Anybody make micarta?

L

Lethal289

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Apr 10, 2013
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I'm thinking about trying my hand at homemade micarta. But with a twist. I know that the common practice is to make it from a press, cut, file, sand, grind what have you. I'm curious if anyone ever made it from a mold. Like make a mold of becker scales, then layer the mold with epoxied linen. Once cured, with minor sanding you could remove it from the mold and basically bolt it right to the knife.

One thing I'm not fond of about micarta is the layered look. If done from a handle mold, the visible layer would be one piece, getting rid of the layered look. I'm sure I'm not the first to think like this, but I can't find any threads about it anywhere online.

You could still cure it under pressure. Think it would work?
 
I like the idea, I would think you need a sturdy mold to hold the shape under pressure. I've looked at some acrylic mold kits but never did anything with it.
 
Have you made micarta before? It kind of looks like crap before you sand it. I have thought about making it in a mold but IMO it would have to oversized and sanded down.
 
That's why I mentioned a sand out of the mold. Basically get the epoxy glaze off of it, and get to that single layer of linen. I think it may work.
 
give it a shot and report your findings.

I've made homemade micarta before and mine looked like absolute crap until i sanded down a layer or 2 all around. Learned alot...mainly that making your own micarta is not remotely cost effective. (not for me at least :rolleyes:)
 
Lethal289 said:
One thing I'm not fond of about micarta is the layered look. If done from a handle mold, the visible layer would be one piece, getting rid of the layered look. I'm sure I'm not the first to think like this, but I can't find any threads about it anywhere online.
Click to expand...

Paper micartas and double-black linen don't show much in the way of layers.
 
Why not wrap the stock scales with a layer of epoxied fabric the vacuum bag them?
 
Dodge said:
Why not wrap the stock scales with a layer of epoxied fabric the vacuum bag them?
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That's a pretty good idea but the thickness of the fabric and resin would make the scales stand proud of the handle. I suppose you could sand the handles down some and build them back up with micharta.


I have two ontario knives with micharta and you really don't see any layering if you use one color of fabric.
 
bigghoss said:
I have two ontario knives with micharta and you really don't see any layering if you use one color of fabric.
Click to expand...

This^^. I recently made a set of micarta for my BK-17 (micarta was factory made) and it doesn't have that "wood grain" to it like most micartas. Just looks like one giant thick piece of fabric.
 
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