Do you like or hate this homemade "micarta"?

O

Omega Leather Works

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Jun 13, 2007
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Hey guys, I'm making a knife for myself and realized that I don't have any handle material in the correct size to put on it. Made up a couple of bricks of "micarta", but can't decide if I like it.

[Edited to remove incorrect pic]

Resin with yellow jute burlap. Natural on one, the other has epoxy/resin tint.
 
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well is that a pic of the micarta you made or the material your making it out of? am I missing something?
 
Wtf? I posted that in the Tinkering forum. Tapatalk is straight wigging out. I tap Maintenance and it takes me to Fiddleback. A thread getting posted here instead of the correct forum has happened before too. :mad:

Anyway, I wouldn't have bothered you guys with this question (and would have at least posted the correct pic! Stupid Tapatalk!), but since it's here I may as well put it up.

LQt4ocw.jpg


Sorry about that guys, but your opinion is still very much welcome. :)
 
That actually doesn't look too bad. If you want to step it up, a vacuum pump will remove bubbles for you. :)
 
did you layer the green and tan. I have some grren and some tan. im going to layer the two. I would like to see how it looks sanded keep us updated plz. but to answer your question I think I like it.
 
I am not a huge fan of the burlap micarta but it looks just fine from here. If I had a preference, it would be the green.
 
Sure, I can sand it, but I need to cut out the scale blanks first. Not a whole lot of wiggle room.

It's all yellow jute. Only difference is that the yellow/brown has un-dyed resin. The green is a product of the resin tint.

Ian, a vacuum would be great! How would it work though? Currently I'm using two blocks of wood to clamp it so that it's as flat as possible. Would the vacuum work only being exposed to the perimeter?

Btw, don't try doing a block of this stuff with an incorporated sheet of vulcanized spacer material. Doesn't bond to the block. It does give a nice flat face though. Super glue works best to bond together.
 
Well, the important thing about the fabric used in these synthetic handle materials is that they absorb the resin and add strength to the final product. The wide open burlap does that. So functionally it is fine. Not exactly beautiful, but functional. But then, I'm not a big fan of synthetics to begin with so my opinion means little. :)
 
I like it Strig. The yellow would be my favorite of the 2. Have you ever tried paper or card stock? I recently had a surprisingly cool and unexpected result with some "tuxedo" colored card stock I used.

Chris
 
I really like the green. I would carry that on my knives. It is very ugly. But to me that is natural beauty. My wife is sitting next to me and said im crazy.
BTW. Maybe if you used a background besides your crotch they will have a different appeal.:eek:

But seriously if I had a piece of that green, I would put it on my EDC!
 
It has a "Drunken Burlap" type appearance to me, would just need a tad bit of finishing.
 
Haha, yeah I noticed the crotch factor after I posted it. Good thing it's not a dudes. :)

Salolan- I was going to say yes, but thinking about it, I haven't. I've don a lot of this stuff but it's always been with some form of fabric. Paper would probably be much easier, but I'd worry about the resin penetrating the paper. The old standbys, denim and canvas work well. I'll have to cut up some paper. Newspaper might be cool.

After this resin is gone I'd like to try an epoxy. My understanding is that you can get excellent results, much closer to the real stuff using epoxy. It's just very expensive. It would mean coming up with something very cool otherwise it's better to just buy micarta or custom phenolics from Shadetree.

Even so, I'd be perfectly happy to use resin micarta on a knife for myself. It's water proof and shapes well. I believe the stuff I'm using is for (above water) marine applications, so should be fairly uv resistant. I hope. In any case, I don't leave knives out in the sun.

Anyone made some with epoxy?
 
Its fugly brother. But fugly cool... I'd put it on a bug out knife or a 'chete for sure...

If you are going to use epoxy, the type used to cover floors and bartops works well. Or the west system with 206/209 (one of those two is the ultraclear but I'm not near the container right now...) is very nice. You can virtually watch the dollar bills disappear using it though. And you have to use it liberally... I did some olive canvas micarta and used it on a few pieces I made. Turned out really nice.

If you want to use a vacuum pump for bubbles, make a bag that the whole press and everything will go into. Press your blocks together and then draw it down under a vacuum. It helps if you can continue to tighten while bagged.

I sourced some Lexan from a local framing shop that does big advertising boxes. They were thick drops about 3/16" thick. I used these as faces for my red oak board press. (Stair tread at Lowe's) I used to do a lot of carbon fiber for motorcycle's and cars. I learned the outcome is 90% prep and materials and only 10% skill...

An overall trick for getting bubbles out of epoxy and other resins? Vibrator. Think I'm joking? Seriously. As its settling, even down into little recesses, the vibration helps move the bubbles out.

Cheers.
-Eric
 
Looks good Strigy. You could also use those frayed jeans as mycarta material too, makes a nice look, to me anyways
 
I really like the looks of burlap micarta. Either color would look appropriate on a field knife. My wife has been toying with the idea of making some burlap and/or denim "mycarta" for quite a while, so I will certainly show her this thread.

If you can make it without the bubbles, that would be good. Not so much for appearance's sake, but because it makes me wonder if the material has a bunch of little voids through it.

Definitely off to a great start, though :thumbup:
 
When you start to shape the scales and round over the edges the true beauty of the layers will come out. Maybe rub a little oil on them to get them to pop.
I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.
 
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