Ultem® Mule

A place to share your experience with our Mule Team knives.
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standy99
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Ultem® Mule

#1

Post by standy99 »

Here is a teaser for a new build….

Image

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Ultem®
High strength plastic with outstanding electrical and high service temperature properties
Ultem® (polyetherimide) is a semi-transparent high strength plastic material that can operate in high service temperature environments. Ultem® is resistant to hot water and steam and can withstand repeated cycles in a steam autoclave. FDA compliant grades of Ultem® are available. For Ultem® chemical resistance view our chart.

Ultem® has outstanding electrical properties, with one of the highest dielectric strengths of any thermoplastic material.
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ykspydiefan
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#2

Post by ykspydiefan »

Wow. Fascinating plastic. Can you use regular epoxy with it? I would guess that one would need an Ultem version of epoxy to really sick it on and maintain the food grade compliance. A plastic that can resist 200c or 392f was outstanding to me, until I googled it and found other plastics that withstand 700c. I'm in Canada eh.

What I would really really like is a plastic or other material that absorbed and retained heat. Currently, it is -37c or -34.6f where I live. It would be amazing to have a knife that stayed warm in a pocket, then transferred that heat to your hand when in use. But I side track.

This looks like a fantastic build, and I really like the translucent scales. I am also a super fan of knives that can be easily sterilized. So, I'll be following this thread.
Spyderco: Tenacious G10, Waterway, Para 3 Spy27, Pacific Salt H1, In the Mule Team Stable(Z-Max, Z-Wear, S45VN, Magnacut, SRS13/SUS405, M398, Aeb-l, 15v)
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standy99
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#3

Post by standy99 »

ykspydiefan wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:09 am
Wow. Fascinating plastic. Can you use regular epoxy with it? I would guess that one would need an Ultem version of epoxy to really sick it on and maintain the food grade compliance. A plastic that can resist 200c or 392f was outstanding to me, until I googled it and found other plastics that withstand 700c. I'm in Canada eh.

What I would really really like is a plastic or other material that absorbed and retained heat. Currently, it is -37c or -34.6f where I live. It would be amazing to have a knife that stayed warm in a pocket, then transferred that heat to your hand when in use. But I side track.

This looks like a fantastic build, and I really like the translucent scales. I am also a super fan of knives that can be easily sterilized. So, I'll be following this thread.
High heat epoxy is not that uncommon. Most long cure epoxy products have a relative good heat tolerance.
I use 12 hour epoxy mostly because it is better at waterproofing than most quick cure products
Lack of 100% waterproofness is common to all mercaptin based “quick cure” epoxy formulations.

For this build I will use a High Heat extreme epoxy that will go well with the Ultem. Only issue is it may cure a slight yellow :rofl which won’t matter one bit.

Love trying new handle materials and I must say Ultem is one of those.


This was a labour to get and quite expensive but it will be worth it and I have enough for 10 or so handles. The rod was a 5ft length so expect to see it as pins on some wooden handles in the future
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Toucan
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#4

Post by Toucan »

I thought this was gonna be a request for a Mule made of Ultem. This makes way more sense.
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Ramonade
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#5

Post by Ramonade »

Toucan wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 3:59 am
I thought this was gonna be a request for a Mule made of Ultem. This makes way more sense.
Same, it seemed weird, ultem sounds more like a fruit than a steel!

Seems interesting though, I like the fact that's it's like 50% opacity ! Looks a bit like amber.
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TomAiello
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#6

Post by TomAiello »

Where did you get the Ultem from?
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RustyIron
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#7

Post by RustyIron »

Thanks gonna look sick.
I can't wait to see what you do with it.
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FullScaler
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#8

Post by FullScaler »

That's some cool material. That translucent orange is going to look great!
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#9

Post by JRinFL »

This is going to be cool build. I wonder how it would look with thin orange liners? Double orange.
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Josh Crutchley
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#10

Post by Josh Crutchley »

Very cool!
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standy99
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#11

Post by standy99 »

TomAiello wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:16 am
Where did you get the Ultem from?
Found when I started looking there was Several sources and several levels of Quality. Some of the cheap stuff turned out to be cloudy and a off looking colour. The stuff I have used wasn't cheap and now I know why the beads made out of it are so expensive

You want the unfilled as there is a glass filled version as well



This was sourced from a specialist plastic manufacturer and supplier that took some emails to allow me to buy it.. (had to buy a whole sheet which was 12" X 12" and a 5ft rod

Oddly I got a end piece with the name of the manufacturer on the sheet :winking-tongue

If your keen I will shoot you a PM with details
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standy99
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#12

Post by standy99 »

JRinFL wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:07 pm
This is going to be cool build. I wonder how it would look with thin orange liners? Double orange.
Have orange glow scales :thinking
Will have to take some pictures for you...
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#13

Post by JRinFL »

standy99 wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 4:44 pm
JRinFL wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:07 pm
This is going to be cool build. I wonder how it would look with thin orange liners? Double orange.
Have orange glow scales :thinking
Will have to take some pictures for you...
I'd love to see it.
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standy99
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#14

Post by standy99 »

JRinFL wrote:
Fri Jan 07, 2022 8:23 am
standy99 wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 4:44 pm
JRinFL wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:07 pm
This is going to be cool build. I wonder how it would look with thin orange liners? Double orange.
Have orange glow scales :thinking
Will have to take some pictures for you...
I'd love to see it.
Think it detracts from the coolness of see through..


Image

Image

Image

Here with scale material glowing…

Image
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#15

Post by JRinFL »

Thank you. I like it both ways, but fully translucent is best.
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Bolster
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#16

Post by Bolster »

JRinFL wrote:
Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:22 am
Thank you. I like it both ways, but fully translucent is best.

Agreed.

A pair Fullscaler sent me. "Wrong" color, but wow, fun to look at; color changes with different light reflecting off the tang:
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attila
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#17

Post by attila »

Wrong thread...
Have: old S30V Native, HAP40 Endura, ZDP DF2, S110V Manix LW, Cru-wear Para 3, SE H1 DF2, S90V Native 5, K390 Urban, SE Pac Salt, P.I.T.S., XHP Manix LW, SB Caly 3, B70P, PMA11, K03, Kapara, REX 45 Military, 154CM Manix LW, Swick, AEB-L Urban, KC Cruwear Manix, M390 PM2, Mantra 2, CruCarta Shaman, M390 Manix, K390 Police 4, S90V Manix LW, Rex 45 Manix LW, 20CV Manix, Rex 45 Lil’Native, Shaman, C208GP, Cruwear Manix, Cruwear Manix, M4 Chief, Z-max!!!

Want: SPY27, K490, Swick 5
.
TomAiello
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#18

Post by TomAiello »

standy99 wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 4:30 pm
If your keen I will shoot you a PM with details
That would be great. Thank you! :smlling-eyes
PBWilson
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#19

Post by PBWilson »

Cool use of a very cool plastic!

It's my favorite material for guitar picks. It doesn't wear like nearly all other materials I've tried (nylon, celluloid, delrin) and has a hardness that allows for thinner picks without the flex.

I'd bet it would take some checkering or texture really nicely, but I think I'm going to like the looks of it when smoothed and shaped. Nice!
cholla_remover
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Re: Ultem® Mule

#20

Post by cholla_remover »

Post some process photos if you have time, this looks like fantastic stuff!
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