Mule Help. Total Newbie!

[jtoler_9]

So today was a historic day for my father and I. This is the day we attempted to make our first knife handle. I chose a desert ironwood for the scales. I showed up at my fathers house this morning and he had a 40.00 table saw from walmart set up and a drill. It felt a little like trying to make a wedding cake with a fisher price easy bake oven. Considering we freehanded everything and hand drilled the holes, I think that the scales look pretty good for a first attempt. I feel we are about half way through our project now. I want to shape/contour the handle to fit my hand better than it does right now. My question to you is does anyone have experience with desert ironwood? I want to know what we should treat it with? Would you go with a stain or some type of linseed oil? The wood is much softer than I anticipated. I thought ironwood was supposed to be hard. It's named after iron. Cmon. There are also some small cracks around the hole where we hammered the bolsters into place. Is there a way to polish this down so that the bolsters and wood are flush and smooth? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I can tell I will want to do this agin. Looks like the Mule team just got another victim.

[angusW]

Hope you're having fun doing the handles with your father. I know I enjoyed putting them on my Mules.

I'm sorry but I've never used ironwood so I'm not much help but from what I've read ironwood doesn't need an oil for a finish.

Those mosaic "bolsters" look nice :D . For drilling them out I use Forstner bits in a drill press. You'll get less chipping than a regular bit.

When I make my handles I use a belt and drum sanders. I find it's pretty tricky to sand the pins without liquidizing the epoxy but I don't use a high grit on the machines or else I end up burning the epoxy. I just use the machines for a rough outline then hand sand using sandpaper. I don't use them but some people have great results with rasps and files.

Of course I'm no pro but just what I've done in my minimal experience of making handles. Good luck with yours.

[wingman_214]

That's some very nice looking scales. Makes me want to buy my own mule.

[bc]

I get great results with a simple dremmel tool and sand drums. not too expensive, and you can really contour out to your liking. then finish out with hand sanding.

be sure to wear a mask...that wood can be toxic stuff

good luck

[jtoler_9]

I find it's pretty tricky to sand the pins without liquidizing the epoxy but I don't use a high grit on the machines or else I end up burning the epoxy.

Ok, now that brings up a good point. I didn't use any epoxy. I just put it together with the bolsters. It fit so tightly I didn't think we needed any type of adhisive. Is this going to come back and haunt me later? Should we hammer out the pins and add epoxy? I told ya I was a total newb.  We unfortunatly don’t have any fancy tools or equipment. Just a rough garage project. The fact that it’s not being held together with duct tape is a win in my book.

[angusW]

I'm not saying they will come out in the future but I've always epoxied mine. Did you put them in at the same time when you glued/epoxied the scales? If so them maybe some of the glue got onto the pins. You said they were a tight fit so maybe they won't come out.

A lot of people don't use any power tools when making handles for their Mules. Machines are not a requirement. In fact I've got two Mules sitting here with no scales on them and was thinking of doing at least one of them without the belt and drum sanders.

[DCDesigns]

Ok, I sell burlwood for a living, so any wood questions dude, feel free to PM me. I really wouldnt have started out with something like ironwood... One of the densest, hardest to work, and most expensive woods on the planet. Its beautiful, but a terrible wood for beginners for all those reasons. Maple would have been a better first choice (though not as gorgeous!) I know why you chose it, it is some phenomenal stuff

First off, terminology. You are referring to your pins as bolsters. They are just pins. bolsters are a separate material from the handle (sometimes but not always metal), and are positioned on either end of the grip material to support, or "bolster", the handles.

As far as fixing the chips, thats easy (although you should not have had to hammer the pins in... not sure what process you are using) Just sand them down. you can use a file or rough abrassive to remove pinstock until everything is flush. If the chip ends up being too deep, a little CA (super glue) with some saw dust, you'll never know it was there.

Finishing Ironwood you have a plethora of choices. Ive used linseed oil, automotive clear coat, friction polish on pens, really anything will work. Linseed oil would be a good beginner's choice, but might require re-application eventually if your mule is for hard use.

Id radius those edges a little more, and fix the chips before you thought about finishing. Just my 2 cents, hope this helps! Great father son project!

Let me know if you have any questions -DC

[jtoler_9]

Thanks DCD.. That is some great advice. This forum is the bomb. I never thought of glue with saw dust, I'll give that a shot. I didn't glue anything together. The pins seemed to fit so tightly in the hand drilled holes we didn't add anything to the scales or the pins. I think linseed would be the best based on your post. Will that make it darker than they are naturally? Seriously thanks to everyone on this thread, this helps a ton.

[dbcad]

Really like the look of those handles :) Congrats on your success, pat your dad on the back too :) What flavor Mule is it??

[jackknifeh]

I get great results with a simple dremmel tool and sand drums. not too expensive, and you can really contour out to your liking. then finish out with hand sanding.

be sure to wear a mask...that wood can be toxic stuff

good luck

I second the Dremel idea. I've had a Dremel for over 3 years and made a few sets of folder scales in the past year finding yet another use for the Dremel. If you are going to make knife handles the Dremel is a great tool AND if you've never owned one it's amazing how many times you'll use it instead of another tool. After owning a Dremel it's like a knife for me. I couldn't imagine getting along without one.

Good luck with your projects. I wish I had someone to work with. Just a little more fun if it's the right person.

Jack

[MCM]

(You at the test fit stage, where you need to be)

I would drive the pins out, epoxy the scales and pins and c clamp it together - inside the pins.
Then dremel / file / sand it all down, shaping and removing any minor imperfections around the pins at the same time. If you dont have a dremel files will work, but take longer as you need to go slow around the pin's.

A little wax on the finely sanded scales and your ready to go.

Should come out nice!

(Might want to drive the pin's out with a hard wood dowel or something similar)

2nd note..... Most folks "1st" scales are too thick / fat. Don't be shy removing excess material.

[jtoler_9]

What flavor Mule is it??

This is the MT11. M390 steel. I'm excited to see what it will look like finished. I'm torn between wanting to sand and finish forming the handle or taking it apart to aply epoxy. I'll post pics once it's finished. This is a fun first time project, for anyone out there that hasn't tired it.

[ChapmanPreferred]

Here is a link to a thread that you and your dad should take a look at before proceeding any further in my opinion.

http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.p ... t+tutorial

Chris does an excellent job with this "how to" tutorial/pictoral review.

[HaroldB]

The first one is the hardest.

The next one's will be easier and you learn from each one.