My Folding Mule Project

A place to share your experience with our Mule Team knives.
CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#41

Post by CasperFatone »

Fireman wrote:
Thu Dec 15, 2022 12:28 am
How much would you charge someone to do that conversion?
It’s hard to say how much I’d charge. It wouldn’t make sense to try and sell them doing it this way since everything was done by hand. I’m going to do a few more to test out some other handle shapes and maybe another lock or two. If I got everything the way I want it I’d consider doing a batch of handles to have ready for people’s donor Mules.

One issue would be that not all Mules are the same, some with metric holes and some with standard. Another issue is that I have full custom designs that I would probably rather spend my time making. This is all just a hobby for me so I tend to just work on whatever I’m having fun with at the moment.
Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
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Bolster
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#42

Post by Bolster »

Fireman wrote:
Thu Dec 15, 2022 12:28 am
How much would you charge someone to do that conversion?

You gotta talk to Casper's godfather...
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Steel novice who self-identifies as a steel expert. Proud M.N.O.S.D. member 0003. Spydie Steels: 4V, 15V, 20CV, AEB-L, AUS6, Cru-Wear, HAP40, K294, K390, M4, Magnacut, S110V, S30V, S35VN, S45VN, SPY27, SRS13, T15, VG10, XHP, ZWear, ZDP189
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Brock O Lee
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#43

Post by Brock O Lee »

Fantastic!

Is there a way to remove the wonky laser engraving on the blade? Would a stone wash work?
Hans

Favourite Spydies: Military, PM2, Shaman, UKPK
Others: Victorinox Pioneer, CRK L Sebenza 31, CRK L Inkosi
CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#44

Post by CasperFatone »

Here’s a small progress update on my folding Mule. Today I added some jimping to the thumb ramp on the spine of the knife and to the liners leading up to the ramp. I also increased the lockbar tension, which improved the detent and lockup but has led to some lock stick. I always planned on carbidizing the lock bar and that is probably what will happen next.

Also, I scored a Rex76 Mule that I plan to use for my next version, and ice started working through my designs. For the next one I am going with a shape somewhere between the Autonomy 2 and the Caribbean. The plan is to go with a compression lock, which will be a first for me

Image
Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
mokele
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#45

Post by mokele »

Wonderful.
Can you please share how you made the jimping so neat?
CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#46

Post by CasperFatone »

mokele wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:27 pm
Wonderful.
Can you please share how you made the jimping so neat?
Absolutely. The jimping on the liners was done with a checkering file, with the two liners pinned together and clamped in a vise. I believe the file I have cuts 20 lines per inch, and you can just extend the row of cuts by moving the file down the line and registering on previous cuts.

For the spine of the blade it’s a little more complicated because the checkering file won’t cut hardened steel. To get around this I made a simple guide out of a scrap of unhardened blade steel. I used the same file to cut the grooves in the guide piece, then hardened it to make it more durable. Then I clamped the guide to the knife blade with it positioned how I wanted it and used a triangle diamond file to start my grooves on the blade. Nice the grooves were started I removed the guide and kept filing with the triangle file until the grooves were as deep as I wanted.

Here is a picture of the file and the guide piece being made

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And a picture of the guide clamped to the blade to get the grooves started

Image
Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
dullmaker
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#47

Post by dullmaker »

You have my attention. Amazing work.
mokele
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#48

Post by mokele »

Perfect explanation, thank you so much!
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Bolster
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#49

Post by Bolster »

Your jimp guide is a clever solution, thumb up!
Steel novice who self-identifies as a steel expert. Proud M.N.O.S.D. member 0003. Spydie Steels: 4V, 15V, 20CV, AEB-L, AUS6, Cru-Wear, HAP40, K294, K390, M4, Magnacut, S110V, S30V, S35VN, S45VN, SPY27, SRS13, T15, VG10, XHP, ZWear, ZDP189
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Cl1ff
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#50

Post by Cl1ff »

This has inspired me a bit!
I have been designing my own folding knives and while trying to get a handle on various locks, and I've crudely modified my Clipitool Rescue to remove the extra tools and thickness, but I hadn't considered modifying a Mule into a folding knife like this. I'll keep this is in mind for future projects now.
For now, things are just concepts and drawings.
I should check up on this Mule place more often.
rex121 is the king of steel, but nature’s teeth have been cutting for hundreds of millions of years and counting :cool:
CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#51

Post by CasperFatone »

Cl1ff wrote:
Thu Dec 22, 2022 12:38 pm
This has inspired me a bit!
I have been designing my own folding knives and while trying to get a handle on various locks, and I've crudely modified my Clipitool Rescue to remove the extra tools and thickness, but I hadn't considered modifying a Mule into a folding knife like this. I'll keep this is in mind for future projects now.
For now, things are just concepts and drawings.
I should check up on this Mule place more often.
If you want to try a similar project to this but with something way less expensive I recommend trying it with an Opinel. Before doing this Mule I did a liner lock with g10 scales for a no.12 Opinel that I modded into a Wharncliffe. I had made several folders of my own design before doing the Opinel, but I definitely feel like it’s a good exercise for anyone trying to get into making folders.

