Handling a Spyderco Mule W.I.P.

[Brian Avila]

I just found out about the Mule project a couple of months ago and I have been patiently waiting for an opportunity to get a hold of one. It just so happens that I got a hold of a new S110V Mule this week. This is great because I have been wanting to make knives out of S90V and Elmax so I can handle this one and test a "super steel" out. So.... I am going to show you guys out there who love Spyderco ( just like me ) how I handle knives.

I emailed Sal asking him if it was ok and I haven't heard back from him, so if this needs to be moved over to the knife makers shop talk, we can move it.

My plan is to handle the mule and then have a bead blasted finish ON THE HANDLE. I purchased some "tan" g10 handle material, 1/4" thick x 1.5" wide x 6" long. It does not look tan to me, it looks more of a grey green, but what the heck I will try it out.

I am using a 5/16" head stainless corby bolt and a 3/8" stainless lanyard tube.

For my shop tools I am using a drill press, files, hack saw, vise, clamps and my 2 x 42" Craftsman grinder.

I use a respirator as well as ear plugs and safety glasses for 95% of the work I do. G10 is nasty stuff. If you don't have a respirator, you should have one, do a little searching to find the right one that is appropriate for gasses and particulate matter.

Now this is just how I do things and it works for me. I make all my handles for my full tang knives like this. Other people could do it differently and there are more ways to do it.

 

[bdmicarta]

You need to take precautions when sanding G10. You can find threads telling what safety gear is appropriate.

 

[Brian Avila]

I start out by using some .02" thick black g10 for liners and using some West System G-Flex epoxy I epoxy them together after roughing both contact faces with 80grit sandpaper. ( I lost the pic some how of the actual process so here is a pic of a different set of scales.)

I did this two last night ( 24hours ago ) so they were good to go this evening, because the g-flex epoxy takes 24hours to cure fully.

Here are some of my materials, you can see the color of the "tan" scales...

I cleaned the up the liners and made them even and flush to the thicker g10 scales on my grinder. After than I need the set of scales to match up nice and even so I can drill through both set of scales and have both scales match, and have straight drilled holes. I use some strong paper tape made by the duck tape people.

I haven't had any problems with the scales moving at all when I have done this for dozens of knives. I let the tools do the work for me so there isn't much sheer force on them.

 

[Brian Avila]

You need to take precautions when sanding G10. You can find threads telling what safety gear is appropriate.

Thanks for pointing that out. Sometimes it is hard to remember everything that I do. I edited the 1st post saying I use safety equipment.

 

[Brian Avila]

Now I need to see how the tang of the Mule is going to fit within the scales. The way I do handles lets me fit them over size and after they are bolted on and epoxied, I grind them flush so that the tang and the scales are even. So I need to make sure that there is some overhang.

These scales are a tight fit but we can make it happen.

When drilling the holes for the corby bolt and the lanyard tube, I like to drill through the holes of the knife tang. I use the same tape to hold the tang on top of the scales.

I use a pencil to trace the tang up through the ricasso area so I can mark where I would like my scales to end. I just kind of judged this one. When I make my own knives I have a drawing with everything to scale so I know exactly where everything is going to go.

 

[Brian Avila]

I am going to use the front 3/8" hole for my corby and then the back 3/8" hole for my lanyard hole. The shoulders of my corby bolt are 5/16" wide but the inside shaft is only just under a 1/4". There is a big difference between 3/8" and 1/4" so I use a clear ruler to measure from the bottom of the tang to the top, through the first 3/8" hole so I know where the center of the knife is. I just so happens that a 1/4" hole with it's center fit inside the 3/8" hole.

I mark it so I know where to drill through the front bolt hole.

I then go to my drill press and use a 3/8" drill bit to drill through the back hole. I then put my lanyard hole tube through the back hole just incase I slip and try to move the knife. ( I would do this if I was using pins or a bolt, I would just use a rod to hold it in place, saved my some handle material a couple of times )

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j458/TheWeatherman512/IMG_1406_zps7226c48d.jpg

I then switch out drill bits ( 1/4" ) and drill through the front hole at the designated point.

Here is what it looks like all drilled with half of the corby bolt.

