Spyderco Mule Team 21 3.75" 4V Fixed Blade Tester, No Handles / Satin

Spyderco’s Mule Team Project is one of the most unique programs in the commercial knife industry. By definition, a “mule” is a sample knife used for in-house performance testing. Traditionally, they are made to the exact same pattern and specifications, but feature a different blade steel or heat treatment protocol. This keeps all the performance characteristics of the knife identical except for a single variable, allowing an excellent basis for objective, scientific performance-based testing.

If you’re a knife lover who wants to develop a deeper understanding of cutlery steels and their specific performance characteristics, the Mule Team Project is tailor made for you.

About CPM 4V:
Spyderco’s twenty-first Mule Team installment showcases Crucible® CPM® 4V® blade steel—a powder metallurgy tool steel that offers high impact toughness and very good wear resistance. Developed for demanding industrial applications where a combination of strength, wear resistance and toughness is required, CPM 4V has significantly more carbon, vanadium, and molybdenum than CPM 3V. The result is a steel that is capable of a higher attainable hardness and even greater abrasion resistance than CPM 3V and significantly better toughness and wear resistance than D2. Despite these advanced performance qualities, CPM 4V has only 5% chromium--below the threshold of stainless steel--and therefore must be properly maintained to protect it from corrosion.

Like conventional steels, particle metallurgy steels begin with a homogenous bath of molten high-alloy steel. However, instead of being poured into ingot molds, the molten steel is forced through a nozzle under high pressure to create a spray of small spherical droplets that quickly solidify into powder particles. The small size of the particles forms micro-ingots, drastically reducing the alloy segregation in the steel and ensuring an extremely fine, uniform carbide structure. This enhances the steel’s edge retention, as well as its grinding and polishing characteristics.

CPM 4V's exact alloy composition is as follows: Carbon: 1.35%, Manganese: 0.40%, Silicon: 0.80%, Chromium: 5.0%, Molybdenum: 2.95%, Vanadium: 3.85%.

MODEL: MT21P PO