A couple handle questions - cerakote on wood? photo micarta?

crimsonfalcon07

crimsonfalcon07

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Dec 27, 2010
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I had a couple random ideas, and was wondering if anyone has tried them yet and could tell me if this will work. Otherwise I'll just experiment and report back.

First, my wood handles often get fairly dirty over time, and I was wondering if anyone has tried using the clear, air cure, Cerakote on a wood handle. If so, does it ruin the finish, or will it preserve it? How well does it hold up over time?

Second, I've been making a bit of micarta here and there with fiberglass resin and various materials, and I was wondering how well the patterns get preserved in paper micarta. I've been thinking about printing out some color images and making micarta out of the composite photo paper. Will the resin more or less preserve the patterning?
 
I don't know about the cerakote, but a similar thought, I used automotive clear coat on my wooden boats before. Seems to have held up fine. I would be more apt to use west systems epoxy with the special coatings hardener for ultra clear top coat finishing.

I was considering using random newsprint photos to make some MyCarta and thought it would be fun, the difficult part is to get everything to not distort when pressing.


-Xander
 
Yeah, I wouldn't use the air cure clear Cerakote (nor any Cerakote product) on wood. Their products are designed for synthetic and metal substrates.
 
One thing you need to think about when picking materials for mycarta, is whether or not it will soak up the resin. Typical photo paper I would think won't soak it up.

For example, I wanted to make a gamblers push dagger, with playing card mycarta handles. The cards wouldn't soak up any resin, and it just peeled apart (made a mess too).
 
Plus the paper will be thicker then the ink.
So when you shape it the picture wille be gone.
This might work:
(just an idea, no actual experience here)

Have the picture printed on white cotton.
Shape a handle to the size you wand minus the thickness of the cotton.
Soak the picure and put it around the handle and let it cure.
Maybe finish it off with an extra clear coat.

If you're making scales for a full tang I'd place the cotton around the scale and fix it with nails on the back for the time it takes the epoxy to cure
(shoe making technique)
 
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