Making Micarta, that easy?

[kc custom]

You can make very reliable Mycarta---- guaranteed for life? as much as you can guarantee anything.
This is burlap with fiberglass, (polyester) resin. Ken.

 

[kc custom]

I got to go over and take a look at this knife after a years worth of pocket carry and use in Alaska. No more
problems than you would have with the real deal Micarta. Slight dulling of the surface which you would have
with any plastic material. Yeah I put my name on them.
Ken.

 

[Sandeggo]

That red burlap is nice! The tan laminated with black nylon would be sweet too.

 

[Kentucky]

I made some for myself out of burlap. I let it soak in water for days, I ran it through the dishwasher and I carried it on a fishing knife for well over a year..I left blood and fish juice on it purposely..Never had one problem from it..It is messy, it is aggrevating and "can be" somewhat costly but if Im bored it something to do..If I want a particular color like orange burlap I can just make it. its just for me so Im not worried about the cost and aggrevation of it..

 

[jdm61]

The vacuum bag setup is probably the second best way to infuse the resin into the cloth the best way is a purpose built infusion system, but those are rare and expensive. In theory you can make your own vacuum bagger and just buy the necessary components from places like West Marine. The cure time depends on the type of hardener AND the ambient temperature. If you are gong to use epoxy, the advantage of getting good stuff like West System is that yes, there is some sticker shock on evolved, but it has a shelf life of like 10 years even though the hardening will get darker over time. As for carbon fiber, you can align things all you want, but from what I have been told, you are never going to get maximum strength without bringing heat into the equation. Arguably, the most durable laminate that you can do "cold" is still combination of epxoy resin and wood because you don't have to "prepreg" or cook the wood like you do say with carbon fiber to get maximum strength from the reinforcing material because nature has already done that for you. Wood will not lose structural integrity over time unless you stress it to the point where is actually starts to fail.

+1 on using high-quality epoxy resin. The polyester resin like from the Bondo kit is crap IMO.

The length of time you must let it cure depends on the hardener; some kicks off quickly, some takes hours and hours, depending on the application.

I used to work in a shop helping to making custom racing sailboards from kevlar, fiberglass and carbon fiber, and I'll tell you the best secret I learned to making a really nice layout: the center-scrape!

Get your pieces of fiber or cloth sheets cut and ready on a large piece of cardboard. Mix up a small batch of your epoxy and hardener (I'd use slow-hardening), and pour some of it onto the center of a fiber sheet. Then use a flexible plastic scraper to press the epoxy down into the sheet from the center out to the edges, which will keep the fibers aligned and square without distortion, force epoxy into the fibers, and will push excess resin out of the sheet and onto the cardboard (there will be quite a bit of excess). The epoxied sheets will then be easy to pick up and lay on top of each other evenly.

In the sailboard shop I would then vacuum-bag the entire layout, but for a block, clamping it should work just fine! :]

 

[bdmicarta]

So I basically had no idea what this stuff is until recently. My understanding was, some type of synthetic wood for scales. The other day however I seen a thread where a guy made a block of the stuff out of an old colorful quilt or something, which confused the hell out of me. So I looked it up, and it turns out it's just fabric, soaked and hardened in resin

Micarta has been made with paper, cloth and canvas. Cloth and canvas micarta usually shows a pattern of the cloth depending on how you grind it. Paper micarta looks to be a lot more homogeneous.

I've read about homemade micarta and watched some of the videos. I think it would be interesting to try and make some.

In the past I've done a lot of work with fiberglass so I know about working with the resin. Depending on how the resin is mixed it can take awhile to set or it can start setting while you are working with it. Another challenge is getting the resin to soak all the way through the fabric. I would think that making the stuff in cooler weather would also help because this would slow down the set. The resin can be very messy so you need a place to work where the resin won't hurt anything, wear gloves, and old clothes.

 

[Zemapeli]

I remember wanting to make some canvas micarta at one point. I was thinking I would just cut rectangles of material, brush liberally with two part epoxy. Repeat times over. Wrap with wax paper and put between two boards and press with C clamps. Would this work?? I have never made micarta before.

 

[FTR-14c]

I remember wanting to make some canvas micarta at one point. I was thinking I would just cut rectangles of material, brush liberally with two part epoxy. Repeat times over. Wrap with wax paper and put between two boards and press with C clamps. Would this work?? I have never made micarta before.

That is exactly how I did it but with polyester. :thumbup: I used a paint tray and plastic trowel to soak the canvas with resin. Be sure to make the rectangles extra big so you can cut off the uneven edges after hardening.

 

[jdm61]

The paper Micarta is supposedly not real Micarta and supposed to be a fair bit weaker than the canvas or "linen" varieties. I put linen in quotes because my understanding is that it is just made with a finer weave of cotton cloth. Politics aside, I would like to find out more about the hemp fiber reinforced plastics composites that some of the auto manufacturers apparently use. If nothing else, the stuff might make for an interesting sales gimmick.

