Antique Muela hunting knife info?

[igapo]

Hello,

I have this Muela knife which is probably around 50-60 years old. I don't know much about it except that it has sat in a drawer most of its life being unappreciated. So, I am ultimately thinking of selling it, but I don't know much about it other than it was made in Spain and has an antler handle and I am under the impression that Spanish steel is really good. Thank you for your help.

 

[AdamFuzzyballs]

Hey man, welcome to bladeforums! We can't give you a cash value, but I have a suggestion- muela is still manufacturing knives, maybe try emailing them and asking about it. From what I understand it's a relatively small family business, they may know everything you need to know. As for the steel, I have a muela Hornet, it's nice and sharp but as for edge holding I couldn't tell you, it's a dagger

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Almost all Muela products made since at least the 80s have been of a molybdenum/chromium/vanadium stainless steel. IIRC, it is essentially the Spanish/European equivalent of 440A.

Even though this one is much earlier than the 90s, it is marked INOX, so I would bet that it is also a 440A equivalent SS.

The flat, oval, steel guard is typical of the 50s and early 60s Muelas.

This comment is based only on what Muelas I have seen for sale on fleabay that the sellers CLAIMED were from that era. Muela catalogs are as rare as hen's teeth so it is difficult to pin down when a particular model was produced. Even on their current web site, there are knives still shown that have not been made in several years. They just have N/A over the knife pic or they simply remove the knife select button so you can't add it to your shopping cart.

Some people claim that you can date a Muela to a time frame by the box it is in, but many of the boxes I have just have model labels stuck on them, not printed on them. It's almost as if they have a big pile of generic boxes and the shipping folks just stick a label on the box as the knife is boxed up. Who knows when small/large box orders ran out and were re-ordered.

 

[igapo]

Almost all Muela products made since at least the 80s have been of a molybdenum/chromium/vanadium stainless steel. IIRC, it is essentially the Spanish/European equivalent of 440A.

Even though this one is much earlier than the 90s, it is marked INOX, so I would bet that it is also a 440A equivalent SS.

The flat, oval, steel guard is typical of the 50s and early 60s Muelas.

This comment is based only on what Muelas I have seen for sale on fleabay that the sellers CLAIMED were from that era. Muela catalogs are as rare as hen's teeth so it is difficult to pin down when a particular model was produced. Even on their current web site, there are knives still shown that have not been made in several years. They just have N/A over the knife pic or they simply remove the knife select button so you can't add it to your shopping cart.

Some people claim that you can date a Muela to a time frame by the box it is in, but many of the boxes I have just have model labels stuck on them, not printed on them. It's almost as if they have a big pile of generic boxes and the shipping folks just stick a label on the box as the knife is boxed up. Who knows when small/large box orders ran out and were re-ordered.

Thank you. What I found is that Inox seems to just be an abbreviation for a French word meaning stainless steel. It took me a while to find the Muela website but I was able to email them. I wonder what the market is for this type of knife. I thought I would get a lot more replies on this forum.