Micarta Idea

etp777

etp777

Joined
Aug 12, 2002
Messages
2,259
OK, first of all, this may have been presented before, and is of somewhat questionable legality depending on where you export it to. But I did search around and didn't see anyone else say it.

I used to be interested in collecting money from various foreign countries and at one time spent a summer in Mozambique, which has much more interesting looking currency than the US.

I was thinking that taking some of the colorful foreign currencies and using them to make micarta might make fo ra VERY interesting looking knife, and best yet, if you pick a country with a crappy exchange rate, it'll be cheap to make, too. ;)

Just an idea.
 
I had a similar idea, but held off for the same reasons. That being, it may be illegal. I wanted to forge a roll of pennies and make a copper knife. Was curious to see if I could make a damask pattern with Lincoln being stretched and skewed. :cool: Just was curious.
 
hahah, thought of that too. But I know that while it's not necessarily prosecuted for something small like that, that it is illegal to deface american money. Was thinking that with foreign money it might not be that much of a problem. DUnno though. Who has a lawyer friend that can tell me so I can dig up my old foreign money. :)

Another thing with it, is that since most countries have colored bills, could do them in chunks for colored layers.
 
I like the idea. Can't see where there would be any problems with forign money.

I do use pennies for washers. A penny isn't worth anything but a washer costs a nickle!:eek:
 
hahah, good call peter. :)

And yeah, you can do zinc phosphate parkerizing at home if you get Ospho metal primer and grind the copper cladding off pennies(they have a zinc core). That's what I was talking about in another thread wher eI said I couldn't find the stuff for parkerizing.

SO yeah, I don't think anyone minds a few pennies, especially as they're still talking about getting rid of them anyways.

SO who wants to try this out first? I haven't picked up a vise or anythign yet, so still can't do micarta. Also, how do you compress the micarta without either having it stick to the vise/clamps/weights you use to compress it, or . hrmm, forgot my or. but you know what I'm asking. :)
 
Hey Guys...

You could use Canadian bills..
Its very colourful and it ain't worth $hit!!

:)

ttyle

Eric...
 
the idea that it is illegal to destroy or deface U.S. currency has been around for years, but it isn't true. As long as you don't try to pass it as currency again, you can do anything you want with it.

Source: "The Dictionary of Misinformation" by Tom Burnam
 
If you use original currency from the coountries that have switched to the euro dollar it isn't a problem. The original currency is no longer negotiable and has absolutely no value, period. You may be the one to bring a little value back if you can do the Micarta with it :)

This came up at lunchtime today- a co-worker has $600 US in German Marks, and spent yesterday trying to get it converted to US Dollars. No place will take it-

Dave
 
I know an american blacksmith who makes what he calls "fast mokumé" from a nickle and a penny to give it away to blacksmith friends around the world. Just put them together (cold!) under his 500 pound Nazel hammer, one hit, and they are as one piece. Well, you can only guess the face of lincoln after that!!

Some of my friends in France have collected 2 Franc coins before the currency changed to the Euro in 2002. These were made from pure nickel and they use them to make nickle damascus for their knife blades.

Achim
 
Originally posted by WinDancer


This came up at lunchtime today- a co-worker has $600 US in German Marks, and spent yesterday trying to get it converted to US Dollars. No place will take it-

Dave
Click to expand...

I will. You can still change the old german marks into Euros in the "Landeszentralbanken" over here in germany. So if your co-worker wants to get rid of it... :D
 
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