Spyderco Mule Team™ Project: Testing Knife Steels in the Real World
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Time to read 6 min
In the knife industry a “mule” is a sample knife used for performance testing. Mule blades are generally crafted in a standard format that keeps the physical characteristics of the knife—like its grind, edge geometry, sharpening angles and grit, and blade finish—as consistent as possible. This allows careful control over the knife’s other variables, including the steel from which the blade is made and its heat treatment and hardness. In this way, mule blades support a proper scientific process that limits experimental variables to produce meaningful results.
To put it another way, if two identical knives are made from different steels, you can evaluate the steels based on their comparative performance because everything else is functionally the same. Similarly, if several identical knives are made from the same steel, but tempered differently, you can objectively evaluate the performance of that steel at different Rockwell hardnesses. From a research and development perspective, mule blades are an incredibly valuable tool.
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What Is the Spyderco Mule Team™ Project?
Spyderco has used mule blades throughout its history as a critical element of our in-house steel-testing efforts. In 2008, we decided to take this concept a step further by giving our customers the opportunity to participate in the process as well. We did so by creating our Mule Team Project.
The Spyderco Mule Team Project is a remarkable program centered around a single, identical fixed-blade knife pattern. Every limited-edition production run of the Mule Team blade showcases a different blade steel but offers it in the exact same physical form. Since the steel is the only variable, the Mule Team Project allows steel-obsessed knife enthusiasts an unprecedented opportunity to test and evaluate different blade materials using the same identical design platform.
Customize Your Mule Team Knife
Mule Team blades are purposely sold without handles or sheaths to give our customers the freedom to finish them to suit their personal preferences. The easiest way to do this is with the pre-made handle scales and sheaths available through Spyderco.com. Our scale kit features contoured, 3-D-machined G-10 scales with a high-traction checkered texture. It comes with stainless steel mounting hardware and can be easily installed in a matter of minutes with two T-8 Torx® wrenches. Once the scales are in place, the finished knife fits perfectly into our aftermarket Boltaron® or leather sheaths.
If you’re more adventuresome and skilled at working with your hands, you can fashion your own Mule Team handles. Many aspiring knifemakers consider Mule Team blades the foundation of the ultimate “kit” knife. All blades come pre-drilled with a variety of hole sizes and locations to accept pins, cutler’s bolts, and tubing, allowing hobbyist knifemakers to attach their preferred handle materials any way they want and finish them to shape. Often, they make their own leather or Kydex® sheaths as well.
Testing Knife Steel Performance
Everyday Testing in Real-World Use
Whether you “bolt on” aftermarket parts or painstakingly fashion your own DIY handle, the ultimate goal of the Mule Team project is to actually use your knife and evaluate the cutting performance, edge retention, corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpening of its specific steel. On a basic level, everyday cutting chores—like preparing food in the kitchen, working in your garden, or processing game in the field—provide an excellent baseline for knife performance. Use that baseline to evaluate the steel of your Mule Team knife by applying it to those same cutting tasks. While this is a subjective approach, by paying careful attention to how easily the knife cuts, how well it holds its edge, and how soon it needs sharpening, you can develop an educated opinion about the performance of its blade steel.
"The spirit of the Mule Team is to sharpen and use and report back so we can all learn."
Controlled Testing and Measurable Results
If you’re more ambitious, you can also create your own “scientific” tests. Cutting specific materials that provide consistent, repeatable resistance—like rope, cardboard, carpet, tubing, and wood—can give you a more empirical basis for comparison. Keeping track of your results will also enable you to accurately quantify and contrast the performance and edge holding of different steels.
Share Your Results with the Community
No matter how you approach your testing, once you have developed an informed opinion about the steel of your Mule Team knife, we encourage you to share your experiences with other members of the Spyderco community. The best place to do that is Spyderco’s Internet forum, which includes a dedicated sub-forum specifically for the discussion of Mule Team topics. The Mule Team forum is also a great place to share and get ideas about DIY techniques and methods, handle materials, attachment hardware, sheath making, and sharpening methods.
"The finish on the MagnaMax is really great though, they had to work this steel guys, to get this finish on these Mules..."
