Recommendation? Curious about micarta!

john april said:
you can hammer nails into wood with micarta handle and it barely leaves any marks. try that with mycarta and you will have a mess.
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Surely you can be suggesting that this is the standard you use to test handle material. I daresay that no wood would stand up to that test yet many make great handle scales.

I think the question was sincere. I don't think hyperbole is helpful here. Suitable fabric composite can be made in-shop. I have both made sufficiently hard composite and used commercial Micarta. It seems to me that the choice of fabric is as important as the pressure. My denim composite easily rivals the hardness of comercial canvas Micarta, whereas my burlap composite relies as much on the resin for hardness as the fibers and is less dense.

I press the layup between two 2-inch rigid plywood blocks with several clamps. I don't work with pieces larger than 6x12" because of the open time of the resin limits how much I can infuse and stack. I would suggest that a press is more appropriate than a mold for fabric composite.
 
AVigil said:
Nope, I whacked it good and hard. You could place it on concrete and do the same.

It is a high impact resin, that is one of its characteristics and use in aero space industry

This is not a marine epoxy for fixing fiberglass boats,

Check them out. They work with SpaceX, Northrop, Lockheed etc.

http://www.polymercompositesinc.com/

Here is a vid of some left over from wrapping handles.

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I remember when I first saw this video of yours I went out and tried it with some extra System Three clear coat from a recent mix. I was a bit of a dunce because I didn't think to wear any safety glasses and after a few hard wacks (on my 40lb post anvil) with my 2 1/2lb mini sledge it finally broke and flew across the shop and right past my face... woops...

It's all your fault too, because you forgot to warn us "kids" not to try it at home! :p

Definitely not as strong as the stuff you're using, but I feel confident enough in using the rest of the bottles for any wrapped handles I do, especially since the epoxy is also 'reinforced' with the nylon wrap lol. I will however make sure to pick up some of that when I do run out, cause why not go for the best, right? I mean that's kinda what we tend to do here :thumbsup::cool:

Btw, where did you purchase it and which type did ya get?


Anyway, sorry to the OP for going a bit off topic!


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
C coldsteelburns I did the same with system 3 and west systems.

They shattered and went flying LOL.

Those are mainly marine grade epoxies for repairing boats fiberglass.

The polymer composites formulation is for impregnating cloth to make composite panels for aerospace and has to withstand a lot of abuse. He showed me some panels made from carbon fiber made in a simple vacuum bag press. You could bang on it with a hammer and it just laughed at the abuse.
 
AVigil said:
C coldsteelburns I did the same with system 3 and west systems.

They shattered and went flying LOL.

Those are mainly marine grade epoxies for repairing boats fiberglass.

The polymer composites formulation is for impregnating cloth to make composite panels for aerospace and has to withstand a lot of abuse. He showed me some panels made from carbon fiber made in a simple vacuum bag press. You could bang on it with a hammer and it just laughed at the abuse.
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Yea, it definitely sounds (and looks) impressive. Seems like you could do some pretty cool things with it for handle materials that would still have plenty of strength without massive or pricey equipment, plenty strong for a knife handle. The fact that it's also food grade is always a nice quality to have, especially when it doesn't take away from it's performance by needing to switch to an alternate ingredient or etc.

Is this by any chance the specific type of epoxy from them that you have? : https://www.amazon.com/CLEAR-GRADE-...T2GK9D&qid=1557896794&s=merchant-items&sr=1-1

Thanks



~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
Natlek said:
Can I bring my own micarta ? You will need something more powerful than that mosquitoes :D
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Yes indeed.
 
danhowl said:
Surely you can be suggesting that this is the standard you use to test handle material. I daresay that no wood would stand up to that test yet many make great handle scales.
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no i do not use this as a test. for me personally if i can see or feel a thumbnail dent the handle material, then it does not qualify for handle material. i was merely using hammering nails as an example of the difference in toughness and density between the home made stuff with cheap resin and no hydraulic press versus the real micarta.
 
Yea i dont post too much but i felt like it.

We NEED to split hairs if the craft is to evolve correctly......
Not "splitting hairs" only dumbs down and cheapens our hard work.....

I am a brand new guy that is just starting no finished knives to date......and just by trying to see what people are interested in i joined a bunch of facebook groups...

There are tons of GREAT makers........
Then there are the guys who are "knafmakers"
I see so many posts full of begginer garbage for sale WTF!

Im scared to show profiles much cause i dont think they look good enough lol

As for the MYCarta. This pisses me off to some degree as a begginer I spent over 500$ on known steel from Alpha knife supply...
Im getting ready to make a my first order for handle materials......REAL. handle materials
I dont think im worth using nice burls or stabalized wood so micarta will be the best for me and potential customers....

