Show your Mule

[Bladekeeper]

Can't see too much to worry about some refinements and practice and your there me I can produce some very nice wood work but other than that I'm useless.
Partly I need tools but I'd never reach the level some of the guys here have got to in a hundred years good work for your first two.

[JV3]

messing around with my first kydex sheaths...still need trimming.

[farmerleader]

my first mule, with some pimpin works

[phillipsted]

Looks nice, farmerleader! The GITD logo looks fantastic.

Welcome to the forum!

TedP

[xceptnl]

[Bladekeeper]

Farmerleader that gitd sheath is awesome also what is that patch from ? An Indonesian forum nice work especially that sheath very cool.

[farmerleader]

Looks nice, farmerleader! The GITD logo looks fantastic.

Welcome to the forum!

TedP

Farmerleader that gitd sheath is awesome also what is that patch from ? An Indonesian forum nice work especially that sheath very cool.

thanks. the patch is PVC GID. we have a lots if spyde fanatics here at indonesian blades.

[JV3]

i'm starting to really like cts-xhp over my s30v and vg10 knives :)

[JV3]

[phillipsted]

Finished my latest set of Mule scales this evening. These are in stablilized snakeskin sycamore bolted to an M390 Mule. This material was very finicky to work with - it was very chippy and tended to want to split along grain lines. The wood was also lightly spalted, which you can see in some of the shots - and the spalting wanted to rip out as well. I had to resort to CA glue to reattach several chips, but because of the nature of the grain, you can hardly see them now. These were sanded down to 1200 grit, then finished with 5 thin coats of Tru-Oil and a top coat of Renaissance Wax.

TedP

[Bladekeeper]

Good job ted you can see the spalted sections trying to pop well saved Barr that it is a nice looking wood .

[phillipsted]

Thanks for the compliment, Bladekeeper. I would really like to have seen this slab before it was stabilized - you can see where the resin penetrated and hardened the grain and the spalted areas. It would probably have been unusable before it was stabilized. I think parts of the scales look almost like fossilized mammoth.

Cheers!
TedP

[Powdercommander]

[ATTACH]21526[/ATTACH]1st try here. Gift for a friend. Slight touching up to do on the CF and have to figure out the best way to polish the CF and bolts.

[Powdercommander]

[ATTACH]21527[/ATTACH][ATTACH]21531[/ATTACH] 1st try. Gift for a friend. Need to touch up CF and need to figure out how to polish/finish the bolts and CF.

When last I posted a pic, I was able to have it appear in the thread and not as a link. Any idea how I did that?

[Powdercommander]

[ATTACH]21527[/ATTACH][ATTACH]21531[/ATTACH] 1st try. Gift for a friend. Need to touch up CF and need to figure out how to polish/finish the bolts and CF.

edit

[Bladekeeper]

Thanks for the compliment, Bladekeeper. I would really like to have seen this slab before it was stabilized - you can see where the resin penetrated and hardened the grain and the spalted areas. It would probably have been unusable before it was stabilized. I think parts of the scales look almost like fossilized mammoth.

Cheers!
TedP

Possibly bad seasoning maybe dried too quick although from what I have been told spalted wood has a tendency towards problems adjusting to temp changes.
The spalted maple being the most common problem wood I wanted it for my woodcraft but was advised against it as I live in a cold area of the uk.
I see what you mean the mammoth that has the stag like pattern , I have a custom pukko being built by EDF knives a maker from holland.
His work can be seen on badlands forum but its in German the mammoth in this knife is plain white with the grey/black pitting.

[phillipsted]

Here is my latest Mule project. I've had an older ZDP-189 Mule stuck in my queue for a while. It is one of the first run of MT-04 blades with the extremely hard heat treat. I decided to put a set of stabilized rock maple burl scales on it. It was down to the very end of the job - I had to do the final fit out of the bolts then finish out the trim on the tang and polish it up.

When I was inserting the middle bolt, the holes must have been slightly misaligned. PING! :eek: The handle broke clean in two across the tang - right through the bolt hole. It almost sounded like glass cracking, it was so brittle. It was totally my fault -I wasn't paying attention. Even though I wasn't exerting that much pressure, and I had reamed the scales and tang previously, I thought there was enough clearance. I caught it with just the right amount of force at exactly the right place...and PING! Just goes to show you how much of a tradeoff you have to make to get blades into the upper hardness ranges!

Anyway, I went ahead and assembled the knife - I figured it can at least look nice in my display cabinet. I polished the maple out to 1000 grit and since it was nicely stabilized, I just added a top coat of Ren Wax and called it a day.

TedP

[jabba359]

Sorry to hear it cracked on you. I still have my ZDP Mule in the box, waiting for scales. I'll make sure to be extra careful when I finally make some!

Speaking of making Mule scales, I haven't been able to make any for about a year and a half now, due to not having a garage or yard where I could make a bunch of dust. I finally found a new room for rent this past week that has garage space as well as a yard, so I can finally pull my tools out of storage and start making stuff again. I'm really excited to get back to making scales, as I've had a concept for my Super Blue Mule for the last year that I've wanted to try out, so that will be my first project. Hopefully I'll have some pictures soon!

[Bladekeeper]

Nice scales ted shame about that crack but I'd be tempted to chip a little off and see what the RC stands at .
If its above then maybe it wasn't entirely your fault.
No offence meant your skills surpass mine ten fold , but was it very cold whilst you were working on it ?.
I know your probably more than aware of all the variables just curiosity really.
I am still waiting on my woodcraft lost the use of my leg recently hopefully not permanent but I'm also waiting on somebody else.
Given they are ill too then I'd rather wait a year than ask again I just hope he gets better he is one of life's good guys.
Beautiful scales T and a display piece I'd be happy to have but my OCD would go crazy :D .

[phillipsted]

The original MT-04 blades were released at around 67 hardness. Spyderco re-treated a portion of the run to a more "optimal" HRC (64-65) and offered both for a period of time (around Dec 2009). You can check out the original thread here.

Tom Krein supposedly broke two of the hard MT-04s when attempting to insert pins (exactly what I was doing when it broke). So I guess I'm in good company! :cool:

TedP