Show your Mule
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phillipsted
- Member
- Posts: 3674
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 11:30 am
- Location: North Virginia
My s110v Mule was a pleasure to work on. One thing the Taiwanese producer did was improve the finish of the tang and edges of the Mule. They were smooth and polished - and didn't show the irregular grind marks that were left on many of the Golden Mules. Nice touch - it saved me some work polishing them myself!
The wood I chose for this one is stabilized Hawaiian Silky Oak with a 1/16" dark green linen micarta liner. Silky oak is actually related to the sycamore, and was brought to the islands from Australia in the 1880s. It is prized in the islands as an ornamental tree with fern-like foliage and colorful flowers. The wood is often called "lacewood" and is used for inlays and furniture. The wood works and finishes well, but needs to be stabilized to be good for knife scales. Personally, i just love the multiple colors, patterns and grain weaving throughout the wood - extremely interesting to look at.
I attached the micarta with West Systems epoxy, then cut and shaped the scales by hand using coping saw, files, rasps, and a variety of sandpaper. I finished the scales to 1200 grit and topped the wood with four thin coats of TruOil and a polish with Ren Wax.
TedP
The wood I chose for this one is stabilized Hawaiian Silky Oak with a 1/16" dark green linen micarta liner. Silky oak is actually related to the sycamore, and was brought to the islands from Australia in the 1880s. It is prized in the islands as an ornamental tree with fern-like foliage and colorful flowers. The wood is often called "lacewood" and is used for inlays and furniture. The wood works and finishes well, but needs to be stabilized to be good for knife scales. Personally, i just love the multiple colors, patterns and grain weaving throughout the wood - extremely interesting to look at.
I attached the micarta with West Systems epoxy, then cut and shaped the scales by hand using coping saw, files, rasps, and a variety of sandpaper. I finished the scales to 1200 grit and topped the wood with four thin coats of TruOil and a polish with Ren Wax.
TedP
Very nice work, Ted. I love the irregular appearance of the grain and the notched look. It's hard to tell without having it in hand what is actually 3-dimensional irregularities, whether caused by the softness of some grain when sanding or by your file and rasp work. In any case, the final product is very interesting to look at.
K-390 on hand: Mule Team 17, Police 4 G-10, Endela (burlap micarta), Endela backup, Endura (canvas micarta), Straight Stretch (now blade-swapped with G-10 Stretch), Delica Wharncliffe, Dragonfly Wharncliffe, & Dragonfly Wharncliffe shorty mod
Note to self: Less is more.
Note to self: Less is more.
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phillipsted
- Member
- Posts: 3674
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 11:30 am
- Location: North Virginia
Thanks, Doug. Actually, the scales are smooth - I sanded them out to 1200 grit. All the "3D" things you see in the wood are characteristics of the wood itself. It is almost holographic - the larger flecks seem to float on top of the grain and the underneath grain shimmers and moves in the light. Fascinating stuff.
TedP
TedP
It's amazing stuff. I thought some of the 3D effect might be an illusion from grain, but am really surprised that all of it is.
K-390 on hand: Mule Team 17, Police 4 G-10, Endela (burlap micarta), Endela backup, Endura (canvas micarta), Straight Stretch (now blade-swapped with G-10 Stretch), Delica Wharncliffe, Dragonfly Wharncliffe, & Dragonfly Wharncliffe shorty mod
Note to self: Less is more.
Note to self: Less is more.
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RadioactiveSpyder
- Member
- Posts: 4536
- Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:48 pm
- Location: Lost in space
Phillipsted- I think we might frequent the same vendor. I just got a package that has some of that Silky Oak from the oregon coast. I was thinking of using it on my mule, but you seem to have been there, done that.
Still, the odds of us ever running into each other toting the same knife and handle might be pretty rare
Still, the odds of us ever running into each other toting the same knife and handle might be pretty rare
Cuscadi glow scales
Just received my K390 Mule with the green "glow in the dark" scales, and some extra blue scales for the S110V (installed them myself). Glow is extremely bright for the first few minutes, then slowly fades off. Still bright enough to find it in the dark Wood (if exposed to light when leaving the car).
Thanks to Luke who did an excellent Job attaching and evening out the grips, also very good communication.
[ATTACH]23363[/ATTACH]
Just received my K390 Mule with the green "glow in the dark" scales, and some extra blue scales for the S110V (installed them myself). Glow is extremely bright for the first few minutes, then slowly fades off. Still bright enough to find it in the dark Wood (if exposed to light when leaving the car).
Thanks to Luke who did an excellent Job attaching and evening out the grips, also very good communication.
