Show your Mule

[phillipsted]

Niles - they look great! I especially like the Green G10. I was able to get a pretty good shine back on G10 by using polishing compound and a felt wheel on a Dremel tool. Required a *lot* of work though.

What kind of bolts/screws are you using on your green G10 mule? They look a bit different than the 3/16" pivot bolts I use... Just curious...

TedP

[Niles]

Niles - they look great! I especially like the Green G10. I was able to get a pretty good shine back on G10 by using polishing compound and a felt wheel on a Dremel tool. Required a *lot* of work though.

What kind of bolts/screws are you using on your green G10 mule? They look a bit different than the 3/16" pivot bolts I use... Just curious...

TedP

Thanks. The screws are from knife kits if I remember right. Thanks for the polishing tip, I'll give it a whirl.

[DougB2]

TedP,
Very nice! I wanted to use brown micarta for my Cruwear Mule but the shape of the handle wouldn't allow me to use the piece that I have. Instead, I'm using barbwire micarta from Texas Knifemakers Supply. The fabric base is burlap and makes some nice patterns. It shines up nicely, too. It's 1/2" thick, so I had to grind a lot of it away. I'll post some pics when I finish it.

[DougB2]

Trying again...

Here's my Cruwear Mule, wearing scales of barbwire micarta and micarta tubes. I started the shaping with 60 grit sanding drums and sandpaper and progressed to 2000 grit, them buffing wheels going from black, brown, red, and white compounds. This barbwire micarta is great stuff. I like it!

[Niles]

Elmax with a micarta handle. I made the micarta out of denim and a red cotton fabric. This was my first attempt at making micarta, and now I'm hooked. It'll be fun to try different materials.

[Zencowboy]

Sweet homemade Micarta handles. You peeked my interest and I watched 3 videos on how to make it at home. I will try this on on of the mules. Going to research a good resin.

Thanks!

[MyKnife]

THAT is not scaling a mule, THAT is art, COOL-COOL-COOL. That guy has it all, skills, insight. Look at that small maker's mark on the tang as finishing touch! Subtle, great mule, kudos.
Tell us more about it and him :)

Tomas

Ok,
he's My friend Richard Tesarik. He did this Mule for CustomSpyderco Project: http://www.customspyderco.com. He lives in Czech Republic and he is on the top of czech knife makers. Yes, You can visit his website: http://www.tesariknoze.cz
Thanks for interest! :)

[PGeo00]

Howdy... new here. Just bought a couple of mules and trying to figure out what to do. This thread gives me so many ideas :) Fantastic work guys.

[Left Hand Path]

Cord-wrap 9Cr18Mo


DSCN7612

[xceptnl]

Cord-wrap 9Cr18Mo

Nice wrap and the snake knot in that pattern cord looks sweet.

[phillipsted]

Here's my latest ELMAX mule shod in Cocobolo. I've admired this wood for a long time, but never picked it up to work with. It is very dense, very hard, and very oily. It is also very forgiving and responds beautifully to shaping/sanding/polishing - although it took a long time to shape it due to its hardness. Also, I couldn't use the belt sander because it created enough heat to start burning the oil in the wood. Smells like burnt popcorn, actually... :cool:

I counterdrilled the holes and attached the scales using 0.187"x0.500" pivot bolts - without glue. I wanted to be able to remove them in the future. This particular knife isn't going to be a user right away.

Thanks again, Sal, for keeping the Mule project up and running!

TedP

[DougB2]

Here's my new Elmax Mule. The scales are green micarta, with some gray layers I've never noticed in green micarta before. The pins are 3/8" micarta. I started with 100 grit paper and went to 2000, then buffed with black, brown, red, and white compounds, using a Dremel tool.







Mule family photo

[phillipsted]

Doug - that is some nice work! I really like the micarta caps over the pins. It gives the knife a whole new look.

I've seen those gray layers on some runs of canvas micarta. I think that since the canvas material is so rough and thick, that these are the thin lines of resin between the layers of cotton material. The micarta makers add a colorant to the resin to turn it green or black, and in some cases it cures a slightly different color than the material absorbed into the cotton canvas. I actually like it when it does this...

Again - very nice work! You are starting to build a really unique family of Mules.

TedP

[FarmerTed]

I really like what you've done with the shape of the handle here. Looks like it fills out the hand for a better grip than the thin slab type scales.

[DougB2]

Doug - that is some nice work! I really like the micarta caps over the pins. It gives the knife a whole new look.

Ted,
Thanks for the good words! Actually, the brown micarta isn't caps, they're pins that run all the way through. The large holes in the Mule are big enough 3/8" rods. I might do another one later using micarta rods in some of the smaller holes (3/16", I think). We'll see how well the epoxy holds it all together. I just need to get a couple of good sheaths for two of them now.

Doug

[Zencowboy]

Yep, I like those Micarta scales Doug!! You have inspired me to make some micarta pins soon. Would have to make a 'thicker' stack of material in the resin to get those made.
Thanks.

[Zencowboy]

Hello all, here is a CruWear with stabliized A bury maple. I only at the moment have a dremel and hand sanding. Done sanding up to 600 grit thus far. The scales are still dull at the moment BUT when finished I will show how far I hopefully will get to a nice polish.
I seemed to like to have grip on my scales for in the woods and when hands are wet or gloves.

Before beginning...


During sanding...






I got a little booboo on the butt end screw hole when I was going to a 1/4 inch 145 degree drill bit. It staring to rip/splint the wood. Then I just started using my Stretch knife to whittle out the holes. I got so distraught and will have to figure out how to fix without having to sand down the scales thickness.

[GnifeGnut]

Nice work, Zen.

Here's my latest work-in-progress. I decided to go with something different this time.

[phillipsted]

Nice work, Zen. Here's my latest work-in-progress. I decided to go with something different this time.
[ATTACH]19934[/ATTACH]

Wow! What is that scale material, GnifeGnut -- celluloid or acrylic? Looks brilliant!

How scratch resistant and durable do you think it will be?

TedP

[Zencowboy]

That is beautiful GG. What is it?
Thanks!