"Building" a MULE for my hunting buddy

[dubya3]

I'd like to buy a MULE for my best friend that I deer hunt with. I've been very fortunate to deer hunt on almost 500 acres of the best Minnesota land for 10 years now and now that my MULE 18 is near completion I'd like to set him up and retire that old Buck 110 of his.

I'm going with S110V on mine but I'd like to use a different steel for Mike's. Does anyone have experience using the various MULE steels on large game? No bone will be cut or hacked at (I hope!), just skin and hair. Neither of us are what you'd consider skilled sharpeners and the edge will really only be used on 2-3 deer once per year at the most. I'm really curious how well SuperBlue would perform but since it is wet, cold, snowy during deer season and the fact it could possibly be nearly a day until proper care could be shown to the steel, I'm not sure a non-stainless is the best choice.

I don't want to spend a ton so the current B70P is appealing but I can't find a whole lot of information and more specifically, real world reviews. M390 sticks out but it's one of the more expensive on the secondary.

[zhyla]

Neither of us are what you'd consider skilled sharpeners

Uhhh... What mule team incarnations are easy to sharpen steel? Fancy steel is no fun if you have trouble sharpening it.

[Donut]

Using google, it looks like they made a Buck 110 in S30V at one point.

If he has and likes the 110, maybe the premium version would be a good option.

[dubya3]

Neither of us are what you'd consider skilled sharpeners

Uhhh... What mule team incarnations are easy to sharpen steel? Fancy steel is no fun if you have trouble sharpening it.

Considering the blade won't see a whole lot of use, two weekends a year only (if he tags a deer), I'm kind of thinking a light touch up will probably do for the harder steels like mine but for the same reasons, VG-10 would be great too. I guess I can't really choose a bad steel as long as I stick with a stainless one but I'm curious what steels people have actually used for processing game and how well it worked.

[dubya3]

Using google, it looks like they made a Buck 110 in S30V at one point.

If he has and likes the 110, maybe the premium version would be a good option.

In pretty sure his is some version of 440. He had a Benchmade hunt series fuxed in s30v but lost during moving to a new house and never got to use it.

It sounds corny but it would be cool to have the same blade and I already have a set of new Halpern micarta scales and a set of handmade hardwood scales that are both just sitting in the drawer. The cheapest bet will probably be the b70p and hopefully be under $100 all together.

[bdblue]

I think XHP or Elmax would be good choices. The currently available mule might be a good choice too and you won't have to pay aftermarket prices for it.