Mule Team - RWL 34
What is a Mule?
In the English language the term mule has multiple definitions: There’s the obvious equine reference being the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. It can be a coin minted from two dies by mistake and the auto industry refers to their test vehicles as a mules. Spyderco also calls knife models designed and built for testing and evaluation Mules. When a group of these are brought together they make a team of mules, thus the name of this knife series: The Mule Team. Knife and steel-devotees love trying out new blade steels. Spyderco leads the industry in offering, testing and manufacturing knives using new and exotic blade steels. Taking that idea a step up, why not offer a series (team) of blades using different, exotic and freshly unveiled steels? In doing this steel-obsessed knife knuts can try, test and use something normally not offered to the industry.
What is the Spyderco Mule Team?
The Mule team project was created as a simple, inexpensive venue for “steel junkies” to have an opportunity to test different blade steels themselves. Each run will have a different interesting steel. Each run will have the same pattern, a fixed blade with a full tang. Each run will have the same thickness, grind, edge and will be heat treated to the optimal hardness for that steel. The blade is leaf-shaped with a sharpened and finished PlainEdge blade, but with an unfinished handles providing some a do-it-yourself opportunity. The unfinished handle has a series of holes for attaching a custom handle or for wrapping in cord. No handle, scales or sheath are provided. This not only saves you funds, but gives you the opportunity to make (or have made) custom handles and sheaths.
How many and how often will they be released?
Spyderco’s plan is to release several variations per year using the same fixed blade pattern produced with different exotic steels. Each steel offering is limited to approximately 600 pieces and engraved indicating the steel used. Variations are priced accordingly with the only cost variable being the steel itself.
Spyderco’s twenty-second Mule Team Project installment highlights RWL 34, a “rapidly solidified powder” (RSP) martensitic stainless steel made by the renowned Swedish firm Damasteel. RWL 34 is a variation of the 420 martensitic stainless family that contains 14% chromium, as well as molybdenum and vanadium for improved corrosion resistance, hardness, and strength. The performance of these alloys is further enhanced by the RSP process, which involves using high-pressure nitrogen gas to force the molten steel through a nozzle. Just as in the CPM process used by Crucible, this creates a spray of small spherical droplets that rapidly solidify into powder particles, drastically reducing the segregation, or settling, of the alloys in the steel to produce an extremely fine, uniform carbide structure.
RWL 34 has long been a favorite of European custom knifemakers because of its high-performance characteristics and the fact that it is capable of taking an extremely high polish. However, it has not been used in the production of factory-made knives because it was not available in large sheets. Recent improvements in the availability of the material have changed that situation, so Spyderco quickly seized the opportunity to incorporate RWL 34 into their Mule Team Project.
Discontinued by the manufacturer, this product is no longer available. Please see related products below.
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