Micarta and dye...

P

Psychopomp

Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Messages
2,662
Greetings all.

Any one have an idea if the micarta Izula handles will hold dye?

I currently have a desert tan Izula with the handles and I'm actually very pleased with the looks (especially considering that I don't like either desert tan or OD green). But I'm planning to pick up a black Izula with handles as a birthday present for myself next week and would like different color handles.

I think a dark blue or purple would look great on the black knife. But I'm curious how well the micarta would hold a dye like Rit or something similar. I don't care enough about how the knife looks (and it'll look like hell after a few weeks of use) to have to worry about the dye fading or leeching on to everything around it. The Rit dyed Spyderco FRN knives I've seen look great and have held up pretty well, but FRN and micarta are two completely different monsters.

Has anyone tried and had luck with dying the scales? Or should I not attempt it at all, OR just go for it since they're only about $13 to begin with?

Thanks.
 
sounds interesting you should dye yours and let us know how it works!
take pics & post.
 
Yes they will hold dye. One of the best dyes that I've used is RIT or RYT dye. I know Shotgunner has used it also to dye one of his ESEE micarta handles to a deeper orange.
 
yes it'll work since micarta is porous. the liquid version of rit dye is very easy to work with, just make sure to use a stainless pot and tongs for easy clean-up.
 
333rm said:
Yes they will hold dye. One of the best dyes that I've used is RIT or RYT dye. I know Shotgunner has used it also to dye one of his ESEE micarta handles to a deeper orange.
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That was the orange G10 on the Rat Pack knife that Shotgunner died. It didn't really take that well.
 
If you try it use hot water and a few drops of liquid soap. That might help the dye enter the micarta pores better. I don't think you could ruin them so give it a shot and let us know how it works.
 
hoopster said:
If you try it use hot water and a few drops of liquid soap. That might help the dye enter the micarta pores better. I don't think you could ruin them so give it a shot and let us know how it works.
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I think I will just go for it. Like I said, the knife is going to look like hell after a few weeks anyway, and I'm pretty sure micarta isn't going to fall apart because I put some dye on it.
 
I've been looking into this for a while too, from what I can tell, RIT works pretty well, especially with the canvas micarta. From the little bit of research I've done, I've heard alcohol based leather dyes work better, but I haven't actually seen results, but I'm going to try it when I can get my hands on some
 
CID25 said:
I've been looking into this for a while too, from what I can tell, RIT works pretty well, especially with the canvas micarta. From the little bit of research I've done, I've heard alcohol based leather dyes work better, but I haven't actually seen results, but I'm going to try it when I can get my hands on some
Click to expand...

That was going to be my other suggestion but I forgot. In addition to the liquid soap you might want to add some alcohol to the RIT dye solution.
 
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