Handles?

Plexiglass is a trade name and is now often used as a generic name for many plastics .It's best to look into the different types of plastic and refer to them by their proper names and check the properties.
 
Yes it can be done. You will have to repolish the plastic after you profile it. I start at 400 grit and work up to 2500 grit. Then a plastic polish paste gets applied to remove the haze. I've done this to make the headlight covers on my vehicles clear again buy why would you want to put plexiglass on a knife, it's just wrong.
 
it aint going to look too good.......that stuff scratches if you look at it. Trust me.....I worked building displays for a long time :)

What color were you thinking of?
 
clear and i wouldnt care what it looked like i would use it no matter what.
 
Lots of WWII handmade fighting knives were made using the plexi from crashed plane canopies....stacked like washers or used as scales. Lets see a pic when your done.
Mace
 
I made a Demo knife with a Lexan (Plexiglas) handle and guard.It allowed for seeing how the knife was fitted.I have seen the same done in a folder,with clear scales and liners.Again,it was a demo,and not made for use.Why do you want such a soft and easily damaged handle?There are many better ways to go.Are you trying to make a metal detector passable knife to smuggle into school?
 
no im not trying to smuggle a knife into school if i wanted to do thati could wear a long Tshirt and put my sheath knife on cover with shirt and walk in my school doesnt have metal detectors.
 
you could also try using the liquid glass stuff. there was a knife with a chain done this way and it turned out awsome try looking in the archives
 
During the continuation war (WW2) Finnish soldiers made quite a lot of puukkos on the front while the battle was stalemated. On of the popular handle material along with aluminium and wood was plexiglass from crashed planes. After time consuming polishing the oval handle would work as a magnifying glass and display the tang in interesting detail.

sotapuukot.jpg


a few so called war souvenir puukkos, from an article by mr. Taisto Kuortti (scan from Finnish gun magazine Kaliberi (1996)). The far left sample has a plexi handle and a cast alu sheath.

So it can be done, even in the most elementary conditions.
 
bladsmth said:
I made a Demo knife with a Lexan (Plexiglas) handle and guard.It allowed for seeing how the knife was fitted.I have seen the same done in a folder,with clear scales and liners.Again,it was a demo,and not made for use.Why do you want such a soft and easily damaged handle?There are many better ways to go.Are you trying to make a metal detector passable knife to smuggle into school?
Click to expand...

Lexan and plexi are different materials. Plexi is acrylic and will crack or break quite easily. Lexan is polycarbonate and nearly unbreakable.
 
Iwas planning to use oak for a coffin style handle... this is my first knife so any tips would be great.

I think polycarbonate would work... how were you planning to secure it to the tang?
 
Ilovetoolsteel - You are correct,I was using the term generically (as mete pointed out).Lexan is far superior to acrylic Plexiglas.I was not sure ajcz was familiar with Lexan,so I used the general comparison.The sheet of Lexan I used was from a bullet proof tellers window.They say it will stop a 357mag point blank.Sorry for the confusion. - Stacy
 
The first knife I ever made some 30 years ago in high school, had a stacked red/clear plexiglass handle. The auto shop teacher was into making knives, and he showed those of us who was interested. We used toothpaste as the final polish, and I remember sitting on the couch with my father watching Gunsmoke, while I rubbed that handle!
 
If you could get your hands on some sintered alumina (Trade name ALONtm) which is a clear ceramic based on Aluminium Oxide, you could make handles which would be pretty much unbreakable and unscratchable (Mohs of 9 IIRC)

It's currently being tested for bullet-resistant uses (link)

Main downside? Cost and Avaliability - $10-15 a square inch, and good luck getting your hands on it even if you're willing to pay up...
Also, I have no idea how you'd cut and shape something that hard
 
http://www.rense.com/general20/transparentalum.htm

Just like in Star Trek Movie, when they saved the whales. :D

Transparent Aluminum: A Reality



Who would have thought transparent aluminum would ever be a reality? Star Trek has been the inspiration for many technological devices including hyposprays, which are used to give injections by high pressured air instead of needles and tricorders, which detect life signs and were used in the World Trade Center rubble to find survivors. Once again, the credit for another new invention goes to Star Trek when the crew of the Enterprise travels back through time to the latter half of the 20th century to bring back two humpback whales in an attempt to repopulate the species. To carry the whales into the 23rd century, a strong enough tank had to be constructed that could hold two whales and thousands of gallons of water. In order to do this, Scotty and the doctor had to introduce a new type of material into the 20th century, transparent aluminum.

According to the Star Trek Communicator magazine, this Star Trek invention became a reality earlier this year.
"There's one intriguing item on our treknology materials list that we don't have to just imagine anymore: transparent aluminum. ...The real discovery happened a little later and a little farther away than 1986 San Francisco, and there was neither Scotty nor a Dr. Nichols involved. In February of this year, researchers at the Fraunhofen Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Sintered Materials IKTS in Dresden, Germany, led by Dr. Andreas Krell, announced the creation of aluminum oxide (alumina). A ceramic composite that combines the pressure-resistant strength of aluminum with the transparency of glass."
 
Sweany said:
http://www.rense.com/general20/transparentalum.htm

Just like in Star Trek Movie, when they saved the whales. :D

Transparent Aluminum: A Reality



Who would have thought transparent aluminum would ever be a reality? Star Trek has been the inspiration for many technological devices including hyposprays, which are used to give injections by high pressured air instead of needles and tricorders, which detect life signs and were used in the World Trade Center rubble to find survivors. Once again, the credit for another new invention goes to Star Trek when the crew of the Enterprise travels back through time to the latter half of the 20th century to bring back two humpback whales in an attempt to repopulate the species. To carry the whales into the 23rd century, a strong enough tank had to be constructed that could hold two whales and thousands of gallons of water. In order to do this, Scotty and the doctor had to introduce a new type of material into the 20th century, transparent aluminum.

According to the Star Trek Communicator magazine, this Star Trek invention became a reality earlier this year.
"There's one intriguing item on our treknology materials list that we don't have to just imagine anymore: transparent aluminum. ...The real discovery happened a little later and a little farther away than 1986 San Francisco, and there was neither Scotty nor a Dr. Nichols involved. In February of this year, researchers at the Fraunhofen Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Sintered Materials IKTS in Dresden, Germany, led by Dr. Andreas Krell, announced the creation of aluminum oxide (alumina). A ceramic composite that combines the pressure-resistant strength of aluminum with the transparency of glass."
Click to expand...
'

Cool stuff, Mike. Just think about it. Whats in the future of knifemaking? A few thousand years or so ago, if you had a blade made from some copper you was one pimped-out dude. We are all googly-goo-goo over steel. Will 100 years from now begin an era of a different blade material?
 
The Neo-ceram and Pyroceram we cover platens with is an aluminum ceramic much like what is mentioned in that brief. The problem with most of these is, they're very hard, very wear resistant, but brittle. They ever solve that problem, completely, we'll be in need of some new tools... :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top