Home made micarta help

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hammon172

Joined
Aug 18, 2012
Messages
80
Will fleece work as a good material to make micarta from? Went to the store and that was all they had in the colors i needed.
 
I have seen people use felt before, and even stacked paracord so I'm sure it's at least worth a shot. I would like to see how this turns out.
 
I've wondered about fleece also. I'm curious about wool and flannel too.
 
I've seen flannel done and it looked like a huge mess.

Personally I prefer cotton jersey knit (t-shirt) and canvas. I've done a lot of each and had good results.

I agree though. If you do it I'd like a report. :)
 
Well its all pressing now. Things I should have known but couldn't find when I was doing research is you will need more then one can of resin. the fleece is (super absorbent). I only was able to get around 4-6 layers before I was out. So I folded it in half. The plan was to have it 14" by 5". It should now be 7ish by 5". I was planning on having enough of this made to finish 4 of my knives with the same handle. First time to make micarta so I thought I had done all my research but it proved to be lacking a lot.
Things I know now

1 Get more then 3 cans of resin
2 Prep work was fine. I had everything I needed in place before I needed
3 Working in the resin. Place more then one sheet of material into the resin at a time. The work time was not quite as fast as I had heard. So there is plent of time to mash, mix a few at a time.
4 Clean up. That was a mess. Need to get a big sheet of plastic to cover work area better. Fold the ends to make a tray so nothing seeps out. Or a big plastic wash tub would work well as long as it is big enough
4 Wait time. Wish i could pull it out and check on it but that's just me.
 
I used a big Rubbermaid storage bin as my work surface. Flip the lid and use the underside as a tray. Keep shop towels handy to clean up spills and toss them in the bin as you go. I just keep all my resin supplies in this bin now and it cuts down on the fumes when I'm done.
 
Nice idea Schleifstein. Results are in heres some crappy droid pics. Ill have the gf take some better once dinner is done. Seems to have worked. Should have gone with 2 stacks of blue together to get better color?http://s1315.photobucket.com/user/hammon172/media/2013-08-12175232_zps36e3cb75.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4
http://s1315.photobucket.com/user/hammon172/media/2013-08-12175238_zps157d1e7f.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3
http://s1315.photobucket.com/user/hammon172/media/2013-08-12175243_zps67f0cf44.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2
 
I have made mycarta from fleece/felt with some success. However, with its absorbent and compressive characteristics, you will waste large amounts of resin. I am only just beginning in this hobby but I have also used denim and just finished a batch with some thinner linen.

Here are some photos of finished handles with the fleece/felt based mycarta.

zhotkl6.jpg

The knife on the right, naturally...
JReur7Z.jpg

There is a denim mycarta handle in the background..
TBqfjuo.jpg


Good luck, let us know how it turns out.
 
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