Show me your Mule mods

[Fireman]

I have a few ideas about mods but I am curious to see what has been done before. Considering a nub removal, hole delete to have a more natural thumb placement for the Philipino grip, pinky breathing room and a sharpening choil.

[Bolster]

I'd participate, but I suspect everyone in the Mule sub is tired of seeing my heavily modified SPY27 backpacking mule, so I'll cheer from the sidelines.

If'n ya ask me, the Mule benefits considerably from a bit of jimping at the thumb rest. A thumb ramp modification (making it less abrupt) interests me, I thought I saw someone do that...can we see that again? I've pondered hole removal but it's just too radical for me at this time. Maybe if Fireman does it successfully it'll give me courage. But I dunno, that's a lot of metal removal and could serve to weaken the blade, too. Might try it on a "cheap mule" if there were such a thing.

Not a fan of sharpening choils...for me, they just catch and snag material I'm trying to cut, and when exaggerated, shorten the effective cutting edge...but that's a subjective call.

[Crox]

If'n ya ask me, the Mule benefits considerably from a bit of jimping at the thumb rest. A thumb ramp modification (making it less abrupt) interests me, I thought I saw someone do that...can we see that again?

I felt the need the moment I picked one up. I searched the forum and read your backpacking mod thread. Thanks much for the inspiration.

I had mixed results in my journey. I wanted to try it on my PD1 mule. Picked up a checkering file and tested on aluminum stock. Looked perfect. Then tested on mora garberg 14c28n. Took effort and 15min but came out great.

Filled with confidence, I went to work on the mule. After about 45min I barely had scratches.

After more research, it seemed I needed a diamond file. I picked up a straight triangle coarse diamond file from McMaster. I ended up with functional but not so pretty jimping. I’m thrilled with how it feels.

Now I’m thinking of how I can improve my efforts and do it to the Magnacut mule. I’m open to suggestions. I’m also really interested in the reduction of the ramp. I’ll be watching for that. Thanks to all for sharing.

[Bolster]

I picked up a straight triangle coarse diamond file from McMaster. I ended up with functional but not so pretty jimping. I’m thrilled with how it feels.

I've not seen diamond file jimping before, thanks for being the point of the spear on that. I think it looks good and is obviously functional. I do my jimping with a 60 degree carbide engraving bit on a hobby mill. I take passes of, ooohhh, maybe .005 at a time?

[Crox]

I've not seen diamond file jimping before, thanks for being the point of the spear on that. I think it looks good and is obviously functional. I do my jimping with a 60 degree carbide engraving bit on a hobby mill. I take passes of, ooohhh, maybe .005 at a time?

I have been seeing that. I’m jealous. It’s just too much hobby creep for me right now. Some day I’ll have one. And beautiful jimping

[Bolster]

I have been seeing that. I’m jealous. It’s just too much hobby creep for me right now. Some day I’ll have one. And beautiful jimping

It's a heckuva lot of tooling for just jimping. It's best if you can come up with at least a half dozen justifications before you start to buy a machine shop.

ALTHOUGH, that said: Do you have a drill press? If so, you can get yourself a relatively inexpensive cross slide (aka XY) vise and use a dremel-type cut-off wheel chucked in your drill press. (The vise would need to be mounted on its side since cross slides don't have a Z axis.) I've gotten good results from the dremel-type cut-off wheels; it's just that I prefer a V-shaped jimp to a straight-sided jimp so don't use them on knives. But when I want some jimping on a work tool, I will often make it easy on myself and use a cut-off wheel to make notches. Dirt and gunk is more likely to make a home in straight-sided jimping but that's a minor niggle.

[Crox]

It's a heckuva lot of tooling for just jimping. It's best if you can come up with at least a half dozen justifications before you start to buy a machine shop.

ALTHOUGH, that said: Do you have a drill press? If so, you can get yourself a relatively inexpensive cross slide (aka XY) vise and use a dremel-type cut-off wheel

I have at least a half a dozen Spydercos. Proof I’m good at justifying things.

I do have a drill press. This is a brilliant idea. I’ll pick up the cross slide and give it a go. Thanks!

[Bolster]

I do have a drill press. This is a brilliant idea. I’ll pick up the cross slide and give it a go. Thanks!

I had another thought (sorry, I'm old enough that all my thoughts don't occur simultaneously). Depending on what kind of drill press you have, if the quill is precisely adjustable for Z axis, you wouldn't have to turn your vise on edge (and possibly, although doubtful, not even use an X-Y vise).

My dad has an old style drill press where two large nuts jam up against each other to set how far the quill lowers. On a drill press like that, you could precisely lower the jam nuts a certain number of turns and make your next cut. It would still be handy to have an X-Y vise though, since you probably don't want to make your total depth of cut in one go. I tend to move the work past the cutoff wheel in the Y axis, then give a little more X axis for depth, and do the Y axis again, repeat. Honestly it doesn't take much depth; don't go too deep. I find that .020 to .030 depth of cut is plenty for me. Whatever makes your thumb happy.

