homade micarta ?

C

cjd1980

Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
236
i was wondring if there is a way to make my own micarta if there is what do i need where to get the suplies and how difficult it is to do thanks chris :)
 
You can make "MyCarta" with bondo/Elmer's fiberglass resin or boat builder's epoxy and some sort of material to make your pattern/color and layers. I've done this with denim and various fabrics. It's very simple to make, you just need a way to put pressure on it. I worked from the british blades tutorial the first time, here's the breakdown:

Cut strips of cloth the size you want, allow for trimming edges and whatnot.

Get a sheet of wax kitchen paper ready, you'll layer on this.

Get two sturdy boards and several C-clamps, 2x6 boards will work exceptionally well for this. Plywood will flex fairly easily, if you want to use something like that, double up the thickness.

Get a paint brush or flux brush and some gloves.

Mix your hardener and resin in a container you don't care about. You'll have about 20 minutes to work from the time you mix it.

Lay out one piece of cloth, pour a bit of resin on it and then spread it with the brush, you'll want to be fairly liberal with this but you don't want it oozing everywhere.

Do this with each consecutive layer and then wrap the wax paper around your layers and clamp it between the two boards. If you use bondo type resin it should set up in about one hour. It takes another 24 hours to cure completely, I believe, but you can get the paper off and trim the sides after an hour or so.
 
AcridSaint said:
You can make "MyCarta" with bondo/Elmer's fiberglass resin or boat builder's epoxy and some sort of material to make your pattern/color and layers. I've done this with denim and various fabrics. It's very simple to make, you just need a way to put pressure on it. I worked from the british blades tutorial the first time, here's the breakdown:

Cut strips of cloth the size you want, allow for trimming edges and whatnot.

Get a sheet of wax kitchen paper ready, you'll layer on this.

Get two sturdy boards and several C-clamps, 2x6 boards will work exceptionally well for this. Plywood will flex fairly easily, if you want to use something like that, double up the thickness.

Get a paint brush or flux brush and some gloves.

Mix your hardener and resin in a container you don't care about. You'll have about 20 minutes to work from the time you mix it.

Lay out one piece of cloth, pour a bit of resin on it and then spread it with the brush, you'll want to be fairly liberal with this but you don't want it oozing everywhere.

Do this with each consecutive layer and then wrap the wax paper around your layers and clamp it between the two boards. If you use bondo type resin it should set up in about one hour. It takes another 24 hours to cure completely, I believe, but you can get the paper off and trim the sides after an hour or so.
Click to expand...

I have made a bunch of this too. The 55 gal drum of resin at work doesn't hurt so I have an endless supply. The weird thing about the resin I use is that no matter how much hardener I use, it doesn't get hard for about 3 hours. About the time you think it isn't reacting you go check and it is hot so it works. The only thing I do differently is I just dip the strips directly in the resin bucket and use my gloved hand to squeegee the excess out. I really like the results. My wife even checks thrift stores for me for interesting materials. Try it, it's easy.

-Mike
 
There have been a few really good tutorials on here in the past. In fact, there are a few in the *Newbies* sticky. Ariel did a great job laying out his process. Or, you can just go straight to his website for many tutorials. There are many inventive tricks to save time and money! http://www.aescustomknives.com/index.htm
 
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I have crafted 4 knives so far (all full tangs from stock removal) and all of them have homemade micarta handles. I also crafted a pair of handles for my RAT-7. My first ones had blue jeans micarta. Next ones got green with white liners denim micarta and the last ones will get red with white liners denim micarta. I have the slabs ready for cutting and shaping. I also got started with the post from the britishblades forum.

I started using old jeans but I wanted to use some colors I couldn't find so I just bought some denim. It is cheap.

Mikel
 
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