Experiences on Muela Knives

Humppa

Humppa

Joined
Jul 25, 2010
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Well guys,

I ´ve seen in the german Böker catalogue nice fixed blades from the spanish Muela Knife Company. They seem to be nice knives, especially that ones with the staghandles I got an eye on it :D

What do you know about knives from this company?! Are they worth buying or should I better take an other fixedblade from another firm.

Here in the catalogue the steel is called as MOVA steel. What do you know about that?

I hope to get some interessting answers.

Kind regards
Andi
 
I'm speculating, but I'd bet the "MOVA" is likely a reference to MOlybdenum and VAnadium in the alloy. I think these add corrosion resistance (Molybdenum) and strength/wear resistance (both Molybdenum & Vanadium).

Edited to add:

Here's a quote from one vendor, regarding the Muela MOVA steel:

"...Unless otherwise stated, the satin finished blade is made of Spanish MOVA, a molybdenum vanadium steel with a Rockwell hardness of 57-61 HRC. "
Click to expand...
 
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Hi, I live in Spain and I can tell you that Muela knives have a very good reputation here. Maybe one of their most successful models is the Kodiak, a small full tang knife the size of a Fallkniven F1. Many people on the Spanish knife forums swear by these little knives. You can find the Kodiak with handles in Cocobolo, Micarta, ram's horn and stag. The blades are 440 MOliydenum Vanadium -OWEdges is right- but there is also a new Kodiak in Sandvik steel.
Another great Muela is the Jabalí. This is one beast of a knife, with the largest model having a 21 cm. (8 inch) blade.
A recommended place to buy Muela knives on the internet is filofiel.com (no affiliation). The owner, Oscar, is a great guy. Their webpage is in Spanglish, ha, ha...but I am not sure if they ship to the USA.

Cheers,
Louie.
 
This is the Muela Kodiak, 4.5 inches Sandvik steel and micarta handle:
DSCN3854.jpg

And this is the 8.5 inch Jabali, in MO-VA 440 and stag handle:
DSCN4117.jpg

(No affiliation with the seller.)

Hope this has been of help.
Louie.
 
Hi Guys!

Thank you all for your information. Special thanks to Louie, it was interessting to hear which great value such knives have for spanish collectors and users. Here on the german Böker site there are a couple of Muelas for sale. I´d like to have a small stag or bone handled fixed blade for foodpreparing.

I´m still looking for such a knife.

@ david: Yeah, because of the steel, this was also my first thought. Thank you for agreeing.

Kind regards
Andi

P. S. If this is not the right forum, please move to the right one. But I thought that theese knives are pretty traditional. So why not writting in the good old Traditional Knife Forum?
 
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Greetings, I have many brand Muela knives. Are of excellent quality, but are not cheap range is of the same quality.

I have a Kodiak Muela, Muela Jabali one, a Bowie Muela Muela Magnum and a Grizzly and I can assure you that I have used knives and are made ​​to work hard on them.

Greetings to all.
 
I have some Muela knives. The steel is very good. Very high stainless properties. handles are comfortable.
 
Hi humppa, I own a few muelas and I'm quite happy with their quality. The steel is 440B or C a little difficult to sharpen compared with carbon steel but not a big deal and the stag handles are very nice.
The kodiak now is my main outdoors fixed blade and it is a great knife
Here is a comparison pic with a opi n8 a peanut and a 6318
d89f0882.jpg
 
Hi guys!

Thank you for replies - I haven´t a Muela, yet ;)

My wife bought me a halfintegral Otter knife with stag handles for Christmas. But I´m still looking for a Muela. They seem to be nice working and outdoorknives... I think I gonna give them a look again and place them some slots higher in my "want-to-have-list".

:)

Kind regards
Andi
 
good stuff. I have a stag/cocobolo kodiak on it's way to my hands, and already have an Arocho, an Albar, a Com-g-16 (supposed to be issued to Spanish cops?) and a small canguro bowie. My Muela collection is growing along with other Spanish knives. The MOVA steel has been compared to 420 HC but it doesn't feel like it, it is harder to sharpen and holds an edge for a longer time.
 
I have a Muella Sioux, made in Spain, 440C I think (blade etched w/ "440", I've found references to 440C online but can't be certain), with Pakkawood scales. Takes and holds a good edge, easy to get "shaveable" and was still sharp after 5 caribou, never had a speck of rust. It's comfortable to my hands, although a bit on the hefty side.