Also, remember that your thin cutoff wheel will be losing diameter as you go, so when nearly finished, I go back and do a final light cut in all my jimps to final depth.

Here's a photo of a ute knife jimped with a Dremel-style cut-off wheel...you can see that the jimping is not as precise, due to some inevitable wheel flex, but it's "thumb acceptable" and feels great.

Alternately, you could do 80% of your cut with the Dremel wheel, and then finish up with your triangle diamond file. That might give you the best finish, but I haven't tried it myself.

[Crox]

Thanks for the thoughts. I’ll get the new vise coming and play with different setups. I’ll use your numbers and get another tester knife loaded up.

[attila]

I ground down the abrupt thumb ramp to a more gradual one.

Also, to allow the leather mule team sheath to actually work with my mules, I also ground about 1/3 of the kick off.

Here’s the PD1 as far in the sheath as it’ll go:

Here’s the modified Magnacut as far in as it’ll go:

Overall, I’m pleased with the result. The thumb ramp started out looking a little odd and still does, just differently, but at least now it’s comfortable.

[Bolster]

I ground down the abrupt thumb ramp to a more gradual one....

Strong work, Attila. I can imagine the more gradual thumb ramp makes a big difference in comfort...I think I'll start doing likewise to my mule mods. Looks a lot more like a Manix with the gradual ramp, doesn't it?

[attila]

I ground down the abrupt thumb ramp to a more gradual one....

Strong work, Attila. I can imagine the more gradual thumb ramp makes a big difference in comfort...I think I'll start doing likewise to my mule mods. Looks a lot more like a Manix with the gradual ramp, doesn't it?

Thank you.

Yes, the gradual thumb ramp is like an unjimped Manix’s.

Also, I made sure to try this mod only after I owned multiple copies of the same mule. My other Magnacut mule is NIB (and much thinner BTE), so I didn’t want to risk ruining that one.

I’m going to ponder how to improve upon the idea before grinding any more of my mules.

[Bolster]

Yeah. We modifiers really *need* two mules...because one might get screwed up beyond repair...

[FullScaler]

I've been wanting to make some mods too but so far haven't been willing to risk any of my Mules. That said, seeing that modified thumb ramp and jimping has really got me thinking about taking the leap.

[Crox]

I ground down the abrupt thumb ramp to a more gradual one.

Did you go at it on the bench sander? Any tips?

[attila]

I used one of these

I moved the work platform from under to above the square tubing and clamped a 1-2-3 block to it with one of the two 2"x3" sides parallel and about 3/4" away from the belt. That gave me a 1"x3" side that I used to keep my mule perpendicular to the belt. I used the upper small wheel for all of the grinding. I think it's a 2-2.5" wheel, but I wish I had a smaller wheel. The thumb ramp got a bit too wide and shallow, bringing it closer to the spydie hole than I'd have preferred. The one thing I really wish I hadn't done was to touch some of the spine of the handle to the belt. Now, I have a small blemish where the thumb knuckle sits. It is not a functional issue, just a nuisance reminder that I got a tad too impatient when grinding.

I used a really low grit belt for the bulk of the grinding and about a 120 grit for the final shaping. I finished it off with a scotchbrite belt.

Also, I recommend cut resistant gloves at a minimum, since the belt is spinning really fast and if the blade were to catch and get pulled from the hand, really bad things could happen. I was careful and had no catching on the belt, but it was a possibility I was careful to avoid.

[Crox]

I moved the work platform from under to above the square tubing and clamped a 1-2-3 block to it with one of the two 2"x3" sides parallel and about 3/4" away from the belt. That gave me a 1"x3" side that I used to keep my mule perpendicular to the belt. I used the upper small wheel for all of the grinding. I think it's a 2-2.5" wheel, but I wish I had a …..

Thanks for sharing. I really like this mod and, like you, feel it addresses my biggest ergo complaint.

Lots to unpack on the method for me. I’m learning much here from everyone.

[ykspydiefan]

Learning a lot from reading this stuff. I feel like one picture of a Mule mod out shines 100 flipper posts. Nice to see these Mules pulling their weight. Thanks for doing it team.

[Bolster]

Modders:

Get a bottle of Dykem layout fluid and paint the mod area of your mule. Give it a minute to dry. Then make tiny scriber lines of the mods you want to make. Now mod to the line. When done, wipe off the Dykem with acetone or even alcohol. This will make all your mods more precise.

[attila]

I’ve been using sharpie. It’s also alcohol soluble; I’ve even taken it off of the fine finish of the mules with a toothpick and pencil eraser.