 

[Brian Avila]

In the above photo you can see half of the corby bolt. I need to counter sink the shoulders into the scales, so that when I tighten them it acts like a clamp. I have used a 5/16" drill bit and when it is lined up it works just as good as this little counter sink that I purchased to do 5/16" head corby bolts.

The smaller diameter piece fits inside the 1/4" hole and the outer peace drills out the 5/16" hole for the counter sinking.

On some drill presses you can set a z-axis stop. I dont' have one that does that so I have to be careful and eyeball it. I usually countersink the bolts 1/2 way through each scale. In this case it that is a 1/8" depth. I do both sides and test fit the bolts.

I can never get bolts that fit every project perfectly out of the box. This one is 1" long so there is a little bit of play, meaning it was to long. But that is ok. With corby bolts if you are careful and clean you can grind or file down each inside length so you can get it to clamp. I had to do this on with this bolt.

In one of the steps above I marked where my scales would meet the ricasso area.

I connect the lines and then use a vise and a hack saw to remove the excess material. It is just easier for me and I save time at the grinder.

 

[Brian Avila]

Now I just need to meet my line and test fit. So I take it to my grinder and go to town.

The bolt gets in the way so I remove the bolt. Add tape just in case, ( there is still tape between the scales as well ).

I use a pretty aggressive 36 grit belt but don't get over the line.

Just to make sure that I made the right choice I line it up with the blade to see what it looks like, just in case. Doesn't look to bad

so I will take it to the line with a 80 - 120 grit belt.

 

[Brian Avila]

Test fit again just to make sure that I didn't take it to far and that it looks right.

At this point I am pretty happy with the front of the scales. It meets up to where I want them. So I trace the rest of the tang onto the scales.

At this point I am pretty close to where I want to epoxy and bolt the scales to the knife. However, I want to reduce the mass some so I don't have to do a ton of grinding after epoxying. I use a hack saw again to shorten the end.

I then want to take it to the grinder and reduce the material closer to the lines but still have enough over hang just in case.

Now it is time to add the slope to the front of the scales. By doing this now and finishing the front of the scales, I don't have to worry about messing up the ricasso of the knife and marring the factory finish. So I eyeball where I want my grinding to be and use a pencil to outline what I think it will be.

 

[Brian Avila]

I then go to my grinder and angle the scales.

Now I grind to the line. To get everything even, and because the front of the scales are rounded I have to follow the arc of the front of the scales to make everything even.

This is what it looks like done. Even on both sides.

 

[Brian Avila]

Now, just to reiterate. I want the front of the scales to be done and at whatever grit I am going to take the handle to before bead blasting it which is 500grit. ( I just picked some random number grit that was not too high, I have heard of using 220 and 400. I don't have 400 grit I have 500 so that is the winner).

From there I just hand sand using 220 make everything even, and then move to 500grit. I start sanding with the arc of the front of the scales now.

The above pic is at 220. It is kind of hard to see, but you can see some the perpendicular lines that the 120 grit belt left from my grinder. I want all of those gone.

Now before you think you are done with 220. Use some soap and water and wash the front of the scales. This will clean out everything and show you if you have any rough or left over scratches.

There are some little patches of white spots that show uneven sanding spots so I still need to do some sanding. Those are left over there because of how I am using my thumb to sand the front of the scales.

So I keep going with 220 till all of the scratches and rough patches are gone.

Now I can go up to 500grit. Once I am done with 500grit I wash the scales again with soap and water and then use WD40 to polish it up. If you have ever worked with g10 before you notice that it gets "chalky" when sanding. Using the soap and water clean it up but when you dry it again it still looks a bit "chalky" so using the WD40 lets it soak it and keep the color.

Now it is time to take the scales apart clean them up and epoxy them to the Spyderco Mule.

 

[Brian Avila]

I take them apart and because there is a little gap because of the tape you see this. Its fine, it should all just brush off, unless your drill bit caught and messed up the inside. Even if the drill bit did catch, you should be safe because you aren't going to see anything close to the pins anyways, (depends on how messed up though).

I rough up the insides of the scales with some 80grit paper and then use a hand drill and a drill bit to add some "indents" for extra spots for the epoxy to adhere too.

