Mules are in

teacher said:
eswartz.....

If I send you mine will you wrap it ? :D :D

That looks great man, I think the best I have ever seen...... :thumbup:
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This one was beginner's luck. The next one would be my sophomore slump. You want that to be yours? :)

Eric.
 
Mine came yesterday and it was the fastest I have ever had anything ever get to my part of Canada. I love 52100 but it rusts if you look at it sideways and I managed to put some awful stains on my abuse Mule(I have a mint one that I oiled and resealed with some desiccant) already from cutting a nice pork roast and leaving it until after supper. Nothing could get them out but some fine sandpaper. I need a scotchguard wheel so I can match the finish or I may just gun blue it.

I had thought I was going to use elk scales but when I got it I figured that it needed a slimmer handle(some one else mentioned the same thing) so I will do a striderco wrap but with some real white same underneath. I have a bunch left over from a sword project and the knife needs very little. I wish the 52100 was engraved then I would not feel so bad putting a really nice polish or blue on the blade.

It is a beautiful knife. I am thrilled to be a part of this. It is not just a knife as well it is a new and much more scientific and democratic way of developing knives.
 
just finished it, here we go:
(it's an imageshack slideshow. Original mule picture used here is the one on Spyderco's website, I hope it's ok to borrow it for this application)

http://img177.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img177/1710/1200760419olu.smil

If you have any question, I'll be glad to answer them.

for the lanyard knot, I made a double basic knot to begin with, and I untied it after my last post to change it to a more elaborate knot, which I don't remember the name.

I also did a quick and dirty sheath, with cardboard, duct tape, and an old cheap knife sheath which had the good taste to be an almost perfect fit for the mule.
Here are the pics of it:
the cardboard/duct tape bedding out of the sheath (between ash's legs):
unpackedsheathtl4.jpg

the knife in the closed sheath:
closedsheathni6.jpg
 
eswartz said:
This one was beginner's luck. The next one would be my sophomore slump. You want that to be yours? :)

Eric.
Click to expand...

Hey Eric, beginners luck or not... if it looked half as good as yours... I'd be willing to gamble .... :eek: ;) :thumbup:

Seriously....... yours looked great !

Have a good one,
chuck
 
It's been waiting for me at the office at my apartment complex since Thursday. Unfortunately my work hours and the office's hours are pretty much identical, so I couldn't actually pick it up 'till today. I didn't take any pics right out of the box since I figure everyone pretty much knows what they look like by now. ;) I played with it a bit sliced some cardboard and para-cord and experimented with a couple of different handle wraps. Then I decided that before I did anything that I might like enough to keep on there for a while I wanted to induce a bit of a patina on the whole knife. I soaked it in vinegar for a while as I was cooking lunch. . . Mac and Cheese with Tuna :p After I rinsed it and dried it off I was comparing it with my CRKT Polkowski/Kasper Companion and realized that they are almost the exact same size and that the Mule fits reasonably well in the stock Companion sheath, and even better in the custom one I had made by Normark/Eric at On/Scene Tactical. Then I came up with a wrap that I liked well enough to keep until I figure out something better. . . Or until I get bored tomorrow and tear it all off and try again. :rolleyes: Anyhow, without further adieu, here are some pics:

MuleSpydiesSAKs005.jpg

MuleSpydiesSAKs004.jpg

MuleSpydiesSAKs007.jpg

MuleSpydiesSAKs009.jpg

MuleSpydiesSAKs012.jpg

MuleSpydiesSAKs006.jpg


I cut that paper towel tube in the last pic free standing on the coffee table. I half expected the tube to just bounce away with minimal damage, but that is one beautifully thin and sharp blade. If I had judged my distance just a bit better I'm confident that it would have cut it cleanly in two, but I was just a hair short and it stayed attached on the back side. I'm gonna go find something that I need to use a bunch of paper towels for so that I can empty another roll and try it again! :D

Edit: You can't really see the patina much in the pics. I'll try to get some shots later or tomorrow with it along side some other shinier knives for comparison.
 
Salamander42, that wrapping is very cool-looking!
I didn't even think about using the big holes for guiding the wrapping
 
choubbi said:
Salamander42, that wrapping is very cool-looking!
I didn't even think about using the big holes for guiding the wrapping
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Thanks! I'm not 100% happy with it myself. I'd like to get it a little tighter so there's not as much of the tang showing between the wraps. I'd also like to do one of the wraps that bulks up the sides a little bit more. I think it would fit my hand a lot better with a "rounder" handle cross-section.

All of that having been said, I did bundle up and take it out on the back porch last night and used it to make some wood shavings and batoned it through some slats from a broken pallet. . . Some were soft pine and split very easily with one or two whacks on the spine of the blade, others were tougher and the knife had to be pounded almost all the way through before they would come apart. Finally, I stuck a petroleum jelly covered cotton ball in the middle of a ball of dried grass and sprinkled shavings on top and used the spine of the blade to strike a few sparks from a ferrocium rod to light it. That handle was pretty comfortable to do all of that with, with bulky gloves on. And the blade performed very well at all tasks and is still shaving sharp. Sorry I didn't take any pics. . . It was too cold to take my gloves off too much and I don't think I could operate my camera with them on.
 
The para-cord looks cool, but I've ordered some ByrdsEye Maple scales from Jantz to put on.

It'll be my first knife handle experiment ~ ; - )
 
HaroldB said:
The para-cord looks cool, but I've ordered some ByrdsEye Maple scales from Jantz to put on.

It'll be my first knife handle experiment ~ ; - )
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Yeah, the para-cord is a temporary measure for me so I can use the knife a bit while I decide what route I want to take with scales. . . Traitional wood or bone, or modern G-10 or carbon fiber? Permanent pins and epoxy or some kind of screws so that I can remove them when/if I want? I'm going to wait 'till I see a few other people's scales before I decide on mine.
 
choubbi,
Thanks for remembering and using the 'Army of Darkness' DVD as your pic backdrop!

Cheers,
Mike
 
TheFlash said:
choubbi,
Thanks for remembering and using the 'Army of Darkness' DVD as your pic backdrop!

Cheers,
Mike
Click to expand...
no problem, nice to see other fans here!

About the mule, I bought today a 4mm brass rod, and it clearly is not close enough to the holes size to give a good fit. I guess I'll just put some epoxy with that, as Ray suggested.
 
Finished up the spyderco mule team handling job. The handles are double dyed and stabilized blue/orange box elder burl. Put on with stainless steel corby bolts and stainless steel lanyard tubing. This thing turned out beautiful!!! The color and finish on these handles are amazing!! Sorry for the crappy pics; they just don't do it justice!!

I believe I am going to sell it so a die hard spyderco fan can put it to good use!! I love the knife itself, but have no need for it right now as I already have quite a collection of knives that I rarely get the chance to use as it is. Gotta keep the tool fund going as well :-) If you are interested it will be up soon in the for sale production knives category momentarily.

knife4.jpg


knife1.jpg


knife3.jpg


knife2.jpg
 
Great job Ray!
My wife really likes it. Hard to believe that was once a box elder.
Lloyd
 
Got mine today, quick and ugly synthetic shoe lace handle wrap, and promptly chopped up some bratwurst and potatoes. The knife worked great, incidentally.

Finished with a rinse in the sink and wipe off with a dish towel, and later this evening I've no corrosion to speak of. Maybe its just dry here?
 
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