Below is a gif of that knife (edited to pics because the gif didn’t work), and if you like the idea you should check out Wells Blade Works on Instagram. He is the master of custom Opinel rehandle jobs, and was part of my inspiration for this whole project.

Image

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Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#52

Post by CasperFatone »

The other day I was able to get started on my second version of a folding Mule. This time I have decided to keep the shape of the standard Mule for the most part, and will be using a Rex76 Mule as the blade donor this time. My current plan is for it to use a compression lock, which will be a first for me so wish me luck on that!

Like the first one, this Mule will have .060” thick titanium liners, phosphor bronze washers, and a pivot bushing. I haven’t decided yet on my scales material, but do have some OD Green Tero Tuff ordered that I might use. Here are some pictures of what I have done so far, which is mostly just cutting my titanium liners.

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You will notice that the nub at the front of the handle will double as a flipper tab on this knife. It’ll be my first time making a knife with a flipper, so we’ll see how that goes.

Image
Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
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attila
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#53

Post by attila »

:exploding-head

So cool!!!
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
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Ramonade
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#54

Post by Ramonade »

I'm fascinated. And I'll definitely try to make my first folder out of an opinel blade. I have a lot of steel and can do my own blades (and have started to do so). But making a folding knife that wouldn't render me insane would require so much precision that I thought I couldn't tackle such a project right now.

I live in France, I must have like 5 or 6 Opinels just laying around in my house :')
Thanks for the tips and sharing your progress.
Wells is really good indeed, I've seen his work before and it's really really qualitative.
:respect In the collection :respect : Lots of different steels, in lots of different (and same) Spydercos.

Robin. Finally made an IG : ramo_knives

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CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#55

Post by CasperFatone »

I got a bit of a surprise while drilling through the Rex76 Mule today. Using a solid carbide drill bit I was making a hole that will locate where the stop pin hits the blade tang. As I was punching through I noticed the bit wasn’t cutting as well so I stopped, only to find that the bit had chipped and the blade had cracked!

I am chalking this up to 100% user error and probably was forcing the bit causing its failure. The bit chipping probably led to pieces of carbide binding in the hole and forcing the break, at least that is my best guess. It was also spinning faster than it should due to my drill press not being the ideal tool for the job. Thankfully the crack is in an area that was going to be ground away so it doesn’t cause any problems. What it does do is give me a chance to see the grain structure of this Rex76 steel 😁

Here’s the crack right after it happened.

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And here are the two halves after I cut away the lower section with a cutting disc. I have to say this is the most fine grain structure I’ve ever seen in a broken blade.

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Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
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Mushroom
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#56

Post by Mushroom »

Excited to see this next folder come together. You do some really great work!
-Nick :bug-red
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CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#57

Post by CasperFatone »

I made some real progress this evening on the compression lock for my second folding Mule. Cutting the lock bar is mostly done but will need a little refinement. The cuts were done free hand with a dremel cutoff wheel and a jewelers saw. The next big step will be doing the cutout in the tang to receive the lock bar.

Image

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Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
CasperFatone
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#58

Post by CasperFatone »

Today I got the tang of the blade cut to accept the lock bar, and was able to get the compression lock functioning nicely. I haven’t gotten it tuned to the point that the flipper tab is working, but I’m really considering removing it anyways.

I’m probably going to add another stand-off right behind the lock bar to stiffen up the liners. Once that’s done I’ll make the cutout for lock access and get to work on the scales.

Since I’m not sure if my gifs actually work I’ve included a link as well

https://imgur.com/a/pj8bvmn

Image
Amateur maker of folding knives and addicted to modding Spyderco knives

Folding Mules- m398 liner lock, Rex76 compression lock, 15v liner lock flipper
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Bolster
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#59

Post by Bolster »

This is amazing to see! Wow! A comp lock Mule, remarkable. I suspect your work will bring a chorus of requests down on Spyderco to start making folding mules...
Steel novice who self-identifies as a steel expert. Proud M.N.O.S.D. member 0003. Spydie Steels: 4V, 15V, 20CV, AEB-L, AUS6, Cru-Wear, HAP40, K294, K390, M4, Magnacut, S110V, S30V, S35VN, S45VN, SPY27, SRS13, T15, VG10, XHP, ZWear, ZDP189
Brant
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Re: My Folding Mule Project

#60

Post by Brant »

I’m totally impressed! They both look great! Amazing work.
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