In an attempt to clear out some of my unused knives, I’m putting up some of my Spyderco Mule Team blades. The Mule Team was set up with identical knife blade blank designs in different steels in an attempt to compare apples to apples when testing the knives. Each knife comes without scales or sheath, but these can be purchased through Spyderco or a number of makers on the various knife forums. Or you can make your own or use paracord to wrap the handles. These blades are 7.63” long with a 3.46” blade length. They are 0.118” thick with a full flat grind for excellent cutting performance.
These five knife blades have never been used and have the factory sharpening. None have any rust or scratches or marks other than the factory tooling. With the exception of the Cobalt Special, each has only been removed from its box twice (once when purchased and once again to take these pics). The Cobalt Special was traded without a box, but will come in a CTS-XHP labeled box. The boxes are not in pristine condition, but are all in quite good shape. Spyderco makes their boxes a challenge to open so each will have minor creases or blemishes.
Here’s a rundown on the knives from what I have researched and experienced through my own use with other Mule Team blade blanks.
MAXAMET—Holy Moly! Edge retention that is off the charts. Check the various youtube videos of them cutting cardboard or ropes and compare with other commonly used steels. It is reportedly a challenge to sharpen but those youtube videos can help you through it. This one is tempered much harder than common steels at 67-68 HRC and needs a bit of oil to keep from oxidizing. Made by Carpenter steel in the USA.
S110V—A high-end stainless super steel. Excellent edge retention. A challenge to sharpen but lots of performance in there. 60 HRC. Made by Crucible in the USA.
K390—A bit tougher than other super-steels, need oil, but it performs like a champ. Not to be confused with the more popular M390, but has a great deal more edge retention. 63-64 HRC. Made by Bohler in Austria.
CTS-XHP—A stainless, powdered steel from Carpenter that is becoming more popular with some knife companies and makers. It doesn’t have the super edge retention as the ones mentioned above, but it’s a great all-around steel. 60 HRC.
Cobalt Special—Made in Japan and is considered to be a step up from the very popular VG-10. This one is made from three pieces of steel with a harder center section sandwiched between tougher outer sections. This allows the knife to have solid cutting performance without the worry of it being too brittle. It’s got a cool line in the blade showing where the finer, harder steel emerges too.
Each blade blank is no longer produced and some have been out of production for a number of years. Each includes Priority shipping in the USA.
Prices are:
MAXAMET—$150
S110V—$140
K390—$140
CTS-XHP—$100
Cobalt Special—$75