Spyderco Mule Project

A while back, Spyderco announced a new project involving a fixed blade knife design being made in multiple steels in order for customers to be able to test new or less common blade materials.  The handle is simply skeletonized to save on cost. 

The first Mule was made of 52100, a chromium steel used to make non-stainless ball bearings.  It is commonly used in custom forged blades but rarely found in factory knives.  500 of the Mules were made and they quickly sold out.

Recently, Spyderco released the second Mule.  It is made of CPM-M4, a Crucible high-speed steel having excellent wear resistance and considerably more toughness than another similar steel alloy, D2.  500 were also made of the CPM-M4 Mules.

The Mule design is simple, yet immediate recognizable as a Spyderco.  It has a 3" flat ground blade. 

I think that the Mule concept is exciting for the knife industry because it lets customers purchase knives in exotic or new steels while giving manufacturers a direct source of user feedback.  It's win-win for everyone.