Let's talk about liners!

stalbot

stalbot

Joined
Sep 7, 2012
Messages
315
Hey guys. I'm appealing to the wisdom of the forum for some guidance. I easing my way towards assembly of a knife that will use stag scales. It's a full tang little utility. I am considering using liners. I have some black G10 and some red G10 liner material. What I saw in my head was bright red, but when I received the G10, it's more blood red. Can't seem to find "ferrari" red G10 liner material.

I've heard that the vulcanized fiber liner material can be difficult to work with, in that it's not as rigid as the G10. However, the color I'm looking for is available in that material.

Does anybody know of a manufacturer of bright red G10 liner?

Short of any guidance otherwise, I'll be content with the blood red liners.
 
Red and stag will that match?
Personaly I'd go for a natural color, black, white or brown(light to dark)
 
AKS has the brightest red G-10 that I've found so far, but I'm still a little dissappointed with the "pop" of the color once the knife is assembled. I have been mostly using thin (.020-.040) liner material, and in my limited experience, the thicker you go with the liner the more color you get from it. Also, on my last knife i used some thin CA to seal some checks in the wood scales and that brought out the color in the liner alot more.
 
Purposefully create a gap (by rounding the edge or better yet with some filework) and use dyed epoxy?

FWIW, the limitations of vulcanized products can be worked around. They may be finicky, but I think they have received more of a bad rap than they deserve. I mean, if something was that bad would it have continued in use for as long as it has on as many knives as it has? And how 'rigid' do you need? It will be sandwiched between steel and handle material, right? For a true bright red the vulcanized spacer material is all I am aware of.
 
I don't have personal experience with either. An experienced knifemaker I know was explaining to me his frustrations with finishing knives using the fiber material, and that it moved a lot and wasn't really rigid enough for his tastes, not standing up against finishing (sanding/grinding).
 
the vulcanized material will also absorb moisture. But you could try sealing it with suoer-glue?
 
I have used it on a few camp knives that see heavy use. I used some thinned down epoxy, and it seems to have penetrated pretty well. If you don't get good glue penetration, it can absorb water... so can a lot of materials that we use if we don't seal them properly... Here is a good little article about thinning west systems epoxy via heat or solvent. I chose to thin it with acetone... Again, these knives see heavy use and haven't displayed any problems. It is also a nice bright red.

I'm not saying that G10 isn't the better choice, but until they come up with brighter red with more 'pop' in G10, I think we are stuck with the vulcanized liners.

Cheers.
 
THanks for the replies, guys. I imagine that as I get further into this, i'll be trying multiple materials. Since I've got the G10 already, I'll move forward with that this time around.
 
fishface5 said:
the vulcanized material will also absorb moisture. But you could try sealing it with suoer-glue?
Click to expand...

Man does it absorb moisture. Sit a piece of vulcanized material in a little cup of water and watch, I have seen it double in size, takes about an hour but still. If you get a hold of a knife that has been used that was made years ago you can feel the vulcanized material puffed up and "proud". I have not heard of super-glue helping much, but that doesn't mean it is wrong.

G10 all the way....

Look at masecraftsupply.com and see if they have a color you like.

-Brian-
 
Having used both for many years, I still prefer fibre over G10. G10, especially in Red, is very translucent and should only be used as a contrast against light colour materials. It virtually disappears against black micarta or Ironwood. As for fibre liners and water absorption, once installed as a spacer, I have never found it an issue and never had a knife come back. Use it with confidence.
 
Does anybody knows if it would be possible, and how, to seal vulcanize fiber material? Maybe wood hardener or some kind of glue?
Thanks
 
Red G10 is translucent. When placed against a light material it is much lighter than when placed against a dark material. When placed against a light material it is not "bright" but is more of a ruby red. If you want bright red, G10 is not the correct liner material to use.

In my opinion, vulcanized paper is a junk material. The reason I spent years looking for a G10 manufacturer who would make thin material is because of bad experiences I've had. I personally have knives in my collection where the vulcanized paper has pulled back from the tang. I've also seen knives where the vulcanized paper got wet and is not flush with the tang. One knife was send to me where stabilized redwood burl broke between hidden bolts because the vulcanized paper swelled too much. If I were a knifemaker, I would never use vulcanized paper.

Just because you've never had a knife returned does not mean the vulcanized liners are in good shape.

Chuck
 
I had the opportunity to inspect a Loveless hunter from the original owner that used this knife, it was made in the late '60s early '70s. The vulcanized paper had pulled back from the tang was very porous and was not flush with the tang as Chuck stated above, it wasn't very red either.
 
You can mill or surface grind down some 1/8" red linen micarta scales.

The red is bright on red linen nut I don't know where to find linen in liner thickness.
 
Thank you so much guys for many awesome replies. Much apreciated.
Just in case that anything goes wrong with positioning...any ideas how to remove glued liners with Devcon 2 ton epoxy?
Thank you
 
Spela said:
...Just in case that anything goes wrong with positioning...any ideas how to remove glued liners with Devcon 2 ton epoxy?
Thank you
Click to expand...

It may be a better approach to just avoid the problem in the first place. Cut your liners oversize relative to scales and monitor the first stages of epoxy set while you still have time to adjust them. Trim afterwards.

Once fully cured...

Some folks might say just "slap them down on your bench and the Devcon will gladly let go". I personally don't think the stuff is that sorry but you might consider an industrial-grade epoxy in the future. A short search/read here on BFST will tell you why.
 
Andy is right, when I use liners I always use G-10 and I always epoxy the scales to a sheet of G-10, trim & grind the G-10 down even with the scales, & then work them just like a normal set of scales.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top