Yep, along with type of metal, edge life also depends on profile and use. My Mule came out of the box fairly sharp, but the edge profile may be too thin to hold up. The higher hardness steels generally take a tighter edge and still last long enough to not be a pain. For the softer metals, the more common stainless stuff, it may be more practical to open the shoulders of the edge up more. For less than $50, that Mule is plenty of knife. It has an AUS 8A blade that is properly tempered, and my testing on it said that it should work just fine as a general duty utility knife, albeit I will need to sharpen it from time to time.

In this case, I must admit a weakness. I grew up sitting next to Grandad watching him work on his pocketknives (Bucks and Cases) every weekend. He'd pull the stones out and sit at the dining table and work them over for a few minutes. Nowadays, I find that sitting in front of the TV I tend to have a knife or two at hand and the stones and strops out. I don't get excessive about it, but every so often I will take a pass or two. I reckon I could do the same thing at work once in a while when I am sitting in those damnedable teleconference meetings and someone is rattling on and on about their little projects and I've got the mute button on and trying to keep from falling asleep... well, you get the idea.

I guess keeping a couple fine/Xfine stones in my EDC is just good practice. Funny how I will extol an inexpensive, relatively low end knife like the Mule in one breath, and then talk about my $450 Busse knives being all that and a bucket of chicken in the next moment. Busse steel has got to be some of the best knife metal out there these days. It is always a contest between the frugal in me and the "I must have the best" side. I suppose it may be that way for a few of us.

I've yet to play with any VG-10 or S30V, but I am sure that sooner or later I am gonna see something that is just the thing for that time of the day or some such. Ultimately, though, I think it is best for us to recognize the limitations of the tools we acquire and use and be mindful of using them correctly. Then we will get true value from what we have.