cutting micarta

rustyrazor

rustyrazor

Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
1,774
hey guys... so as luck would have it (good this time) I have managed to get 3 sheets of what I can only describe as canvas micarta. all three are different thicknesses but each one is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2'x3' and between 1" and 1 and 1/2 inch "ish". great find, I agree, but I have a hard time cutting this stuff. I try to cut it "straight" and I always end up using the belt grinder to flatten it out because it's super hard to cut straight for some reason.... so, does anyone have a better way to cut this stuff true and flat. do I send it to a pro, or just buy a better band saw blade or what do I do to cut this beautiful stuff????

p.s. I've tried my small band saw as well as a carbide tipped blade on a table saw. always crooked... so far
 
Maybe you meant to post this in the Knife Maker's/Shop Talk forum? Probably not a lot of response here.... Cheers.
 
I agree, that the shop talk forums are generally the way to go, but I'm always amazed what I find from the guys and gals on here... I did post it here on purpose, just to see what people may have as far as expertise in this area. this place is full of knowledge by guys form every background and I just thought I might luck out
 
(FOR 1/8"-1/4" thick) I work with alot of micarta as well as fiberglass, carbon fiber and acrylic type materials.

But even with G10 or the Micarta. I can cut straight as well as curved cuts. You need to make sure you have a high tooth count and a thin blade.

If you want, I can go check what i use. Give me a moment. Keep in mind they do go dull after a dozen handles ( so I usually do all of my soft materials first thing in the day) but are easy to replace.
My whole set up is bench top machinery and they work wonders in my little shop.
For example. If I were cutting out the blank for an 0550 after drilling the holes and I have the template pinned to the micarta . I can almost do the whole thing within 1/16" away from the correct shape in one continuous cut..

Like I said, to get a straight cut, which I know what you mean, my first blade kept walking. I also tightened the blade and balanced it on the wheel properly with the newer blades I purchased , I think I purchased a dozen just to have them.

For the thick stuff 1/2 plus with anything else. I use a table saw to cut the main blanks to a workable size.

Hope something here helped.
Matt
 
Last edited:
After reading again,
I am not sure where you are going wrong.
I seem to get good cuts no matter what I try, I am really not sure.
What are you making with these materials, what is the final product size?
 
From reading your post, it implies that the sheets are about 24"w x 36" h X 1.5" th. A good table saw and carbide blade should work. Sometimes with very hard woods I'll make the cut in multiple passes, increasing the blade height each time. I've cut 3/8" Micarta on a table saw with no problems.

At one place i worked, I had to cut off a piece of 6" thick x 12" wide polysulphone plastic. I used a worm drive skill saw. First cut was about 1.5" deep, second cut same line at full depth, flipped it over and repeated the two cuts.. Not perfect, but it was pretty straight.
 
thanks guys. I played around with the table saw this morning. I'm getting straight "enough" cuts that it will work. still finding some walking a bit but it's manageable. im just cutting it a little large to make up for the difference. handle sizes will eventually be ranging from tomahawk to bird and trout knives, so there is a lot of working on some of these pieces to whittle them down to that size but I'm going to try the other blades like you said Matt and see if it helps.

cheers

Royce
 
featherboard seemed to be the answer... who knew I couldn't keep a 70lb chunk of 2x3 straight on a table saw with my surgeon steady mits? still learning with the bandsaw, but its coming... and definitely worth it in the end for the price.
 
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