Can Natural Canvas Micarta Be Dyed?

black mamba · Mar 17, 2018

Just that: can a knife with natural canvas micarta covers be dyed after completely finished, or is there too much resin present to hold any dye?

I know a few of you have soaked knives to darken covers and patina blades, but has anyone tried it with micarta, and what was it soaked in? Any and all personal observations and experiences are greatly appreciated. I ordered a micarta #43, but would like to make it a darker color, and force patina the blade.

mrknife · Mar 17, 2018

like with RIT dye?

black mamba · Mar 17, 2018

Yes, maybe RIT, maybe just soaking in coffee or tea. I'm will to try just about anything.

spyderg · Mar 17, 2018

I darkened my 56 natural canvas micarta. I didn’t dye it though, didn’t want to force the patina on blades or springs. What I did was I rubbed some oil onto the micarta, then took a brown Sharpie rubbed onto a piece of paper towel until it was pretty saturated in a small spot. Rubbed the micarta with that and wiped clean. It just gets any slightly exposed fibres I guess so it doesn’t make a huge difference but enough for me.

black mamba · Mar 17, 2018

Thanks for the reply. I wondered if lightly sanding the micarta would help it take the color more readily.

Butch · Mar 17, 2018

Not sure about dyeing, but natural canvas will darken with use. This pic is my Mudbug with a 43 and a 56. When the Mudbug was new, it was the same color as the 43 and 56. The color change is from nothing but use.

black mamba · Mar 17, 2018

That's a pretty dramatic change! Has it ever been sanded, or polished, or anything done to the surface at all?

mrknife · Mar 17, 2018

the thing about the rit dye is the amount of work you have to put in. letting it wear naturally might give it a more unique character

Modoc ED · Mar 17, 2018

Well, get to brewing a cup of coffee or tea Jeff and drop your knife in. If you do it now we should know something in about four hours.

Butch makes a great observation. Here are two OD Green canvas micarta Bull Nose knives. I've used/handled/carried the top one quite a bit and it has darkened quite a bit. I've never used/handled/carried the bottom one.

Anyway, as I said: let's get the kettle black and get to soaking your #43.

black mamba · Mar 17, 2018

It hasn't arrived yet, but I'll probably do just that!

JTB_5 · Mar 17, 2018

Does the feel of the micarta change as well as the color?

Chui · Mar 17, 2018

.....seems to be quite a few vids - maybe similar for micarta

Modoc ED · Mar 17, 2018

JTB_5 said:
Does the feel of the micarta change as well as the color?

Yes, it gets much smoother to the touch.

Modoc ED · Mar 17, 2018

Hey Jeff!!! We all know I don't mind experimenting with my knives. I love my knives but it's kind of a "tough love". Anyway, I brewed up a cup of Pete's French Roast (Dark Roast Coffee) and plunked my Smith & Sons Light Natural Micarta covered knife into it. It's linen micarta not canvas micarta but we'll see what happens. I also removed all oils, etc. from the covers and knife.

Notice the whole knife/covers aren't covered so it should give us a line of reference so to speak. Besides, it may just keep you from screwing up a new knife. It went in at 10:30 am and I'll pull it out say 1600 (4:00 pm)

Butch · Mar 17, 2018

black mamba said:
That's a pretty dramatic change! Has it ever been sanded, or polished, or anything done to the surface at all?

Nothing but using it.

Will Power · Mar 17, 2018

As this is a micarta thread, I'd like to ask about polishing it to get a glossy finish, what approach? I have a Muskratman puukko from 09 but it has a matte unfinished handle that I really don't care for, want to shine it up.

Rusty1 · Mar 17, 2018

I heard GEC tried to polish their natural canvas micarta but the threads kept showing through so I think they were just rough sanded.

bikerector · Mar 17, 2018

Butch said:
Not sure about dyeing, but natural canvas will darken with use. This pic is my Mudbug with a 43 and a 56. When the Mudbug was new, it was the same color as the 43 and 56. The color change is from nothing but use.

I've had the opposite effect from use. The barlow has a month or so of carry in the coin pocket (some blue jean die transferred over too) and the moose was brand new. Did you oil the whole knife instead of just the blade as a maintenance measure? I've more often seen micarta become lighter as the threads start showing frayed ends.

Because my barlow picked up some of the blue die from my jeans I would bet you could die the micarta easily enough but I'm not sure if it would stick. Micarta does seem to absorb oil so it seems like it would absorb die reasonably well.

Modoc ED · Mar 17, 2018

We,, I pulled the knife out of the coffee at 3:35 - 5-hours after it went in. Except for the ring on the cover, there's virtually no difference between the part that was submerged and the the part that wasn't. The blade darkened a bit but it had already been darkened so there's not much change there.

I wouldn't think micarta could be dyed (permanently) to any significant amount as the micarta is colored or dyed before being layered with resin or epoxy.

Anyway, that's my 2¢ Jeff.

Edited to Add: I rinsed the knife in hot water, dried it, and oiled it and it's just fine. Even the ring is gone. The covers look pretty much like they did when new out of the tube.

1066vik · Mar 17, 2018

leather dye works pretty well on micarta and even G10.
I've used both spirit based and oil based -- have not tried the newer water based dyes, yet.
lightly sanding to raise a nap on micarta helps a little.

to polish micarta, sand it with wet/dry, just like you would to polish steel.
you can also power buff it with a dremel and polishing compound or just wax it once you have sanded past 600 grit if you like.