greetings everyone. I have just about finished a 9 1/2 inch full tang hunter skinner with copper bolster and pommel. made my own denam macarta scales but I don,t know what would be the best way to protect them from absorbing grime. looking for ideas. any help would be apreciated.
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how to finish my denam sscales
- Thread starter dgm
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2008
- Messages
- 1,079
the handles that Ive made from denim and automotive body resin, Ive just sanded down to 1000-2000 grit, and buffed them and startred using them, no finsih at all and they havent abosrbed anything. Ive had them in blood, grease, oil, solvents, good old dirt, dirty dirt, and who knows what else and they still look great, they sill scuff up sometimes, but that is easily sanded out if you want to make them look pretty again with no scuff marks.
I've never made nor use that type of material but I can't see how it would absorb much of anything.
I have worked with a fake marble stone material (maybe polyester???) and in order to get it to shine I wet sanded it down to 2000 grit and finished it up with Flitz plastic polish. The shine didn't really "pop" until the Flitz was used. The Flitz has also improved micarta and even stabilized laminated wood products (eg. pakawood). I think sanding wet (in the kitchen sink) helped in the sanding process and it isn't necessary to worry about dust in the air.
- Paul Meske
I have worked with a fake marble stone material (maybe polyester???) and in order to get it to shine I wet sanded it down to 2000 grit and finished it up with Flitz plastic polish. The shine didn't really "pop" until the Flitz was used. The Flitz has also improved micarta and even stabilized laminated wood products (eg. pakawood). I think sanding wet (in the kitchen sink) helped in the sanding process and it isn't necessary to worry about dust in the air.
- Paul Meske
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- Messages
- 2,691
I'm not sure of the exact way they polish their knives, but Bark River uses some kind of wax, and a buffer I suppose..they end up kinda slick, compared to unfinished canvas micarta. Handle shape trumps grip most of the time, just depends on the use of the knife. It's just a personal choice which is better, polished or plain. Seems to me that you can use soap and water to clean those denim scales, or like mentioned just lightly sand, or sandblast them back to "new".
Polished natural canvas on a machete handle, it's their pic, you can't see the "polish" but you can tell it's shiny, not matte. In my experience, the polish acts like a car's clear coat, it's waterproof and slick. You can see through it, like a clear coat, so you can see the color and some added depth to the fabric. Blood and gunk just rinses off, no staining.
On black micarta and G-10
Polished natural canvas on a machete handle, it's their pic, you can't see the "polish" but you can tell it's shiny, not matte. In my experience, the polish acts like a car's clear coat, it's waterproof and slick. You can see through it, like a clear coat, so you can see the color and some added depth to the fabric. Blood and gunk just rinses off, no staining.
On black micarta and G-10
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