Here's the response I got from KA-BAR to my initial inquiry.

Mr. Price,



Thank you for the future review of our M.U.L.E. Folder. (Good or Bad)

Before I get into the knife specifics, I think a little insight into the reasoning for this folder may be in order.

We have had, for several years prior to the intro of the M.U.L.E., members of both the military and Law Enforcement communities telling us what they needed was a knife that had all of the attributes of the Ka-Bar Fighting/Utility fixed blade knife but in a folding version. These attributes included toughness, good lateral strength (Side-to-side), easy to sharpen, good handle ergonomics and comfort, cost effective and lastly have the F/U knife look. Most of the military and LE persons are not rich so in short, they wanted a knife that could take a heap of abuse and if it broke or got lost, would not break their bank account.

The design was done in house at Ka-Bar. We looked at probably 40-50 competitor’s folding knives; examining each for our above mentioned criteria. We used and abused and tore apart all of these knives, subjecting all of them to a full battery of physical abuse and metallurgical tests.

We settled on a clip point blade (for the first model, anyway) with a traditional lockback locking mechanism. We believe most people know how to use this lock as opposed to the linerlock, arc/axis lock and other new mechanisms. The lockback has been around for a long time and the bugs have been sorted out fairly well. We added some modern adaptations like the recessed lock tab (for added lock release security) and mid-back tab location made popular by Al Mar (as opposed to the more traditional lock tab at the tail or butt end). We settled on a flat extruded wire as the spring. I would have liked to have used a round rod spring but internal space constraints and the lock configuration confounded our best plans.

Because lateral strength was a key priority, we used fairly thick stainless steel as the frame liners. The main blade pivot assy. is an oversized stainless pivot with a flatted side to prevent rotation, held together by a loc-tited screw. We used thin, wide Teflon side washers to smooth the blade movement, and also to keep side to side play to a minimum. With the SS liners we knew the weight would be an issue; or so we thought. It wasn’t! In fact the extra weight was thought to be an advantage or positive attribute by ALL of our testers! (That’s why it is important to listen to the customer!) Over the SS liners we fixed Glass filled nylon handles (GFN). The soft grip inserts are Kraton and held secure by cavities under the handle slabs. On these handles we tried to move away from the typical flat slabs found on most folders and give the user a 3 dimensional ergo grip. We also wanted a multi positional sheath that can be used on both the traditional LCE gear and the newer MOLLE arrangement for both military and LE. After many, many tests, iterations and improvements, whew! We have the M.U.L.E.



As far as your tests, I’m sure you can break this knife (In fact after 18 years in the business, I believe that all knives can be broken), but for example we grind the blade so the tip is left thicker for point strength. The clip is not quite as pointed as other clips to keep that point stout. We like hollow grinding so the edge will be keener and stay that way longer. While flat grinds can be stronger, the blade sharpness begins to suffer after some years of sharpening. We can get that strength back by saber grinding and utilizing the flat panels (full thickness) of the blade.

The stainless liners should add a tremendous strength to counteract lateral stresses. We use good quality, moderate stainless steels (In this case AUS8) in our blades. This is to reduce cost and also to offer some toughness. If there are no defects in the blade steel, batoning with the M.U.L.E. should not prove an issue.

We have also heard the reports of sand gritting up folding knives in Iraq. We suggest that because the knife is made of stainless and synthetics, that it can be dosed in water, scrubbed, blown off with compressed air and the moving joints lubed with synthetic lubes or oils. (Any lube with no ionic attraction to dirt and grit. Regular oil is bad in this respect) In fact, because there are Teflon side washers and also the blade is black Teflon coated, no lube on the pivot would probably be okay.

As with all things there are compromises to be made. This knife is big and heavy. If weight is a factor there are many other knives that are lighter. But it is robust and strong and should take a beating. Oh, and it’s an excellent value.


The next phase will be to do the evaluation/test and then submit my report.

I will let y'all know how it goes as soon as the knife gets in my hands.