Black linen micarta

[Howard1]

Help! I am just finishing a Santoku kitchen knife. I used a magnificent resin handle with a bolster of black linen micarta. I have used this setup many times but have always used paper micarta. I am using Zam to buff. The micarta looks awful. It shows it's linen texture but it is a mottled grey black as opposed to gem shiny pure black. I feel that I may have burned it in grinding. What did I do wrong and is there a remedy?

 

[Salem Straub]

Hand sand it up again from 220 to 1000 and then oil it a bit, then buff lightly with zam or whatever you like...

 

[john april]

sounds like you did not get a consistent color before switching to a higher grit. since it is already shaped, i would try 400 until it all looks the same dark gray color. any whitish patch that is lighter than the rest of the handle needs more sanding. at 600 it should be nearly black, and it should be all black at 1000 grit.

 

[Geoff Flato]

I always belt finish micarta of all sorts to 400 grit, then hand sand to either 400 or 600. A clean 400 grit finish will buff out well with Zam, 600 grit just makes it less likely I'll miss something and have to go back to more sanding

The only times I've had what you're describing are when I didn't finish fine enough. Paper micarta shows scratches, linen and canvas just polish like crap if there are any

 

[Howard1]

Thanks guys. Another dumb beginner mistake.