MT10P – Mule Team Fixed Blade featuring CTS-BD1

[TazKristi]

MT10P will be available for sale on Thursday, 24-Jun-2010 at 1000 (10:00 a.m.) MDT

All sales will be handled by the Spyderco Factory Outlet store online at http://spyderco.com.

Maximum Purchase Allowed: ONE

Cost: $69.95 each

Domestic Shipping: Standard Shipping rates apply.

International Shipping:
International shipments will be sent out according to our International Shipping Schedule:
Shopping Cart Total: $0-$99 - Shipping/Handling Charge $25
Shopping Cart Total: $100-$399 - Shipping/Handling Charge $35
Shopping Cart Total: $400 and higher - Shipping/Handling Charge $50

International shipments will be via USPS International Priority Mail. Please be aware, we will have limited tracking capabilities. Tracking once it leaves the US is dependent upon the postal services outside the US and their ability to provide it. However, this will completely eliminate UPS Brokerage Fees.

About CTS-BD1:
High-performance American-made blade steels are propelling the quality and performance of today’s knives to new and higher levels. A U.S.A company called Carpenter Steel recently entered the knife making arena, cutlery people noticed. Carpenter isn’t a newcomer to alloy manufacturing just a new-neighbor in the community of blade steel manufacturing and they’re launching a new family of alloys called CTS™ steels specifically for cutlery. One of those is CTS-BD1. CTS-BD1 is patterned on Gingami I (also known as G2), the gold-standard for Japanese cutlerers. Its superior edge retention and surface finish are machined to a fine edge and it heat-treats consistently. The CTS-BD1 Mule is a limited 500-piece run.

What is the Mule Team:
For those of you unfamiliar with our Mule Team Project, it is unique to Spyderco. In-house we call knife samples designed and built for testing and evaluation Mules. We know a healthy percentage of knife users are interested in different blade steels and their performance abilities. Running with that, we released an ongoing Mule Team Project. Several times per year we unveil the same single-piece fixed blade patterned knife in a different and exotic blade steel. This lets steel-obsessed Knife Knuts test, try and use something normally not offered to the industry. Product runs are limited to 600 – 1000 pieces of each steel type depending on foundry requirements.

Mule Blades are leaf-shaped with a sharpened and finished PlainEdge blade but with an unfinished handle providing a do-it-yourself opportunity. The unfinished handle has a series of holes for attaching custom handle scales or for wrapping with para-cord. Each piece is sold without handle scales or a carry sheath focusing the project on the blade steel. This opens endless creative possibilities for the owner to design their own handle scale and carry options.

[TazKristi]

The MT07P, MT08P, MT09P did not come up in the production schedule as originally planned so they are coming soon; however, we are introducing the MT10P ahead of those. ;)

[Monkeywrangler]

Oh man...what horrible timing for me. DH just got word of a job layoff, and he is affected. No-can-buy any non-essentials until this all settles out. Bummer!:(

[defenestrate]

Getting paid on Friday. She will be mine..

Oh yes, she will be mine.

;)

[yablanowitz]

Shoot. I was in for two of each, but I guess I'll have to settle for one of these.

[billy blade]

Mule Team is on the trail again! Christmas in June:D

[bc]

Thanks Taz....BUT

what about the Bushcraft blanks? Me want

[Hector Castro]

One only one, ahhhhhhh more plz.

Please tell us more about the Bushcraft blanks? plllllleeeeeeaaaaasssssseeee

[MCM]

"Maximum Purchase Allowed: ONE
Cost: $69.95 each
Domestic Shipping: Standard Shipping rates apply. "

So, the shipping deal is out the window with "one".......

How many will be made?

P.S I have been using "Carpenter 20" on acid and caustic systems for 25 yrs......
Other Co's now call it Alloy 20........

[dsmegst]

Just add a few G-Clips for the sheaths and you'll getting the shipping for free. :) I always do.

Please, ma'am, may I have more? ;)

[SmoothOne25]

One only one, ahhhhhhh more plz.


Please, ma'am, may I have more?



if you really need/want two its easy to do...
two is ok, im getting two, but everyone grabbing up for resale isnt going to happen now. im glad they did that. forum knife, if we have one, should also have a limit. yes i agree its impossible to stop a dealer using various names/address but this makes things more difficult. i look foward to this. trying it for the first time. back up is for screw ups ;) :)

[dsmegst]

I read 500 copies for this Mule.

