Show your Mule

[toomzz]

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

Hi guys this is our new mule made by Richard Tesarik:

[jackthedog]

Wow, that Damascus is nice. I really wish I had known about the Mules and gotten one of those. Enjoy the knife.

[Donut]

I love how the mule was ground to match the handle.

[Zencowboy]

Hello all, I read thru 24 pages...wow.
I am interested in making scales (trimming, sanding) and was researching glow in the dark for camping and hiking. I found 2. The moonglow 2 for 40 + ship or these grippy Kryptoglow on ebay for 42 shipped. Anyone used them?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-KRYPT...item43ad1959b0

Also, has anyone worked with "Fossil" wood?? Looks beautiful but would think it is like stone to work with instead of softer wood??

I hope to be able to show off a Mule with Handles soon;-)
Thanks!

[CODE4]

Received my CRUWEAR Mule today. Helpern scales are en route, and I will send the knife out to Tony Baker for a kydex sheath.

[phillipsted]

I'm backlogged with my Mules. After shodding quite a few, I've given away a few as presents, and fiddled around with some materials that didn't go as well as hoped. Right now, I've got six on my shelf, with about five more in the queue (Super Blue, Cruware, ZDP-189, Woodcraft, and COS-3).

Here are the six on the shelf now - clockwise, from the red knife on the left:

1. S35VN with red linen micarta
2. M390 with burgundy linen micarta
3. S30V Woodcraft mule with burgundy linen micarta
4. Damascus mule with olive drab canvas micarta
5. M390 with tricolor linen micarta
6. S30V Woodcraft mule with burgundy and black linen micarta



Cheers!
TedP

[steve1673]

Well, I finally finished my first mule:

MT 12, with Lacewood handles, and 8 coats of Tru-oil. Also my first attempt using spacer material, although you can't see it in the photos. (had a hard time getting the lighting to work well with my cameraphone)

[jabba359]

Well, I finally finished my first mule:

MT 12, with Lacewood handles, and 8 coats of Tru-oil. Also my first attempt using spacer material, although you can't see it in the photos. (had a hard time getting the lighting to work well with my cameraphone)]

Welcome to the forums Steve! That is a beautiful Mule you made and I love the figuring of the Lacewood. Keep up the excellent work and I hope you keep coming back to hang out with us on the forums!

[Sithus1966]

I decided to use what I had rather than order some Micarta. I dug out some of my "over the top" Birdseye Maple and use that on my Cruwear Mule.



A little history on the wood. It came from a old high school in my home town build in the 1930's. Before it got torn down in the 90's my mother secured some flooring from the old gym, this is some of it. So the growth rings in this flooring piece count at about 50, and it had been used as flooring for 60ish years. So that means these wood scales are about 120 or so years old.

[phillipsted]

Nice work, Sithus. That is some fantastic old wood.

I thought I'd show a work-in-process pic of my Cruware scales. I'm using chocolate brown canvas micarta. I've just about got the scales cut down to size and shaped. I'll start the fitting and polishing this weekend. More pics when it is finished!

TedP



And here is the finished product. I'm going to sharpen this one up and see how well the Cruware takes and holds an edge...

[Rwb1500]

I'm getting there, slowly, very very slowly.



I have some black canvas micarta but wanted to try with something a little easier to work with, this being my first time.

I checked out my local Woodcraft today. (Didn't know there was a local one until today.) I found a nice, very orange piece of cocobolo.


Anyone have any suggestions for attachment hardware I should pick up at the local hardware store? I'm just looking for something easy.

[phillipsted]

Hey, RWB - nice start! For me, Cocobolo is "the classic" knife scale material.

The pins I use for my Mules (see post above yours) are f6 Pivot Pins from Jantz. Basically it is a threaded bushing and two torx screws. Easy to install and tighten down - and holds very securely. You also have the option of not gluing the scales so you can change them later...

http://www.knifemaking.com/product_p/f6.htm

TedP

[Niles]

I tried g10 for the first time on my cruwear mules. The first is forest green with toxic liners, the second was an attempt at making an aluminum bolster on a black handle with read liners. The green turned out very nice. The bolstered version works, but there were a lot of mistakes made along the way, so the f/f is not what I was hoping for.

Something I noticed with g10 is that once sanded I couldn't get back it's original shine. I sanded thru the grits and finished with oil (still need to do more work on the black one), but it never got back the glossy look the g10 came with...can someone help me out with this?

[Aksum3001]

[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!