the recent magnamax release. But hey I suppose that's for spyderco to decide.

[sage047]

also since the topic of scalpers came up.
I think a simple fix that would catch the majority of scalpers out would just be to make it so that only people who have bought Spyderco knives in the past, using our spyderco accounts, or verified owners (ie: take a photo of your spyderco knife with a piece of paper w/ the days date on it), can purchase the knives. Another possibility though perhaps more intensive, yet more bulletproof, would be to ship a one time passcode with every knife sold that enables the purchase of one mule (or other kinds of exclusives). Some stores do it by forum interaction but imo in this day and age that'd just result in bot posts here.
There will always be scalpers who will find a way around all of these, but hey, limiting them in any way means more legit buyers can get em.

There's a watch brand I like, studio underd0g, that do another interesting idea now that I think about it, wherein they open up a preorder window, every watch purchased in that window is made, this means everyone who wants one, can get one, and keeps resale value sane.

[888somo]

My opinion is that only a few limited "pure re-runs" may be warranted, such as Magnacut and Magnamax which sold out so quickly. I also think re-runs of SE and straight spine are interesting to me. I like my SPY27 straight spine mule and my SE Magnamax mule.