bake lite for knife handles?

Your fotography skills rival mine for clarity!!! :rolleyes: :D

How easy does it seem to be able to scratch it? Can a fingernail remove material?

Might have interesting application for decorative blades.

Thanks for sharing!:)
 
My father made polymer clay knife scales that look very much like stag. More importantly, he's made several for his Ruger revolvers which he uses regularly for Cowboy Action Shooting. They look very very good, whether "stag" or "ivory." He had to tell me they were polymer clay or I wouldn't have known. I keep waiting for them to crack from the recoil. It's been at least three or fours years, and I'm still waiting.

As for me, no matter how durable, or how good they looked, I'd always know they were polymer clay, and not the real thing. Also, I wouldn't want to show a knife to someone, and then have to tell them that the handle was "fake."

Scott
 
Scott Ridgeway said:
As for me, no matter how durable, or how good they looked, I'd always know they were polymer clay, and not the real thing. Also, I wouldn't want to show a knife to someone, and then have to tell them that the handle was "fake."
Scott
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Ahhh, but they wouldn't be "fake" if you told the customer they were "real polymer clay" handles. :D

Consider this scenario: you go to a knifeshow with your 8-10 knives for "boys", hunters and skinners and pigstickers and such. Alongside these you have a half dozen or so clay-handled "lady's knives" with polymer clay poseys as a handle motif. I would venture to say that the typical knifemaker usually wouldn't sell all his boys' knives, but I would bet every last one of those lady's blades would be gone by the end of the show. If it wasn't the ladies themselves buying the clay handles, guys would buy them at the end of the day. They would hand that to their wife right before they showed her that $1000 Gedraitis folder they just had to have! :eek:

Catering to the fair sex is an overlooked market....:) Little oddments like knife-earrings and mokume brooches and stuff are always good sellers at shows...
 
no you cant scratch them with your finger nail

and for the pics i cant figure out how to phocous on them right
 
Thanks for all the info and sharing the testing, bartblade! I have a couple ideas for stuff I may try to work up eventually! I watch too much of this crafting show on HGTV called "That's Clever" (11AM CDT weedays)!:rolleyes:

I have a decent digicam (Nikon) and can take nice fotos outdoors. I can't get good focus on knives to save my butt. Something's always out of focus. rather than waste any more money on it, I decided if I make a knive that might be worthy of publication, I'll just send it off and pay the bucks.

Thanks again. In the right application I think you've had a great idea for creative thinking!!
 
yea the steelers

i got my band saw today wooo hoooo!

why are you guys so objective to trying this polly clay? i mean come on we should all be open to trying new materials. to better our products with this stuff you can make what ever shape and size and application you need or desire. with those 2 black and purple handles all is needed is a little sanding to bring out the colors and flatten up the end to fit a gaurd to and a whole drilled in it and its ready to go.

were you so close minded when the first person said hey lets try using stainless for a knife blade???:confused:
 
ohh yea on the other plus side anything you have left over you can use to make your wife some earing or a pendant!

i still have a few more test to run on the stuff. like molding it around the blade and putting blade and all into the oven to see if it will crack or not but thatll have to wait till next payday ive spent my allowance on the saw :rolleyes:
 
rebeltf said:
As a rabid Steelers fan , I just had to chime in. :D :thumbup:
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All I can say is, the way they beat up on the Bears Sunday, they better do the same to the Vikings this week!!

Depsite my being big on the Bears, it was good to see Rothlissberger looking healthy again and it's always good to see the Bus act like a well, a Greyhound... The pregame spot on him though made me wince. My body is like his will be soon, and it's not fun. :( Fortunately, he'll have many $$millions to help ease his pain. :eek:
 
bartblade said:
why are you guys so objective to trying this polly clay?
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I'm not sure if you were refering to me, but I'm not at all opposed to using poly clay. I just don't like the idea of poly clay "stag" or "ivory." I like micarta, and I've experimented with a thick Goop core and Plastic Dip coverings for handles. I think poly clay might make a great handle material with all kinds of possibilities. I just don't like "pretend" stag or ivory. I'm not even sure how I feel about bone that has been jigged and dyed to look like stag. I can't explain it, and maybe it's not rational, but this is how I feel. Handle materials should be "real" whether bone, wood, plastic or micarta. But that's just me.
 
objective about polymer clays? over 25 years of experience with this type of clay proves it is NOT suitable for a working knife. diamonds are hard and durable,but drop one wrong onto a hard surface and you may wind up with sparkly shards.:)
 
Bakelite is a phenolic resin, which as far as I know has no fillers except the pigments to color it.

Micarta is also a phenolic resin, usually filled with a fiberous material such as paper, linen, canvas, fiberglass, etc. I don't know what the difference there is between the resins but the fact that Micarta has the filler which adds a great deal of strenth and especially shock resistance makes it a much better material for grips.

JA
 
DAMNENG said:
Bakelite is a phenolic resin, which as far as I know has no fillers except the pigments to color it.

Micarta is also a phenolic resin, usually filled with a fiberous material such as paper, linen, canvas, fiberglass, etc. I don't know what the difference there is between the resins but the fact that Micarta has the filler which adds a great deal of strenth and especially shock resistance makes it a much better material for grips.

JA
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Bakelite is brown paper, impregnated with resin and pressed under heat. My dad works on the 'pregs' machine as he called it. He used to bring offcuts home and it was always wrapped in the brown paper and tied up with heavy sisal string. Some of the product was laminated and/or faced with wood. The laminated end product was called 'Wareite', which is the same as Formica. He used to bring that, and the wood veneer home as well. Other part of production was Printed circuit boards, so we go that and sheets of copper too :) He also collected a vast collection of nuts bolts and screw. You will guess he was a bit of a magpie. Any of the product would make great knife scales.
 
I have just recieved some beautiful polymer clay knife scales from James Luman, knifemaker. They are on my site at knifescales.com along with a damascus knife he made that has a clay handle. He said the polymer clay is great to work with. Doesn't move or shrink. Easy to work by sanding with a light touch on 220 grit and finishing by hand with higher grit or steel wool. I will take a super glue finish.

We are in the process of him making a kitchen knife that we will be running through the dish washer numerous times to see how it holds up...
 
After almost a year, we are all still patiently waiting for a test report about what happens when you drop a knife made with poly clay on the shop floor? Inquiring minds need to know. Can you help?:)

Interesting possibilities Mr. Luman has demonstrated there. Some of it really appealed to me. I'm hoping to enlist my wife's skills to try some on desk knives.
 
Think about this. All of those cool old Ma Bell rental phones up until the early 60's were Bakelite. How many of those do you see around as compared to how many of the early push button phones that replaced them? nuff said about durability:thumbup:
 
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