Liner Alternatives???

[jwesthurl]

Does anybody know of a readily available alternative for handle liners? A last minute change to a knife I'm making has me scrambling for something that will work as liner material.
It needs to be green and I don't know if I can get a sheet of toxic green G10 here in time. Any suggestions?

 

[FullyTorque]

Maybe whip up a thin batch of "mycarta." For something that thin and small you could just use epoxy. I know some people don't care for or trust homemade laminates but for liners it should be fine.

 

[NickWheeler]

I know it's not what you're hoping for, but I think the long term benefits of using G10 are worth the short term frustration/rush.

I've seen where some guys used stuff like plastic picnic plates, but I don't think epoxy would stick to that stuff even if you bead blasted it.

I mix up my epoxy in small plastic cups made from the same stuff, and the epoxy will pop right out of the cup after it's cured.

 

[jwesthurl]

I know it's not what you're hoping for, but I think the long term benefits of using G10 are worth the short term frustration/rush.

I've seen where some guys used stuff like plastic picnic plates, but I don't think epoxy would stick to that stuff even if you bead blasted it.

I mix up my epoxy in small plastic cups made from the same stuff, and the epoxy will pop right out of the cup after it's cured.

Yeah, I think I'll stay away from stuff like that. I may just have to see if I can get the G10 here within a week.

Maybe whip up a thin batch of "mycarta." For something that thin and small you could just use epoxy. I know some people don't care for or trust homemade laminates but for liners it should be fine.

Is there any real reason NOT to try to make my own? I have epoxy and can get the fabric no problem.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Craft paper and cyanoacrylate? Sort of acrylic resin stabilised paper. Can't be worse than the vulcanised fibre. If you don't like the idea of that, I would delay and get the material you want, unless the person is waiting for the knife to take on the trip of a life-time, in which case I would ask them whether they wanted liners or not.

Do not spoil the ship for a hapeth of tar.

Don't see why home made fabric laminate liners would not work. I would just want to have tested the process, the resin, and the look of the final product before committing to use it on a commissioned piece. Seems like a big part of the week would go by in testing, so not sure that the time saved would really pay off.

Guess it all depends on the job, which we don't really know about.

 

[quint]

I have used my west system epoxy and canvas to make a micarta substitute. It turned out pretty good. What I did is I have one of those little vacuum pumps handheld for sealing food. I take one of the large bags for such use and put a piece of flat wood covered in saranwrap with my layered micarta stuff on top. Place in the bag and vacuum seal it. The top flattens pretty good and the bottom is dead flat (as flat as what its on). Once sealed up I put it under a make shift heat lamp until it is dry and hard. The vacuum pulls any air out and seems to force the epoxy into the fiber. Should work pretty good for liners.

 

[spketch]

I was tempted to use thin plastic cutting boards or placemats before, but I never did give it a shot. They're about the right thickness if the epoxy holds. This came from ikea:

 

[jwesthurl]

I was tempted to use thin plastic cutting boards or placemats before, but I never did give it a shot. They're about the right thickness if the epoxy holds. This came from ikea:

This is funny--I pulled out my wife's cutting board to see if it would work!

I did go ahead and make some with green cloth and epoxy. I'll let you all know how it turns out

 

[P. McKinley]

I use a wide variety of wood veneers... Bubinga, Ash, and ebonized Pear are my current favorites.

-Peter

 

[A.McPherson]

How 'bout some green felt soaked with epoxy? You can get really thin felt at craft stores... never tried it, don't know if it would work out not though...

 

[Willie71]

I have used cotton, denim, and linen with epoxy in a press. It worked quite well. I am doing an experiment with burlap and marine polyester resin. The neatest one I did was grinding eggshells in a coffee grinder and cast them in epoxy.

 

[Salolan]

I too have dabbled in home made "mycarta". I have used cotton, denim and linen same as Warren, and people seem to really like the denim. I have also tried some paper. The paper I have used is just normal card stock and one thing to be aware of if going that route is the majority of colors are surface dyed only. Which leaves the exposed white inner section of the paper when ground.

Good luck,
Chris

 

[elementfe]

I don't have anything like the knowledge and experience Nick has, but I just checked the work table- there was a little plastic condiment cup with some Gflex in it...no way that stuff is coming loose, it's part of the cup now. In fact, I haven't found anything it WON'T stick to, but I'm a try.

 

[jwesthurl]

I really like the idea of wood veneers and they are dyeable. I ended up making two strips of "mycarta" with green cotton cloth. It took a little experimentation to get the right thickness but I got close. I'll post pics when I get it on the knife

 

[Willie71]

For spacers, I have a few plates of 14"x14"x1" steel plates. I soak a few layers of fabric in the epoxy, wrap the in wax paper, and press them between the steel plates. They come out nice and even.