[angusW]

I'm finally in for a Mule. I've always hummed and hawed but regret not getting in on the previous ones.

[A-Knife]

Such a bummer for us overseas guys in Europe. :( For one knife I will have to pay $ 95,-- and if customs gets a hold of it it will even be $ 113,--.

Let me think about this one. :rolleyes:

André

[ChrisR]

Such a bummer for us overseas guys in Europe. :( For one knife I will have to pay $ 95,-- and if customs gets a hold of it it will even be $ 113,--.
Yeah, I've never had a MuleTeam but to get it to the UK (with shipping, taxes & handling fees) it would be around $110 :( Maybe next time one of the European distributors could have an allocation that they could ship out from there and keep the costs down? Stuff shipped inside Europe isn't subject to more taxes and the shipping would be cheaper. :)

Same goes for sprint-runs ... just gauge public interest first :)

[JLS]

Fantastic news!

I am a bit surprised at the price; I'd have figured that it'd be lower due to the "standard" chemistry.

[araneae]

Fantastic news!

I am a bit surprised at the price; I'd have figured that it'd be lower due to the "standard" chemistry.

Me too. I thought this was supposed to be a lower cost/more basic steel. It appears otherwise... :confused:

[MCM]

At one per customer $69.00/500 there is probably no real rush to pick one up.....
Will wait and see........:)

[cckw]

I like the idea of two per customer, one to pimp out and put on display and one to user. Perhaps this steel is ho-hum enough it doesn't need a shelf version. I didn't bother at all with the china blade.

Looking forward to the better carpenter blades

[ChrisR]

I think 1 each is fair enough ... the whole concept of the MuleTeam was to put out examples of different steels into as many different hands as possible to gauge public reaction, not really to feed the collectors and create more drawer-queens ;)

My knives are 90% users and I'm no big fan of fixed-blades but I'd definitely like to try a MuleTeam knife some day ... give the handle a paracord wrap and try it out in the kitchen and on my local nature reserve to give it a good beating :)

[SaturnNyne]

I think 1 each is fair enough ... the whole concept of the MuleTeam was to put out examples of different steels into as many different hands as possible to gauge public reaction, not really to feed the collectors and create more drawer-queens ;)
Exactly.

[ktint]

I also think 1 or 2 per person is fair. Most of us will have a chance. If there are any extra after two days (I doubt it), I would suggest fire at will.

[jabba359]

When asked about the point of the "lower-end" CTS-BD1 steel and whether it was designed to compete with low cost Chinese steels, Sal said:


...Not everyone wants exotic, hard to sharpen steels. All steels are good and each have their advantages and disadvantages;

Edge retention
Toughness
corrosion resistance
price

Pick 3 out of the 4.

CTS-BD1 is an optimal combination to proivde a good turn of performance for 85% of knife users, made is the US at a reasonable price.

As far as Chinese metal, we couldn't find any 440C in China. :o But yes, to compete with imported low cost knives with a competetive made in the US product....

sal

After reading this in an earlier thread, I had anticipated that this Mule would be in the $40-50 range, so the $70 asking price seems pretty steep to me. Since this is a mid-grade steel designed to compete with cheaper imported steels, I thought it would cost less. The higher end S35VN was $5 cheaper and the S90V rang in at the same price. At the same price, I think I'd prefer S90V. But I guess that's why we have the Mule program. Now I can compare the two and see if real world results support what we see on paper. I'll probably pick one of these up, even though I'm not too happy with the price point.

[dsmegst]

I'm a little surprised at the pricing too, but I guess it's mostly due to the small quantity and unfamiliar heat treating that requires more work. I was hoping to pick up a couple of these but at the price and the purchase limit, it will have to do. ;)

[Sequimite]

I had anticipated that this Mule would be in the $40-50 range, so the $70 asking price seems pretty steep to me. Since this is a mid-grade steel designed to compete with cheaper imported steels, I thought it would cost less. The higher end S35VN was $5 cheaper and the S90V rang in at the same price.

Exactly my thoughts(except that I thought the S90V was $80). This may be the first Mule I don't buy.

[SmoothOne25]

they update spy.com yet? i dont see it

[alexcue]

yup, did i get my time zones mixed up?


edit:It's up now and ordered

[Bento Box Shop]

It's up and here is the link:

http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=463

[rodloos]

I got mine ordered. I had to call it in since I also wanted to get a couple of G clips (to bump the total up enough for free shipping) and I couldn't find the G clips on their web site.