[ATTACH]23363[/ATTACH]
- Attachments
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TheWeatherman
- Member
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:43 am
- Location: Fort Collins, Colorado
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Liquid Cobra
- Member
- Posts: 6491
- Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 11:38 pm
- Location: British Columbia, CANADA
Well done! Is the grey G-10 from Halpern as well?dtoad wrote:
Most recently acquired: Military 2, Paramilitary 2 Tanto x2, YoJUMBO, Swayback, Siren, DLC Yojimbo 2, Native Chief, Shaman S90V, Para 3 LW, Ikuchi, UKPK, Smock, SUBVERT, Amalgam, Para 3 CTS-XHP, Kapara, Paramilitary 2 M390
Grail Paramilitary 2 M390 X 2! ACHIEVED!!
For more of my pictures see my Instagram account.
@liquid_cobra
Grail Paramilitary 2 M390 X 2! ACHIEVED!!
For more of my pictures see my Instagram account.
@liquid_cobra
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Bladekeeper
- Member
- Posts: 936
- Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:24 pm
See the quality work is still coming Ted :) that's a lovely MT right there .phillipsted wrote:My s110v Mule was a pleasure to work on. One thing the Taiwanese producer did was improve the finish of the tang and edges of the Mule. They were smooth and polished - and didn't show the irregular grind marks that were left on many of the Golden Mules. Nice touch - it saved me some work polishing them myself!
The wood I chose for this one is stabilized Hawaiian Silky Oak with a 1/16" dark green linen micarta liner. Silky oak is actually related to the sycamore, and was brought to the islands from Australia in the 1880s. It is prized in the islands as an ornamental tree with fern-like foliage and colorful flowers. The wood is often called "lacewood" and is used for inlays and furniture. The wood works and finishes well, but needs to be stabilized to be good for knife scales. Personally, i just love the multiple colors, patterns and grain weaving throughout the wood - extremely interesting to look at.
I attached the micarta with West Systems epoxy, then cut and shaped the scales by hand using coping saw, files, rasps, and a variety of sandpaper. I finished the scales to 1200 grit and topped the wood with four thin coats of TruOil and a polish with Ren Wax.
TedP
Been out of the game a while what # MT are we on now 18.? .
Nice choice of liners compliments the scales to a T ATB fella .
Halpern option 5 natural micarta and Cuscadi OD micarta
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkk6ubsb9h56z4i/DSC00874.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iqkbrxv433zczjh/DSC00876.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yn83clu6m0ymraz/DSC00877.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkk6ubsb9h56z4i/DSC00874.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iqkbrxv433zczjh/DSC00876.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yn83clu6m0ymraz/DSC00877.JPG
Hi guys and girls,
here is my lastest mule, 110V in 'Grenadille' wood. Grenadille is an ebony-species and has just a little shrinkage. I hadn't tried this wood, so I had to. Sorry Ted, next time I will combine some epoxy with wood, great idea :rolleyes: The wood is hard, deep dark brown with lighter brown striping and takes a great luster when polished. As usual I corbied the wooden slabs and forgot about a tube this time.
A little accident ocurred when making the slabs. I never had this before with any mule. While clamped in a vise for filing and sanding the steelpart above the spyderhole cracked. It is barely visible in the picture but there. It will hardly effect the performance of the knife and this one is a keeper, so no problem. Although because of this I am doubting the tensile strength of 110v in my blade. This because I never had broken mule in the past and the vise is always there making handleslabs. Nevertheless enjoy the pictures as I will enjoy this mule :) Cheers, Tomas
URL=http://s1148.photobucket.com/user/Visse ... 3.jpg.html]
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here is my lastest mule, 110V in 'Grenadille' wood. Grenadille is an ebony-species and has just a little shrinkage. I hadn't tried this wood, so I had to. Sorry Ted, next time I will combine some epoxy with wood, great idea :rolleyes: The wood is hard, deep dark brown with lighter brown striping and takes a great luster when polished. As usual I corbied the wooden slabs and forgot about a tube this time.
A little accident ocurred when making the slabs. I never had this before with any mule. While clamped in a vise for filing and sanding the steelpart above the spyderhole cracked. It is barely visible in the picture but there. It will hardly effect the performance of the knife and this one is a keeper, so no problem. Although because of this I am doubting the tensile strength of 110v in my blade. This because I never had broken mule in the past and the vise is always there making handleslabs. Nevertheless enjoy the pictures as I will enjoy this mule :) Cheers, Tomas
URL=http://s1148.photobucket.com/user/Visse ... 3.jpg.html]
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Tom