 

[PEU]

I grew tired of the messy process of making paper micarta and had a company make it for me (and provided the local knifemakers market with the material)

Pablo

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Just to be clear, I have researched and made some experimental laminates ( my "Fourth of July" knife, for example). The below info is ideas for those who wish to go the "made it myself" route. Much of this is still untested by me, so, Caveat Emptor! My only real caveat is that if you go for homemade laminates, use the best quality ingredients... starting with real epoxy with the right hardener for the task. That is generally going to be something like West System 105 resin and 206 or 209 hardener (Don't play with the hardener ratio - mix them exactly as they are supposed to be!).
I am not opposed to people doing this if they do it right. I just want to emphasize that it is rarely cheaper, and almost never better than a commercial laminate. Just a couple cans of resin/hardener can cost close to $100.
But, there are handles that will never be commercially available:

I have a good size piece of Elliot tartan cloth that someday I will make into a set of tartan scales for a Scottish short sword. Each laminate piece will have to be cut to exactly match the set on the other layers. That, and my long time planned "Gambler's Bowie Knife" with a damascus blade with dollar signs in the pattern through out the blade and a handle made up by laminating a stack of 100 brand new 1$ bills are the only things I can currently think of as reasons to do MyCarta myself. Even with those two scenarios, I may do the setup, and get a commercial laminator to do the actual work....as Pablo did.

For anyone who wants to do the dollar bill scales ( or use monopoly money, etc.), choose identical bills ( check the margins - individual bills not all aligned the same), align all bills the same direction and stack, divide the stack in half, turn one half upside down, and place two pieces of .100" green G-10 in the center ( again, use color of choice). Place a couple pieces of waxed paper in between the G-10 slabs. When laminated, this will make two book matched sets of scales about .300-.350" thick each. If you want the obverse and reverse of the bill to show as the handle sides, then don't flip the bottom half ( but still insert the G-10 and waxed paper in the center of the stack).

Whatever you do ... whatever you laminate ...... it is imperative that the stack be aligned exactly from layer to layer or the final image will be blurry when the handle is shaped. Cloth layers are not so fussy, but images or words need to be precise to a few thousandths of an inch.

The G-10 pieces and waxed paper in the center saves having to saw the block apart and creating a lot of waste. It also pre-laminates the liners.

Flipping half the stack will give a perfect set of book matched scales regardless of the material. Cutting a solid block of laminate in half and flipping one scale either end to end or side to side almost always shows a somewhat different pattern. In some cases, the pattern is extremely different.
That is why you should mark every Micarta/G-10/MyCarta set of scales with "OUT", "TOP", and "FRONT" ( I use arrows) to prevent installing them "out of phase". Always try and avoid using the top and bottom of a laminate as the opposite faces of the handle sides. Take a look at a block/sheet of canvas Micarta and you will see what I mean. If using a block for a hidden tang, you have no choice, but with scales you should make every effort to get it right.

Linen and canvas Micarta and most other laminates are layers of cloth. In cloth, direction has to do with the warp and woof. If you never knew it, almost all cloth has a top and bottom side....and each side has a top and an index side ( like the two sides of a printed page). Sew a dress or shirt together ( yes, I sew too) and get one piece accidentally flipped or rotated in cutting the pattern ..... and you may well be ripping out stitches and buying more cloth. Aligning the warp and woof is important in sewing and just as important in laminating handle scales.

Other ideas (before going too far, test a print to check if the resin dissolves or smears the print):
Print out 100 or so 1.5X5" copies of Ruth 1:16, ( or "The Village Blacksmith", or any words you want the handle to display). Print it so it will display in the handle center as desired .... print it in BOLD on 24# bond ivory linen paper (or use paper in the color of your choice) ..... and laminate as above. This will allow both sides of a handle to display a message that will not grind away as you shape it. Make a cake knife for a wedding gift from it ( or whatever knife fits the gift reason). Some sort of super-glue finish might be a good idea ( but I don't know yet).

Or, it could be the couples names and wedding date, the date a lad made Eagle,.... you get the idea.

I am sure this is plenty to get some folks minds racing on custom folder scales with a cannabis image in the center, custom skinning knives with a wolf on the handle, etc.

 

[Horsewright]

Thanksgiving last year. My brother and I went out to the ranch while the bird was cooking. This is homemade "wranglercarta". Made from my old jeans but not by me. I've tried it 3 times and it came out well once. Very messy. Thickness 1/4" to 3/8" on these pieces. Always heard how bulletproof this stuff was. Wanted to find out. All shooting was at ten paces.

1/4" pece stopped a 12 guage with #8 shot.

3/8" stopped a .22 LR.

12 gauge

This piece sustained 2 .45 colt hits, a .40 and a .45acp . Slowed em down enough that the rounds were easily recoverable.

While not bulletproof, I would not heistate to put on a knife handle and did. Need to get me some more.