How to roughen or texture smooth Micarta® scales?

N

Naphtali

Joined
May 20, 2002
Messages
148
I have a fix blade knife with smoothly polished Micarta® scales. How can I roughen or texture the scales for improved gripping without going to a place to sand blast the scales? If possible I would want to do the job myself. I probably do not have the tools or "fixin's" to do it. So I'm willing to make modest purchases to complete this one job.
 
Buy a $10 electric vibratory engraving pencil off Ebay.
Practice doing stippling with it on various materials at various settings. When you get good with it, do your knife.
It works on metal, too!
 
Just draw the outline, and buzz in between the lines. With just a little practice, you can do lots of useful things with the engraving pencil.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Just draw the outline, and buzz in between the lines. With just a little practice, you can do lots of useful things with the engraving pencil.
Click to expand...

Maybe He could remove the polish off the scales with a coarse sanding paper, after that applying mineral oil on the scales will give them back the sumptuousness of their color. Start slowly and continue up to desired texture. it also depend on what fabric the micarta is made of. But it works great with small fiber micartas But the results are less attractive on larger fiber ones.
 
I first heard about putting mineral oil on micarta scales here and I tried it on a knife that had light colored canvas micarta ones. The effect faded over time and I had to keep reapplying if I wanted to maintain that look. It was more effort than I cared to put into a user.
I think the oil from your hand lasts longer.
 
Very coarse sandpaper worked for me on a polished Micarta handle. It did lighten in color some.--KV
 
I'll try the least complex method first. Course grit sand paper is available without traveling 85 miles to Missoula. If this is unsatisfactory, I'll try to buy a wood rasp of the size and shape I believe will complete the job. This will be the penultimate attempt. And if the rasp doesn't complete the job, I'll escalate to the engraving pencil. There will be no further effort.
 
Nothing like a good checkering file. You can either just cut grooves in or actually checker if you can work around the rivets. Course sandpaper on a stick works good too.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Just draw the outline, and buzz in between the lines. With just a little practice, you can do lots of useful things with the engraving pencil.
Click to expand...
Bill, when you say buzz, do you mean to hold the engraver lightly and let it "hammer" the surface?
 
Ah! I see someone has an engraving pencil!
That's one way to do it, and you can also hold it firmly and draw tiny designs in the material.
 
I did some gun-engraving yrs back, after I took a summer NRA course in Trinidad, CO. It was fun, but the stippling was done with an engraving hammer and "punch." Worked well, just takes more time...a lot more time.
 
Gun engraving backgrounds can be "buzzed in" with an electric engraving pencil, and it looks very nice.
You can stipple metal for better grip, too. You can engrave glass.
It's actually a very versatile tool. What they aren't really good for is engraving designs or lettering on metal, which is what most are used for.
 
Ahh...thank you Bill. I have an older Sears metal engraver that you can speed up or slow down. I'll check out what you're talking about.
 
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