The Muela brand had been in the corner of my eyes since Thomas Tools brought the knives into its store a few years back. They have the classic hunting style look and the knives appears to be robust and practical for the purpose.
After years of sitting in the sideline I finally got the Muela Terrier model using the Nitro 42 steel and if you want to just save time reading my rant about it, based on this knife I could tell you in short that there's a very good reason why a knife company can stay significant (although underrated by many) in business for the past 70 plus years.
The birth of the company was somewhere in the mid-1950 and the company had started making its handcrafted knives mainly for the hunting community therefor the quality does not only shows in its aesthetics, but also in its edge retention and geometry suited for the purpose.
The Terrier feels very comfortable in my big hands. The overall k nife weight of 122 grams is not too light nor too heavy and comfortable for use. I am a hobbyist wood carver and most of the tools I use evolve around my hobby. Despite its size, the Terrier is excellent in splitting/batoning wood for my spoon making. The saber grind of the blade creates that initial cut and nicely wedge the wood and all-round great knife to use doing small work around campsites. The blade thickness of 3.80mm is great for the job and depending on the task carried out, will retain sufficient sharpness. Having said that, I had only need to strop the knife back to sharpness after a month of use, never needing to take it to the stone.
Although there are limitless tasks that you may enjoy using the Terrier like making tent pegs and rope cutting but I think the knife shines most at processing fish and game. The handle is well shaped for wet use/game processing and provided sufficient retention. Most Muela knives comes with premium leather sheaths which is one of the many strong features in its knives. Sheath reliability is essential and failure of one would make you a quick learner indeed.
The size of the Terrier is just nice as a belt knife although if I could have my way, I would rather attach a ring for dangling belt carry similar to a puuko for wearing it with jackets or ease in motion. Beautiful as it is, it does not look anywhere tactical nor intimidating in any kind on your belt as the knife appears like the size of a normal scout’s knife. It's a handsome purebred hunting knife that's made entirely by its craftsmen in Spain and it shows aesthetically.
Muela knives in general had made debuts in Hollywood with movies like Seraphim Falls used by actor Pierce Brosnan in the movie. Its been dropped from a tree, used to dig out a bullet from his arms and many other uses throughout the movie.
Finally, for the price of the knives based on its handmade quality and workmanship, I would really say that they are highly underrated and somewhat a steal. It would be a good candidate for an heirloom knife(ves) that you would want to handover to your next outdoor loving future generation of yours.
- Photos & review by Mr. Azmi Osman
Shop all Muela here: https://thomastools.com.my/collections/muela-spain
