MT40 HIC Mule Team Blade

Checked the The Official Spyderco Forum and didn't see/hear any mention of a buy limit per acct for this Mule but I'm hoping the $150 price will "curb the enthusiasm" for this Mule so that I can buy 1 -- just 1.

However, if I experience any difficulties typical of past releases, I'll probably just bail because I don't really need it. 🤷‍♂️

We'll see . . .

BTW, just noticed that they're making a Bolatron sheath just for this Mule which will cost another $40 if you want/need one but, of course, it isn"t available yet either.

See: HIC Bolatron Sheath
 
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Hi Sgt,

Should be soon now. FYI, It was a challenging model to build. Zoom meetings with the manufacturer in Switzerland, special tooling, special handling and really nothing quite like it. It's a High Impact Ceramic Sport knife, rather than a kitchen knife. I've been testing one for a while. I've been sharpening it with very light strokes on a CBN "Cat's eye" which has worked OK. I'm really hoping the folks that get one will help us all figure out the different and best ways to sharpen it. Working hardness was exceptional on the CATRA tester.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Sgt,

Should be soon now.

sal
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Hi, Sal:

Just noticed in the other forum that you said that you made "a bunch of them" in order to cover the "very expensive tooling" costs.

So, I'm going to assume {hopefully) that there be some still available, if I can't get in to place an order during the initial rush.

We'll see . . .
 
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BTW, the Spyderco website has been preventing me from placing a test order on my laptop,

I've got A LOT of privacy software active on my laptop with is why I don't get a lot of spam & other nonsense on it.

Turning off my VPN use to be enough to place a Spyderco order on my laptop but apparently it's not enough any more.

Will keep trying to see if I can make it work or not . If not, I'll just have to pass on the HIC Mule. Oh well . . . 🤷‍♂️

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BTW, Sal, it would be nice if you added an ordering system to your phone app.

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Update:

Success!! I was able to place a test order on the Spyderco website to the point of entering my CC# via my phone w/the VPN turned off.

So, that's the way I'll try to do it on the 7th. 😎
 
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Anybody know the Rockwell hardness of this blade? Don't see it in the tech specs.
 
I don't think you can Rockwell test ceramic. Sal said the working hardness was exceptional on CATRA testing.
 
Hi Sgt,

I would suggest that if you have a problem with the Spyderco site, or suggestions like the App, just post it on the site, or send a PM to TazKristi, She's our fixer, and she's very good at it.

We made a couple of thousand of them. with test pieces, samples, 2nds, etc. we'll probably have 1800 or so to sell. But they're quite expensive to produce and sell so we really don't know what to expect.

Talkin' Story;

It's more than just another Mule Team. Gail and I have been playing around with ceramic stones and even ceramic knives for a long time. We did extensive testing with Kyocera Ceramic knives. Mostly Kitchen knives. We've tested USA made ceramic knives, diving with them in our search for a Salt Water material capable of holding an edge.

The HIC material was brought t us by one of our regular forum guys on our site forum. "Fireman". I hadn't herd of them. In discussion on the forum, the Mule Team folks indicated that they would like to try a Mule Team, so we began the hunt. It was more complicated than we thought, but to tell the truth, pretty much all of the Mule Teams present us with new challenges.

So now we've got this ceramic "Sport Knife", probably one of the first of its kind. And I'm curious to see where it can/will go. Some of our Mule Team steels became regular "in-the-line" steels, like K390, which we would not have put into the line had we not made a Mule Team and gotten a good response.

It's a very unique piece. We also have scales and two types of sheaths available for transport. It says Spyderco HIC on the blade and Switzerland as Country of Origin on the blade.

I've challenged the folks on the Mule Team sub forum to share sharpening techniques that we learn with the material.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Sgt,

I would suggest that if you have a problem with the Spyderco site, or suggestions like the App, just post it on the site, or send a PM to TazKristi, She's our fixer, and she's very good at it.

We made a couple of thousand of them. with test pieces, samples, 2nds, etc. we'll probably have 1800 or so to sell. But they're quite expensive to produce and sell so we really don't know what to expect.

. . .

sal
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Thanks for the suggestions, Sal, but I solved the log on problem for myself. Nothing TzKristi could have done for me in this regard anyway other than to suggest turning certain things off to make it work. 🤷‍♂️

I might send her a PM suggesting the addition of an ordering system to the phone app (for both Apple & Android phones) but couldn't you just mention the suggestion to her at a management meeting or in the hallway?

In any event, if you made 2k of them, I'm not worried about getting 1, especially at $150/per, but I'll try to get my order in early on 2/7 anyway.
 
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Hi Sgt,

I'm working remotely. Semi retired. So I'm not at the office right now. I'm back to Golden in the Spring.

I'm designing, testing prototypes and first articles, doing Real World Testing with chefs, fisherman, construction workers, etc., monitoring a number of forums and generally overseeing the company. Eric has been handling the day to day running of the company for the past several years.

So my hallway meetings don't happen when I'm working remotely. Sorry.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Sgt,

I'm working remotely. Semi retired. So I'm not at the office right now. I'm back to Golden in the Spring.

I'm designing, testing prototypes and first articles, doing Real World Testing with chefs, fisherman, construction workers, etc., monitoring a number of forums and generally overseeing the company. Eric has been handling the day to day running of the company for the past several years.

So my hallway meetings don't happen when I'm working remotely. Sorry.

sal
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OIC. NP. 👍
 
3fifty7 said:
Will this knife purchase that breaks your hiatus?
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The hiatus (which started around Dec 15, 2022) ended on Dec 31, 2023.

I've already spent a total of ~$1k on 4 knives since January 1, 2024.

The knife that broke the hiatus was a Hogue Doug Ritter SW Magnacut Auto, which I ordered on Jan 1st.

If I can get one, the HIC Mule will be my 5th knife purchase since Jan 1st.
 
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02/07/2024: 805 am PST. Can't get in. Oh well . . .

Will check back later in the morning to see if there are any left. 🤷‍♂️
 
Got 1 ordered in 12 minutes, about half of that was resetting my account because it had become invalid.
 
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