Spyderco Forums

That's beautiful work Kyle.

Presentation grade Burl Maple, cinnamon liners and brass Corby rivets with a custom leather sheath. MULE 18 S110V

It was finished today!

That's a very impressive team of mules, Kosta :)
Do you have one each of every mule that has been made?

DougC-3 wrote:That's a very impressive team of mules, Kosta :)
Do you have one each of every mule that has been made?

:) Thanks. Yes, there are all mules the made Spyderco. There is one mule of each release. :D

Really some beautiful knives shown in this thread. My congratulations to everyone.

I put a handle on a team 20 (CTS B70P) recently. The front of the handle is leopardwood and the rear is curly maple (red leaf).


This is my first mule and I have been using it a lot. I especially like it for harder work. The wood I used was not stabilized or sealed at all. So I used polyurethane. I think this will protect the wood but it's a bit slippery when I have sweaty or wet hands. I ordered two more team 20 mules because the blade steel has done a great job. It gets very very sharp and holds the edge extremely well. I also have two sets of g-10 scales coming. One textured set and one smooth. I'm wanting a knife with a grippier handle. The g-10 should take care of that. But I also have a black and white ebony block of wood coming. I couldn't get a picture but here is the link.
http://www.rockler.com/black-and-white- ... 12-in-long" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This wood is not stabilized either. This wood is going on one of the new mules. When I am finished shaping it I would like to seal it with something. But, I would rather leave it bare if that will give me a good grip. I have considered using thompson's water sealer. Don't know what type of grip that will leave though. I'd love to get the wood sealed against moisture and still provide a good grip. I have never stabilized wood but have read about it and there seem to be some ways to do it without a lot of expense. That would probably be my best option. Not only for this knife but also for the future. Short of stabilizing the wood for protection is there any other way to protect it and provide a good grip as well? Any help with this is appreciated.

So with the two new mules I will put the textured g-10 on one and this ebony on the other. I'm sure the textured g-10 will give me as good a grip as I'm looking for.

I would have liked to have gotten into these mules sooner. Kosta, I envy your entire collection.

Kristi started a thread (http://www.spyderco.com/forumII/viewtop ... =2&t=68547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) with a review of this team 20 mule by Kevin Estela. It was a great review. After reading it I wondered about B70P's corrosion risk. Mine has gotten wet with sweat, normal tap water and chlorinated water in a swimming pool. After reading that review I didn't try to dry the knife with the intent of preventing corrosion at all. I even left it in the kydex sheath overnight while wet and I don't see any corrosion. So, IMO, what you get with the team 20 mule is a knife that will get extrememly sharp, it will hold the sharp edge longer than a lot of steels I've used and it won't rust. That is why I got two new mules from the same steel. One will go to my son I'm sure. I may or may not sell or trade the other. No idea. It depends on how these two new ones turn out. I love the one I have now with the exception of the "slippery when wet" issue with the handle. I also have considered re-sanding the handle to remove the polyurethane and starting over with the finish. We'll see.

Lots of great knives here. And thanks to Spyderco for having a line of products that provide great knives as well as a do-it-yourself project opportunity. Or if you don't want to DIY, there are mule scales for sale. You can buy blade blanks all over the place. But I haven't seen anything even close to Spyderco's opportunity to try new blade steels. I'm sure before they select a steel for a new mule they put it through some testing themselves. I don't see a mule being made available of a poor steel. Just different steels with different characteristics.

Jack

jackknifeh wrote:
I love the one I have now with the exception of the "slippery when wet" issue with the handle. I also have considered re-sanding the handle to remove the polyurethane and starting over with the finish. We'll see.

Jack

Nice looking job. If you do decide to re-sand and start over, it might be interesting to just sand lightly first with a fine paper, maybe 300 grit or less, to see if that would break the sheen enough to give you a good grip without spoiling the appearance of the finish too much, before totally sacrificing the polyurethane.

DougC-3 wrote:

jackknifeh wrote:
I love the one I have now with the exception of the "slippery when wet" issue with the handle. I also have considered re-sanding the handle to remove the polyurethane and starting over with the finish. We'll see.

Jack

Nice looking job. If you do decide to re-sand and start over, it might be interesting to just sand lightly first with a fine paper, maybe 300 grit or less, to see if that would break the sheen enough to give you a good grip without spoiling the appearance of the finish too much, before totally sacrificing the polyurethane.