BL is I'm pretty happy with it, enough so that I'm considering buying the Muela Kudu - does anyone have any experience purchasing from Cuchilleriaalbacete.com? So far, that's the only place I can seem to find this knife for sale. They are in Spain as far as I can tell, I'm in the US. Was curious if anyone has any experiences with them, good or bad, before I send them my CC for a $400 purchase..

- Drano
 
I have muela jabali, muela rhino sandvik micarta (similar to kodiak), two cobras (small skninners), muela pioneer, and several others. This is my experiencie. The 440c mova and sandvik 14c28n are effing GREAT. The plain 440A models are much softer steel.

So watch what are you buying. Rule of thumb, as usual, you get what you pay for.
 
Today I did some batoning, point sharpening on twigs, food prep, with the rhino 14c28n sandvik. IT WAS GREAT. It took the batoning as nothing, totally unscathed by the pounding. No edge chipping or rolling.
Great edge retention.
 
I love my little muella, a folding with navaja style blade.
Given by my volunteer who come from Spain, then i gave him a Torajan Parang in Macassar Ebony.
Yes, i am living thousands kilometers from Spain and i got the knife from a Spain citizen. But among Indonesian hunters muela is well known brand. We able to purchase it in several shops in Indonesia. But, i have a funny experience, few weeks ago a cyclist who cycling around the world and he is come from Spain has no idea about Muela. But he is bringing his SAK.
The MOVA have good edge retention even though bit hard to sharpened...
 
Les Stroud used a Muela Scorpion in a Survivorman episode. They're quality, and come with a very respectable factory edge. My brother had a huge sorta bayonet shaped, fixed blade they made and the edge was amazing. I've held them in high regard in the back of my mind, but haven't bought one.
 
Great knives, and well made. They do 440a like Buck does 420hc. The higher quality steels I imagine are just as well made. The fit and finish are excellent. I like Muela knives!
 
Bushcampingtools on YouTube does some stuff on MOVA knife steels as used by Cudeman knives. You can see the composition there.
 
Looking up the steel, 420MOV, it's listed at the following: http://www.bssa.org.uk/get_campaign.php?id=350


420MoV 1.4116 X50CrMoV15
X50CrMoV15 is a high hardness martensitic stainless steel. In strip form, its dominant use is for high quality knife blades. This is a rare, possibly a unique, example of the EN Name of a stainless steel grade being used for marketing purposes.

Approximate Composition – 15% Cr, 0.7% Mo, 0.15% V, 0.50% C (EN composition range. No ASTM equivalent).

This grade combines the following characteristics:

Very high hardness – Up to 56 Rockwell C
Retention of blade sharpness
Moderate corrosion resistance better than standard 12% martensitic grades
Poor weldability
X50CrMoV15 uses the moderately high carbon content of 0.50% to develop a high hardness martensitic microstructure. The higher chromium plus small molybdenum addition gives a greater corrosion resistance than standard martensitic grades. Vanadium allows higher tempering temperatures to be used and gives greater toughness.

Applications which illustrate these features include:

High quality knives, cutting tools.
 
Humppa said:
Well guys,

I ´ve seen in the german Böker catalogue nice fixed blades from the spanish Muela Knife Company. They seem to be nice knives, especially that ones with the staghandles I got an eye on it :D

What do you know about knives from this company?! Are they worth buying or should I better take an other fixedblade from another firm.

Here in the catalogue the steel is called as MOVA steel. What do you know about that?

I hope to get some interessting answers.

Kind regards
Andi
Click to expand...


I have been using muela knives for a couple of years and I liked them a lot. I didn't know much about the company and didn't know whether to buy them until a friend gave me a Muela Magnum 23 model and I was fascinated. I started collecting them and I have become a fan of the brand, recently I bought a hunting knife bw clasic 26 criollo kodiak and I love it. I have acquired it in https://www.cuchilleriabarcelona.com/co-en-1599-ba-hunting-knives-bw-criollo-kodiak-muela.html
 
I have some muela Bowies and a tanto. Luv em.
easy to get razor sharp, hold an edge well. good ergonomics for my hand.

. I removed the top quillion on the 7" bowie, which is a great feeling and using knife, and from the Scorpion as well.

6jVigKa.jpg
 
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