Custom MagnaCut Mule Handles

[WilliamMunny]

I recently had time to finish wood scales for my two MagnaCut Mules. One is figured maple with black G10 and the other is Walnut with white G10. I plan to give them to my boys when they are a bit older. See below for some of the steps I took to make these.

First step was to cut the wood to size, I like to go with about 3/8” thick as you always can take wood away. I then sent them off to K&G for stabilization.

Next few steps are to epoxy the G10 to the wood scales, drill your holes and cut the rough shape. I like to use G10 for both the look and to add some strength to the wood.

Once you epoxy the scales to the Mule it is just a lot of sanding. A belt/disc bench top sander is a huge help to rough shape you handles. I also use my small drills press as a make shift orbital sander for the tighter radius on the grip. From there is it just hours of sanding, my grit progression is 100, 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000 and finally a buffing wheel with blue compound.

They came out great, my boys like them, just not sure which one I like better… knives that is. Being MagnaCut the blades will never rust and should last forever. Thanks Spyderco for the opportunity to be part of the Mule program.

[Bolster]

I think they are beautiful, and appreciate the method explanation.

[bob-atlatl]

Well done, also a fan of the natural wood look & feel.

[WilliamMunny]

Well done, also a fan of the natural wood look & feel.

That is something I forgot to mention, there is no finish on these, just sand paper and a buffing wheel to get the shine.

[jwbnyc]

Beautiful work.

[Bolster]

That is something I forgot to mention, there is no finish on these, just sand paper and a buffing wheel to get the shine.

That's remarkable. I didn't know you could get that sort of finish with a buffing wheel on wood. Wow.

[Ramonade]

That is something I forgot to mention, there is no finish on these, just sand paper and a buffing wheel to get the shine.

That's remarkable. I didn't know you could get that sort of finish with a buffing wheel on wood. Wow.

All of my Mule handles are only finished with a buffing wheel on my drill press !
But I use stabilized wood most of the time, might help.

Beautiful shine indeed, i did only buff some Ziricote recently and it took an excellent shine too!

[WilliamMunny]

I think you start to get a shine at around 1500 grit and it goes up from there. I just use my hand-held drill to buff, works pretty well. I do use my drill press for some of the rough sanding it tight spots.

[Ramonade]

I think you start to get a shine at around 1500 grit and it goes up from there. I just use my hand-held drill to buff, works pretty well. I do use my drill press for some of the rough sanding it tight spots.

I even bought a small machine that could be use as a buffer (400W), but still use my buffing adaptater made for hand-held drills, i just know it so well now .
Yes, depending on the wood you already get a really good look after 1500. I go up to 2500 or 3000 on natural woods and on stabilized woods I feel like going higher sometimes brings rewards. It's really hard to see a difference on some so I started stopping at 3000 or 5000 but I used to go to 10.000 every time (which are difficults grits to find good quality sandpaper in)

[swknight]

Beautifully DONE! I can IMAGINE those handles on lots of my tools that go "BANG!"

Thank YOU for sharing your expertise!

SWK

[WilliamMunny]

Thanks guys, I think to up my game the next step will be to stabilize my own scales. That way I can add colors into the wood and get more experimental with "glue ups" then stabilizing. Just not sure I want to put the money out for a home setup, kind of a one trick pony and wont see much return unless I start selling them.

K&G is great but shipping $10-$15 bucks each way plus stabilizing adds up unless you send them a bunch of handles.

[Ramonade]

Thanks guys, I think to up my game the next step will be to stabilize my own scales. That way I can add colors into the wood and get more experimental with "glue ups" then stabilizing. Just not sure I want to put the money out for a home setup, kind of a one trick pony and wont see much return unless I start selling them.

K&G is great but shipping $10-$15 bucks each way plus stabilizing adds up unless you send them a bunch of handles.

I've seen people make their own stabilizing equipment from kitchen stuff and a bit of tooling. I'm still working on making a portable steel saw into a vertical bandsaw (will share pictures in this sub-forum when it'll be done), but was thinking about giving a try at making a vacuum chamber for stabilizing after that.

[WilliamMunny]

Thanks guys, I think to up my game the next step will be to stabilize my own scales. That way I can add colors into the wood and get more experimental with "glue ups" then stabilizing. Just not sure I want to put the money out for a home setup, kind of a one trick pony and wont see much return unless I start selling them.

K&G is great but shipping $10-$15 bucks each way plus stabilizing adds up unless you send them a bunch of handles.

I've seen people make their own stabilizing equipment from kitchen stuff and a bit of tooling. I'm still working on making a portable steel saw into a vertical bandsaw (will share pictures in this sub-forum when it'll be done), but was thinking about giving a try at making a vacuum chamber for stabilizing after that.

Good luck with the bandsaw conversion. Your biggest challenge will be getting a table to sit correctly on it. Worst case sell it and put the money towards a used band saw. There are deals out there, I am trying to upgrade my 9" to a 10" without breaking the bank. The 9" just wont resaw well enough to make knife scales.

[Ramonade]

Good luck with the bandsaw conversion. Your biggest challenge will be getting a table to sit correctly on it. Worst case sell it and put the money towards a used band saw. There are deals out there, I am trying to upgrade my 9" to a 10" without breaking the bank. The 9" just wont resaw well enough to make knife scales.

Thanks ! I have a bandsaw but it's made for wood. The new one will be destined for stock removal knives. I already bought the table, stuff to make the legs and feet you can set just to be sure everything is good and stable. I got a 1/4" (well, 5mm in reality) 50x50cm steel plaque and it fits perfectly into a slot in the protable metal saw. I just have a lot of soldering to do and some holes in that plaque

There's this french knife maker, he makes a lot of video tutorials for stuff like that. And he's pretty crafty !

[legOFwhat?]

Those look fantastic William!

[Murphy Slaw]

Dig it!

Love the wood.

[Worm]

Very nice work.
I need to get a drill bench and a small belt grinder to up my custom handle game.
Here are my modified halpern 3D G10 scales with four holes: resulting in 4 g of weight saving

For anybody who is a weight freak like me:
halpern flat G10: 37 g
halpern 3D micarta: 41 g
halpern 3D G10: 59 g (I do find these too heavy and prefer the others)