I hate that i have to compete with leafspring blades and bluejean handles that look like absolute garbage.

It actually makes me wonder if i will make it with my sense of ocd cause if i wouldnt want to buy it
I probably wont sell it...

As a new guy trying to use the best materials to make the best product its EXPENSIVE
And it kinda pisses me off when people call their stuff micarta......not saying there arent good people doing good work ....

Sorry for the rant and if I sounded mean
 
Why not use vacuum bagging? Alone or in conjunction with other methods
My complete guess is that voids are responsible for a lot of weakness in home made stuff

IMO, I'm not too concerned about handle strength. They are strong enough to work as knife handles, if you want a hammer go order a hammer.
 
I am a newer maker and I have finished about 30 blades and have never felt like I have to compete against anyone no matter what material they are using. It is not about competition. It is about your own journey. If people like your knives, things will evolve naturally. I have never posted until now either but felt compelled too. I do know everyone has their own learning curve and and would never get upset about someone else's learning path. Thanks for listening.
 
Teppojutsu said:
I hate that i have to compete with leafspring blades and bluejean handles that look like absolute garbage.

It actually makes me wonder if i will make it with my sense of ocd cause if i wouldnt want to buy it
I probably wont sell it...

As a new guy trying to use the best materials to make the best product its EXPENSIVE
And it kinda pisses me off when people call their stuff micarta......not saying there arent good people doing good work ....

Sorry for the rant and if I sounded mean
Click to expand...

You are assuming a lot that you can't back up. If it pisses you off that people use micarta and not mycarta, you might be better suited for the library than the forge. I have never heard of a black/blades-smith with such thin skin. The best way to compete is up YOUR game, not tearing down another's. I personally use the term composite more than micarta, but it really doesn't matter. If someone can sell denim composite from repurposed steel, how is that any of your business?
Since when is leafspring steel a target for derision? Are you going to throw saw blades into that mix? Files? Maybe switch to decaf.
 
Teppojutsu said:
Yea i dont post too much but i felt like it.

We NEED to split hairs if the craft is to evolve correctly......
Not "splitting hairs" only dumbs down and cheapens our hard work.....

I am a brand new guy that is just starting no finished knives to date......and just by trying to see what people are interested in i joined a bunch of facebook groups...

There are tons of GREAT makers........
Then there are the guys who are "knafmakers"
I see so many posts full of begginer garbage for sale WTF!

Im scared to show profiles much cause i dont think they look good enough lol

As for the MYCarta. This pisses me off to some degree as a begginer I spent over 500$ on known steel from Alpha knife supply...
Im getting ready to make a my first order for handle materials......REAL. handle materials
I dont think im worth using nice burls or stabalized wood so micarta will be the best for me and potential customers....

I hate that i have to compete with leafspring blades and bluejean handles that look like absolute garbage.

It actually makes me wonder if i will make it with my sense of ocd cause if i wouldnt want to buy it
I probably wont sell it...

As a new guy trying to use the best materials to make the best product its EXPENSIVE
And it kinda pisses me off when people call their stuff micarta......not saying there arent good people doing good work ....

Sorry for the rant and if I sounded mean
Click to expand...

It's interesting that you indignantly look down on some knife makers for things they do without ever having finished a knife.

We all have different skills and budgets when we start out and I wish you the best of luck...

But I'd get off that arrogant pedestal you put yourself on just because you ordered some steel and micarta. If somebody uses denim 'mycarta' what sweat is that off your back? Good grief.
 
I do suggest enjoy and keep on trying your own composite making, if you are happy with the results you can setup for production scale, but if you do it for hobby it will be something i am sure each one of us tryied for the reward of creating our own material...for the sake of it. MOP, fossil coral and other stuff get used and they are not adamantium.
Coming back to "Ourcarta" ;)
The bubbles/voids are the worst enemies...so a negative/positive pressure jar could be a very helpful toy, production wise. A press or beefy clamps will help getting the fibers tighter, but i cannot see extremely tight layers as much necessary for handle slabs than it is for sure for other structural applications of the material (you are not making hoist pulleys or gears, but for those, better using "theircarta" anyway); I dare to say resin's choice would cover our "structural" needs, mostly (IMHO).
Regarding the mold, i don't think you'd need it if you are just layering cloths, but here someware i recall seeing a nice tutorial of someone making a loose fibre carbon "through tang" bowie handle and he came up with a nice mold for his composite blank. Worth checking, maybe someone here can help searching the old post i am referring to.

Someone here pointed you toward proper resin suppliers, i also thank for the tip, one of the best answers you have recieved here up till now.
In composite, resin is like oil for quenching steel, find the right one and you won't regret :)
 
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