Lets make some homemade handle material

Mark Williams

Mark Williams

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I havent done this yet but I have all the stuff to try it. Share you're thoughts with me on this one.
I was thinking about taking some white construction paper, a small piece of brown, a small piece of black and a few sheets of gold leaf. tear these into small pieces and put in the food processor with enough water to make a slurry(Deb does not know about this). Remove all evidense from processor and put on cookie sheet and dry in the oven at low temp.Take dried material and mix with resin, pour mix into shallow pan to cure.
Well what do you think? Doable of easier just to buy something?
Any comments welcome.


Mark
 
It will work. You're basically just making paper pulp and then drying it and adding epoxy...You could also add chopped fiberglass for strengthening. I would add the gold leaf at the epoxy stage though or you will just lose it all in the mix. You could also add colorant of some sort to the epoxy mix. I don't know specifics but I have heard that it is possible. They also sell a bronze powder at art supply stores that can be mixed into the epoxy and will look and polish/patina like bronze.
 
I like the metal powder Idea, that would look pretty neat. I dont know if it would be too brittle or not. I think I may try a small batch tonight to see what happens.Is micarta not just epoxy and different materials ?
Mark
 
It would be easier to buy something, but if you wanted easy, you'd go and buy the whole knife in the first place. Yes, it should work well. The epoxy wouldn't be too brittle. Remember they coaat recurve bow limbs with the stuff.
In addition to bronzing powder they make aluminum powder and I think steel powder. Don't make a big deal about buying it though (It can be used in explosives) and we wouldn't want to scare anyone.:rolleyes: There are a ton of things you can mix in, sawdust, sand for traction and texture, on and on.

Another thing you do for survival/hunting/sport knives. Take PVC and soak it in Ethel Methel Cloride. It's a solvent for PVC. Keep adding EMK in a sealed jar until you get a liquid. Pour it in a mold. Lots of possibilities for handles,

Remember what the Giant knife maker said:

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum...I smell the blood of an Englishmun,
Be they men or be they whales,
I'll use their bones to make my scales!:D :D
 
You might have better luck with a material designed for what your describing. You could get the two part catalysed casting plastic at craft supply stores formulated just for this sort of thing, and it would be acrylic or polyester, not expoxy.
 
Well I tried an experimental batch last night. I made some paper pulp from construction paper and added the polyester casting resin.Oh I did dry the pulp in the microwave first.I wanted something that looked like oosic but it came out much darker than I thought.I will post a pic after it is dried.I need to find a way to get the pulp broken up into a powder.The best I could get is an oatmeal consistancy. I still think this will be pretty cool looking.
Mark
 
Congrats, you have just reinvented parer Micarta! :D Seriously, I would love to see a picture of the finished product!
 
After drying the pulp why not throw it into a coffee grinder to break it up? Did you add the gold leaf? Let's see those pics!! :)
 
hey,what about using acetone instead of water for blending the paper?sure would dry faster and you wouldnt need the oven.I`ve got some little bitty pieces of turqoise,I`m thinking of mixing up some black paper and crushing the turqoise,and adding it in when I mix the epoxy.
My wife is gonna FREAK if she catches me doing this in the kitchen!
Bossman
 
I didnt do the gold leaf, it belongs to Deb and she was quite pissed enough with the mess I was making in HER kitchen. I'll do some sanding tonight on the 3/4" x 4" x 8" block. I wish I did have a coffee grinder.I wonder if the grocery store would get upset with me using their grinder in the gourmet coffee section?
Mark
 
Oh come on Gouge....you can piss her off more than that. One of my better moments was when I tempered a well oiled blade in my wifes oven.:D :D
 
Now if you guys were to experiment with scraps of colored canvas, you may be able to come up with something similar to the old and very rare "rag" Micarta. I wish i would have bought a ton of that when it was available!
 
Gouge, They'll only get pissed if they catch you. Have you ever thought of using fiberglass resin as your binder, I had thought of using it with layers of old jeans or something then pressing it real tight until it cures, just havent got around to trying it yet.
 
I think I will try this with all the bone dust I have from grinding a buch of scales.If it works I may even try some with a dy in it and see what I get.Heck no reason to just throw it away if it will work for another cool handle.
Reconstituted bone scales now that is something different...:D
Hey Gouge,Recycled paper always has a oatmeal look to it,We used to give the shreadded paper a bleach bath befor we would make the paper from it and that would make it allot whiter,Plus you can use old newspapers and those anoying junk mail papers that want you to get a credit card or buy something,this will give a finer grain in the finished product but will hold up as well.You can do the same with cardboard and get a brown that may resemble Bark ivory also.It is all just wood fiber anyway,so it will be tough enough for you.
I bet Deb Didn't fuss that much,she seems to be the type to support you in what you are trying to do anyway.
Good luck,
Bruce
 
I wouldn't suggest using acetone in the food processor. It generally does bad things to plastic.
Looking forward to seeing the pics.
 
As soon as I stop screaming,ranting and pulling whats left of my hair out trying to get this stupid camera to work I will post a damn picture.Intel sucks.
Mark
 
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