I am guilty of using my knife as a pry bar quite often(especially to open wooden ammo boxes) The mule appears to have a nice thick blade for this. I would have the nice black coating scratched off the blade in about 5 minutes flat though. As long as the blade is sound, I guess I really don't care about looks anyway. I have just been sizing up the cold steel AK-47 knife as well. I like the idea of the pommel built into the back of the handle for emergency use in smashing a car window following an accident or such. I rarely see a folder with this option, and have honestly never played with one. Anyone out there have one of these ????