Mule Team™ History
Spyderco’s Mule Team Project has been going strong for almost 20 years. During that time, it has produced nearly 50 Mule Team blades showcasing a wide variety of cutlery steels and even a High-Impact Ceramic blade. Here is a comprehensive list of the project’s offerings so far:
- MT01 - Steel: 52100 | Released: January 2008
- MT02 - Steel: CPM M4 | Released: October 2008
- MT03 - Steel: CPM S90V | Released: February 2009
- MT04 - Steel: ZDP-189 | Released: July 2009
- MT05 - Steel: 9Cr18Mo | Released: October 2009
- MT06 - Steel: CPM S35VN | Released: January 2010
- MT07 - Steel: Damascus/VG-10 | Released: October 2010
- MT08 - Steel: Aogami Super Blue | Released: December 2010
- MT09 - Steel: Cobalt Special | Released: February 2011
- MT10 - Steel: CTS BD1 | Released: June 2010
- MT11 - Steel: M390 | Released: June 2011
- MT12 - Steel: Cru-Wear | Released: September 2011
- MT13 - Steel: Elmax | Released: February 2012
- MT15 - Steel: CTS B75P | Released: September 2012
- MT16 - Steel: CTS XHP | Released: December 2012
- MT17 - Steel: K390 | Released: July 2013
- MT18 - Steel: CPM S110V | Released: February 2014
- MT19 - Steel: PSF27 | Released: August 2014
- MT20 - Steel: CTS B70P | Released: February 2015
- MT21 - Steel: CPM 4V | Released: October 2015
- MT22 - Steel: RWL 34 | Released: April 2016
- MT23 - Steel: CPM 20CV | Released: December 2016
- MT24 - Steel: Maxamet | Released: August 2016
- MT25 - Steel: LC200N | Released: April 2017
- MT26 - Steel: Micro-Melt A11 (PMA11) | Released: August 2017
- MT27 - Steel: Micro-Melt PD#1 | Released: October 2017
- MT28 - Steel: CPM SPY27 | Released: February 2021
- MT29 - Steel: Z-Max PM | Released June 2021
- MT30 - Steel: Z-Wear PM | Released August 2021
- MT31 - Steel: CPM S45VN | Released: April 2021
- MT32 - Steel: SRS13/SUS405 | Released: February 2022
- MT33 - Steel: CPM REX 76 | Released: September 2022
- MT34 - Steel: CPM REXT15 | Released: June 2023
- MT35 - Steel: CPM MagnaCut | Released: December 2021
- MT36 - Steel: K294 MICROCLEAN | Released: August 2023
- MT37 - Steel: AEB-L | Released: Apr 2023
- MT38 - Steel: M398 MICROCLEAN | Released: Nov 2022
- MT39 - Steel: CPM 15V | Released: May 2023
- MT40 - Blade Material: HIC | Released: February 2024
- MT41 - Steel: VG XEOS | Released: July 2024
- MT46P / MT46S - Steel: MagnaMax | Released: Aug 2026
Mule Team™ 2: A Full-Production Option
All Spyderco Mule Team blades are produced in limited quantities. Since the demand for different mules varies by the specific steel used for each, their availability also varies considerably. Once released, some remain available for a while and can be readily purchased. For other, more elite steels, the purchasing process can be much more competitive and has, on occasion, led to “feeding frenzies” for some highly prized Mule Team blades.
To address that challenge—especially for hobbyists mostly interested in developing their knifemaking skills—we created a full-production Mule Team blade: the Mule Team 2. Appropriately, it is rendered in our proprietary blade steel, CPM® SPY27®. Exclusive to Spyderco, this elite steel contains a proprietary mix of alloys, including vanadium, molybdenum, niobium, and nitrogen. This advanced formula is amplified by its signature element—cobalt—and the state-of-the-art Crucible® Particle Metallurgy process to yield a blade steel that offers excellent toughness, corrosion resistance, and edge retention.
The Mule Team 2 ensures our customers will always have a ready supply of one of our most popular Mule Team blades for their projects. To differentiate it from the original CPM SPY27 Mule Team, this blade features a distinctive straight-spined profile instead of the leaf-shaped pattern of the limited-edition versions. Its tang design and hole pattern, however, remain faithfully compatible with all existing aftermarket scales and hardware. We also offer a custom-molded Boltaron sheath to house this blade when equipped with the standard bolt-on G-10 handle scales.
Join the Mule Team™
Spyderco’s Mule Team project is extremely unique in the knife industry and a remarkable way of including our devoted customers in the steel-testing process. It’s also an excellent way of developing your personal understanding of knife steels and quantifying the differences in their real-world performance. We strongly encourage all serious knife enthusiasts to become members of our “Mule Team Army™.” We’re confident that, together, we can all learn a lot and have a great time in the process.
"The beauty of the mule team is exploration."