Both scales finished and ready for epoxy...

One last test fit to make sure everything is where it is suppose to be and that there are no bad gaps between the tang and the scales. I use my extra shop light and put the knife in front of it to make sure that there are no bad gaps.

No gaps so I must have done something right.

This is where it gets a little hard to take pics with my phone and work with the epoxy, I don't want epoxy on my phone. (However, if you have 91% Alcohol or some ETOH, you can get it off before it hardens and cures...)

I use West Systems G-Flex epoxy. 1:1 ratio and mix with a popsicle stick.

I smear it onto one scale that has the lanyard tube in it and half of the corby bolt already.

I then add the knife line it up, mix more epoxy, put it on the tang and then mix a little more and add it to the other scale. ( I want excess epoxy on my scales and tang. I want it to fill holes, any gaps between the scales and the bolts and tube and then I want it to spill out over the edge. That way I know epoxy is on everything).

Once everything has epoxy and both scales are on I carefully aline the outline of the pencil lines to what I can see of the knife and tighten the corby bolt. I then add a little clamp in the middle and at the end of the scales. Just to make sure that there is a good tight fit. ( I already know that they are flat against the tang because I checked with the back light ).

From there I use my alcohol and shop towls to remove the excess epoxy that spills out over onto the ricasso. I have to do this a couple times and then I check 5 or 6 more times in the next couple hours to make sure there is no epoxy on the blade, guard area, or the ricasso.

Extra side note: Make sure you don't leave your knife just sitting on your work bench without cleaning it up and checking it. You could epoxy it to the table...

The epoxy takes 24 hours to cure so it will be a least a day before I want to do any work to the scales..

when I get more work done on it this weekend I will update the thread.

 

[Brian Avila]

You guys are welcome to cuss and discuss and and ask questions. I will do my best to answer them if I can.

 

[jtoler_9]

Interesting WIP and thread. I am curious, it looks like you used a screw together construction but you also use epoxy. Are you planning on sanding the screw down so it's flush? My previous mule handles are all pined with mosaic pins and epoxy was used also. This go around will be my first attempt with screw together non fixed scales.

 

[Brian Avila]

Jtoler_9 - Yes, I plan on sanding/grinding the bolt flush to the scales and continue to shape the handle after that. It didn't acure to me to mention that... Thanks for pointing that out.

Epoxy does two good things:

1) It provides a barrier. ( The G-Flex epoxy that I am using is waterproof, it will keep out body oils from your hand, blood yours or an animals and the elements. )

2) It adds connection strength. When I first started making knives I heard a lot of stuff about different epoxies, I saw a thread about the testing of epoxies at one point. You had to absolutely destroy the handle to get the scales off with the G-flex epoxy. I could have used two 3/8" tubes for the pins or just 1/16" pins for the pins. The pins are there to help with the sheer forces.

I have used other epoxies and had no problems as well (Devcon 5 Minute), some people use Acrua-Glass, some use Devcon 5 minute or Devcon 2 ton epoxy. I was being told about the West System g-flex so many times I had to try it out, I haven't looked back since.

 

[Brian Avila]

Interesting WIP and thread. I am curious, it looks like you used a screw together construction but you also use epoxy. Are you planning on sanding the screw down so it's flush? My previous mule handles are all pined with mosaic pins and epoxy was used also. This go around will be my first attempt with screw together non fixed scales.

Good luck on your handle project. I hope it goes well. The process would be the same for me, minus the epoxy and then making sure the screws/bolts are recessed.

 

[dishcore]

Wow!!! Really well thought out and detailed WIP here, man. I can't wait to see the rest!

 

[mrdeus]

Great thread. Looking forward to seeing the rest of next part.

 

[RevDevil]

Very nice thread, thanks for posting. Looks like you had some fun along the way.

 

[Brian Avila]

Thanks guys. It is fun to do.

Her is what it looks like 12 hours after doing the epoxy. The epoxy has hardened but is not totally cured yet. I had to go back only about 3 times to make sure that all the epoxy was off of the ricasso area.

I will do more work to it this weekend with some of the other knives I am handling, and then show you the rest.