Mule Team owners?

[peacefuljeffrey]

Anybody buy the Mule Team fixed blade Spyderco knife?

I saw something about it, decided it would be a nice thing to have. So I bought two of them (they are quite reasonably priced). I don't know if they're still available or not. I also don't know if I'm in possession of something that will increase in collector value.

I know nothing of the steel except that it's carbon steel and I will need to keep it protected. (Input on keeping a stored knife in unaffected shape is appreciated. What if I coated it in petroleum jelly and left it in a Ziploc bag? OK? Not OK?)

Now, the handle doesn't really seem to lend itself to cord wrapping, all those holes notwithstanding. What options are there for putting handle scales on the thing? I'd love some G-10 on there...

[carrot]

You missed the buzz a few weeks ago. There are several forumites who are making scales. I am getting sculpted micarta scales for mine. You will be surprised at how resistant to rust carbon steel is. Everyone thinks carbon steel will rust to pieces if they even touch water but all I do to maintain my carbon steel is wipe it down when it gets wet and make sure it dries. I store them in a cool dry place and haven't had problems. Neglecting a blade of S30V however, left me with light rust spots so I'm now wiping down every blade as if it were carbon.

[CWO]

The purpose of the Mule Team knives was to get them in use and gain experience with the steel sufficient to provide Spyderco with field lessons-learned for use in future knives. Of course you can Safe Queen them - they are your knives.

[FLYcrash]

FWIW, 52100 has a bit of chromium in it (about 1-2%), which makes it somewhat more corrosion resistant than straight-up carbon steel. For example, I'd be more stressed about rusting on an uncoated 1095 blade than on the 52100 Mule.

I actually have neither steel, but I do know that I keep my carbon steel DOVO straight razor in the bathroom (which can get a bit humid) and simply wipe it down with rubbing alcohol after each use (facial oils are corrosive). After a year and a half of every-other-day use, it has nothing but the lightest of patinas. I used Vaseline early on but soon gave up, and before I figured out my cleaning procedure it did get a couple small spots of rust.

Hope that helps...I'd wager that 52100 will be totally fine as a user as long as you clean it off promptly whenever it gets wet/dirty/salty.

[westfork]

I agree that carbon steels are easy to maintain as long as you take certain precautions. Then the unexpected situation gets you. This is the result of 3 days in the postal system shipped in a leather sheath. The blade was very well lubed before shipping. Condensation from the package going from room temperature to well below zero and back again isn't good.

The 52100 Mules are great and this is absolutely no reflection on the knife. It is just a reminder about how quickly condensation can affect high carbon steels.

Maybe it's an allergic reaction?

[araneae]

A little Flitz will probably take care of that if its of concern. I plan to let my Mule develop its own patina. Makes it more unique.

[HaroldB]

Before shipping my Mule to Ray for scales, I put on Rem-Oil, slid on the original cardboard shipping sleeve and put all that in a zip-loc bag.

Got it back today, obviously it worked well.


http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6951224&size=lg

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6951221

[GeorgeMaggos]

Before shipping my Mule to Ray for scales, I put on Rem-Oil, slid on the original cardboard shipping sleeve and put all that in a zip-loc bag. Got it back today, obviously it worked well.

Harold,

your mule looks great wow Ray did a real nice job on your handles. He is doing some for me as well right now I cant wait to get them home :)

Thanks for sharing the photos with us

~George

[Salamander42]

Anybody buy the Mule Team fixed blade Spyderco knife?

I know nothing of the steel except that it's carbon steel and I will need to keep it protected. (Input on keeping a stored knife in unaffected shape is appreciated. What if I coated it in petroleum jelly and left it in a Ziploc bag? OK? Not OK?)

Now, the handle doesn't really seem to lend itself to cord wrapping, all those holes notwithstanding. What options are there for putting handle scales on the thing? I'd love some G-10 on there...

The thing about carbon steel is that it's not really difficult to keep it from rusting, but keeping it bright and shiny can be a bit of a challenge. A carbon steel knife that gets regular use will develop a patina over time which will actually help protect against rust to a certain degree. Just about the first thing I did with mine was throw it in a tupper-ware container full of vinegar to induce a patina. I left it in there for a while and let it get pretty dark. I intend to use mine quite a bit and really don't care if it has a mirror polish on it.

I agree that the handle is a bit difficult to cord wrap. . . The curve where the bottom of the handle transitions into the guard doesn't let me get the wrap quite as close to the blade as I would like, and the curve of the top of the handle at the butt end makes it hard to keep the wrap from sliding around. I've seen a few really nice looking cord wraps, but I wonder how secure some of them really are. The other thing about cord wrapping is that unless you coat the handle with something before you wrap it you'll have to unwrap it and dry it out anytime it gets wet, otherwise there will be moisture trapped in and under the wrap material and the handle will probably start to rust. All of the holes do give lots of options for different pin arrangements for anyone making scales, but from what I've heard the holes are not a standard size for pin stock or the usual handle fastening hardware.

I'm hoping to find the time to knock out a set of scales this weekend out of some scraps of wood that I've got around and some plain old nuts and bolts for fasteners. I'm not too worried about aesthetics right now. . . I just want to make something functional so I can use the knife for a while 'till I come up with a good idea for something permanent.