I still have a number of other mules and a Swicke 2 that I need to get around to making handles and sheaths for, if the weather ever cools off enough for me to get into my garage.

[SmoothOne25]

yeah i didnt see it till 10:20am. anyway i ordered them. cant wai!

[yablanowitz]

Up until now, I've been going with one to cord wrap and beat the crap out of, experiment with various edge angles and generally ugly up in a hurry, and one to finish and have a nice knife for what most folks consider normal use. I guess for this one, I'll either have to see if any seconds come out or if the purchase limit gets lifted in a few days.

As far as the rest goes, this is supposed to be the equal of GIN-1. That steel was good enough for Sal to build a reputation on, and that's worth checking out in my book.

[dsmegst]

On the way.

[billy blade]

Ordered mine. Can't wait to get it. Thanks Sal and Crew!

[angusW]

Got my order in after dinner. Will be my first Mule.

[MCM]

"The MT07P, MT08P, MT09P did not come up in the production schedule as originally planned so they are coming soon;"

Taz, could you refresh my memory what #7, #8 & #9 will be made in?
(I know one is Damascus, Carpenter, and what?) :confused:


Thanks!

Mark

[tanrichguy]

One is going to be Damascus? Ooooh!!! I am in on that one for sure! I have never built my own knife handle before but would love a Dammy blade to work with. When?!

[jabba359]

Exactly my thoughts(except that I thought the S90V was $80). This may be the first Mule I don't buy.

I've picked up all the Mules except the first two (I wasn't aware of the program when it started). I still haven't decided if I'll get this one. As far as the S90V (http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=384), Spyderco shows it as being $70 and I was going off that.

[Sequimite]

Spyderco shows it as being $70 and I was going off that.

I stand corrected. Man, that's a good price for the S90V; I'm glad I got two of them.

[The Mastiff]

"The MT07P, MT08P, MT09P did not come up in the production schedule as originally planned so they are coming soon;"

Taz, could you refresh my memory what #7, #8 & #9 will be made in?
(I know one is Damascus, Carpenter, and what?)

Mark, IIRC the steels will be a Hitachi super blue, Takefu "cobalt special" ( I noticed Falkniven did a sprint run with this steel. I've heard no reviews yet), and Takefu VG10 based damascus. Sal reported that:


While in Seki a month ago, we discussed some possibilities:

One of our Seki makers has a damascus mule team prototype that they made for us. It's a VG-10 core with special layers, including 420J2 and nickel silver.

Takefu has a new steel they call their Cobalt special; about 1.% carbon, 15-17 Cr and 2.0-3.0 cobalt.


The New carpenter steel similar to S90V ( CTS 20CP) will come somewhere eventually but it's not one of the three mules on their way.

Joe

[MCM]

Thank you Joe.
Will be in for all three of those!;)

[The Mastiff]

Me too hopefully. I'm fortunate to have a complete set right now and plan on getting every one that comes available.

The cobalt special looks pretty interesting. Super blue is one of my all time favorites. :)

Joe

[JNewell]

I had not intended to collect these, but the project does acquire a certain sort of velocity... :spyder:

[unit]

This is my first Mule, but I have tried a few other steels.

I would not be too quick to discount this stuff! I do not have a great deal of experience with the Gingami I (aka G2) steel that this is patterned after, but my findings thus far are very positive with this stuff.

I will make some videos to demonstrate what I am talking about at some point, but suffice to say, this knife can be worked quite hard (by my standards) and retains a good edge.

Sharpening is similar to VG-10 (that is to say, quite easy). Achieving a very high sharpness is also not difficult. No problem doing most of the show-off sharpness tests you hear about on sharpening forums.

[thedeuce1983]

is this buy still available?

[The Deacon]

is this buy still available?If you're asking about the MT10P Mule in CTS-BD1, it still appears to be available:

http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=463

[PocketZen]

I am with you. I interested in the Hitachi super blue, Takefu cobalt special comming soon. I just hope spyderco does not see lower sales on this CTS-BD1 mule as lack of interest in the mule team project rather simply a lower interest from some of us steel nuts in this perticular steel.

[gaj999]

Man, somebody buy up the last 55 so we can get on to the next Mule. I'm starting to get antsy.

Gordon