Homemade Micarta ?

[rebeltf]

Yea I know I can buy it , probably for less than the time and effort itll cost to try and make it , but I want to know if anyone here has tried ?
I got a bug to make some a few weeks ago , now I read about this rare stuff called rag micarta , seems to me all micarta is , is cloth of some sort and epoxy and I would imagine some time and pressure.
So fess up folks ! anyone tried and if so how did it turn out ?

 

[blgoode]

do a search if you can. There have been posts about this before with interesting patterns. Look up beans micarta

 

[Alpha Knife Supply]

rebeltf,

Micarta is phenolic resin and cloth pressed together under high pressure and cured. There is no epoxy in micarta.

 

[Ilovetoolsteel]

rebeltf,

Micarta is phenolic resin and cloth pressed together under high pressure and cured. There is no epoxy in micarta.

I believe the white paper based micarta is made with epoxy. It is not considered a true micarta because of that.

Most of the stuff I have seen about hand making micarta uses epoxy resins. Boat builders epoxys mostly. The neat thing is you can dye the resin and use what ever natural fabric you choose. You can alternate colors in layers. It is still not a true micarta but since we as knifemakers are not using it for it's electric insulating properties that is of little issue.

There is a guy who makes and sells a micarta like product called Fibermascus. I think he presses his product into textured forms and then grinds it flat when cured. The result is a product that mimics the paterning in damascus steel.

 

[Alpha Knife Supply]

International Paper bought micarta from Westinghouse. I learned about micarta from International Paper. We discussed linen, canvas and paper. Phenolic resin is used on all of them. Phenol is the funny smell when grinding or cutting micarta.

There are lots of micarta imitators. Some of those may use epoxy.

 

[rebeltf]

Thanks for the info guys , I think I am better off buying it.

 

[sinawalli]

Once you cut, grind, machine micarta, you will never forget the smell!! It stinks, makes a huge mess (yellow dust). I work in the electric motor industry, and I dread when I have to machine someting out of micarta. it does make great knife handles though. It is also known as "bakelite".