I did as you suggested. It does improve the grip quite a bit. I used 220 grit sandpaper. I was expecting it to look terrible but it really doesn't look that bad. I bought three of these same mules (CTS-B70P) because of how the steel performs. It takes a very sharp edge and holds it extremely well. Out of the three knives I planned on keeping one, giving one to my son and selling the third one hoping to get back a little of the money. However, wife stole the first one I made with the polyurethane finish. It is now a kitchen knife. With the goal of having a mule with a good grip I put peel-ply G-10 (hunter orange) on the second mule. I'm happy to say my good grip goal was met. And while I can't complain about the outcome it does look like something is missing. Here is a picture.





While there is nothing wrong with the knife I wish I had done something else to make the handle look less "plain". Even just a lanyard hole would be less monotonous. I might add a lanyard hole later. I think some liners between the scales and tang would have been nice. I have one more mule to put a handle on. I'm going to use some black/white ebony for it. I have high hopes for the appearance of this wood.

Jack

jackknifeh wrote:

DougC-3 wrote:

jackknifeh wrote:
I love the one I have now with the exception of the "slippery when wet" issue with the handle. I also have considered re-sanding the handle to remove the polyurethane and starting over with the finish. We'll see.

Jack

Nice looking job. If you do decide to re-sand and start over, it might be interesting to just sand lightly first with a fine paper, maybe 300 grit or less, to see if that would break the sheen enough to give you a good grip without spoiling the appearance of the finish too much, before totally sacrificing the polyurethane.

I did as you suggested. It does improve the grip quite a bit. I used 220 grit sandpaper. I was expecting it to look terrible but it really doesn't look that bad. I bought three of these same mules (CTS-B70P) because of how the steel performs. It takes a very sharp edge and holds it extremely well. Out of the three knives I planned on keeping one, giving one to my son and selling the third one hoping to get back a little of the money. However, wife stole the first one I made with the polyurethane finish. It is now a kitchen knife. With the goal of having a mule with a good grip I put peel-ply G-10 (hunter orange) on the second mule. I'm happy to say my good grip goal was met. And while I can't complain about the outcome it does look like something is missing. Here is a picture.





While there is nothing wrong with the knife I wish I had done something else to make the handle look less "plain". Even just a lanyard hole would be less monotonous. I might add a lanyard hole later. I think some liners between the scales and tang would have been nice. I have one more mule to put a handle on. I'm going to use some black/white ebony for it. I have high hopes for the appearance of this wood.

Jack

You may have talked me into getting a CTS-B70P mule, but there''s one more old one I'd like to get first.

I'm glad the sandpaper treatment may have helped some on polyurethane sutuation... I can't think of anything to do the orange one, but it looks like a good safety color for use in the woods, etc, as is.

My first mules. One is black and white ebony with blackwood liners and the other is padauk from a piece of patio furniture that had fallen apart after sitting outside for 25+ years.

BOWA wrote:My first mules. One is black and white ebony with blackwood liners and the other is padauk from a piece of patio furniture that had fallen apart after sitting outside for 25+ years.

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Great looking knives. I have some black and white ebony that is drying after I soaked it in "Wood Juice". If mine looks half as good as yours I'll be happy. Great job. :)


Jack

Thanks. I didn't stabilize the ebony. It just has tru oil and ren wax. The padauk has ren wax only.

Here's my second MULE, in CTS-XHP on this one. It should be finished within the next week with polished CF, toxic green liners and a matching IWB sheath. I'll post an updated photo when it's done!

Nice Cory, that one should look sweet when done.

farnorthdan wrote:Nice Cory, that one should look sweet when done.

I'm super excited for this one, I've been waiting almost 2 months so I'm ready to handle it soon! I still need to snag a B70P mule for my hunting buddy, I have birch scales ready to put on and I'm saving some killer Honduras Rosewood Burl for the REX121 when it comes out.


My mule 16 will be finished today and shipped to me tomorrow :D

It's being fitted for the sheath right now and will get its final sand and polish after that. Should be an awesome blade.



And here's the final pic before I have it in hand later this week...

Finished knife and instantly my favorite that I've ever had! Mule 16 CTS-XHP. My favorite all around steel, favorite scale material and made in Golden.

Very nice! What kind of a clip is that? Can it be used to clip your sheath in a pocket? If so that might be just what I've been looking for to attach a compact thumb release scabbard in a side or cargo pocket.

Here's my 4V mule.



The bolsters are stainless steel and are dovetailed. I'm not pleased with the joint between the bolsters and the wood, too much epoxy got between the two and created a shadow. In hind sight I should have put some micarta liners in there.

Here's a closeup of that shadow at the joint. Kind of a bummer.

I think it looks good Niles, should make a real nice work knife. You could always pick up a 2nd and give it another go.