Micarta liner material

JG Custom Metal Works

JG Custom Metal Works

Joined
Nov 27, 2013
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I've been noticing knives with micarta liners lately and they look REAL good. I can't find any micarta liner material from any of the knife making supply sites though. I found this:

http://www.eplastics.com/LENAT0-060X12X48

I'm thinking about snagging up a sheet and trying it out but I'd hate to end up with something I couldn't use. What do you guys think about the stuff in the link? Does anyone have a line on thinner(.060ish) sheets of micarta?

Also, I'm looking at layering it with G10 and don't have any experience bonding the two together. Does regular 30min epoxy or Gflex work? I imagine you'd want to rough the materials up a little prior to fitting them together.

I searched and was unable to find any threads about this so if you could share your thoughts or techniques for fitting micarta liners I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
 
I don't know where you live but if you are anywhere close to Orlando, Fl., there is a place called Skycraft that sells 11"x16" for 2bucks/sheet. It is a surplus store so you never know what else you might find.
 
Don't use 30 min. epoxy - it isn't strong enough. Use G-flex, you will be glad you did. Use G10 for liner mat'l. Just rough up the 2 sheets of G10 and you are good to go.

Tim
 
Micarta and G10 bond fine with the 12 hour epoxy I use. Keep searching, I've found plenty of 0.060 G10 that I use and is a good alternative for the liner if you can't find many options in micarta.
 
Kloepper Knife Works said:
Micarta and G10 bond fine with the 12 hour epoxy I use. Keep searching, I've found plenty of 0.060 G10 that I use and is a good alternative for the liner if you can't find many options in micarta.
Click to expand...

Oh I have g10 liners but the layered/wavy texture of natural micarta just looks really good. Like this:



Hell, I think those are 1/8in. I wonder if anyone sells micarta that thin... I have a tone of micarta blocks but cutting things 100% flat with a band saw is challenging to say the least. Maybe it's time to just buck up and start shopping for a table saw. Urghh...
 
I refuse to use that fish paper (fiber liner) material and only use micarta and g10 liners. I also use micarta pins that match the liner. It limits me to canvas and black inner layers due to being unable to find matching pins but I think its worth it. You can get natural canvas micarta from McMaster carr in almost any thickness, but only in natural, not black. To find it, search for garolite CE (thats the canvas micarta). There is a good instructional page at the front of the garolite section of McMaster. Basicallly garolite is the industrial term for any kind of phenolic. You can also get black paper micarta from there in just about any thickness (garolite xx). FYI, garolite LE is the linen micarta. There are also G10 materials too. The only problem is that all of these are industrial, and the color is fixed. For black .060" inner liners I use g10 from macecraft. That where I get the colored g10 spacer materials also. I avoid the red because it always looks like pink from the side.

I bond the handle layers together with superglue, then use gflex epoxy to hold the scales to the knife. This allows me to work with the scales quicker after layering them up.



20130104100_7803-vi.jpg


20140103IMG_1733-vi.jpg
 
JG Custom Metal Works said:
Oh I have g10 liners but the layered/wavy texture of natural micarta just looks really good. Like this:



Hell, I think those are 1/8in. I wonder if anyone sells micarta that thin... I have a tone of micarta blocks but cutting things 100% flat with a band saw is challenging to say the least. Maybe it's time to just buck up and start shopping for a table saw. Urghh...
Click to expand...

Gotcha, natural seems to come in any thickness from a number of places. USA knifemaker has a number of 1/8" options, but my quick Googlefu didn't yield anything in the 1/16" size that's colored.
 
In my experience, micarta and G10 bond just fine with the usual adhesives we normally use. In fact, I just had to tear apart one of my handles with canvas micarta scales, G10 liners and Loc-Tite 2-part epoxy... and after drilling out the bolts I could not get the micarta off the G10 or the G10 off the tang. (the freezer trick didn't do anything... I didn't try boiling them) Had to grind 'em off. That's a big pain, but it does lend confidence that the handle will last a long long time under anything resembling normal use.

Like Andy, I refuse to allow "fiber" liner material in my shop. Hardwood, stabilized wood, micarta, metal, G10 or CF only for my liners. (incidentally, various types of CF have that cool wavy look on the edge, too...)
 
I've used felt as a liner material before. Just soaked it in glue. Here are my results:

40HAKj7.jpg


I know it's not Micarta or G10, but maybe you could give it a try.
 
Speaking on liners, how does everyone prep the surface of their liner materials for epoxy? It's no problem to put scales on the grinder to rough it up, but .06 liners and power sanders don't match. So far I've been using 60 grit paper by hand. Is there a better way to rough up the thin liners?
 
Jason I use spray adhesive to glue down a 60 grit disc to a flat piece of granite and use that to prep liners/scales.

OP McMaster-Carr is the best place to buy 1/16" sheets of micarta. Like Andy said it is called garolite. The canvas is listed as "Impact-Resistant Garolite (CE)". You can get brown and black sheets. They only have brown garolite pins though. Texas knife makers supply and sheffield have black micarta pins.
 
Fiddleback said:
I refuse to use that fish paper (fiber liner) material and only use micarta and g10 liners. I also use micarta pins that match the liner. It limits me to canvas and black inner layers due to being unable to find matching pins but I think its worth it. You can get natural canvas micarta from McMaster carr in almost any thickness, but only in natural, not black. To find it, search for garolite CE (thats the canvas micarta). There is a good instructional page at the front of the garolite section of McMaster. Basicallly garolite is the industrial term for any kind of phenolic. You can also get black paper micarta from there in just about any thickness (garolite xx). FYI, garolite LE is the linen micarta. There are also G10 materials too. The only problem is that all of these are industrial, and the color is fixed. For black .060" inner liners I use g10 from macecraft. That where I get the colored g10 spacer materials also. I avoid the red because it always looks like pink from the side.

I bond the handle layers together with superglue, then use gflex epoxy to hold the scales to the knife. This allows me to work with the scales quicker after layering them up.



20130104100_7803-vi.jpg


20140103IMG_1733-vi.jpg
Click to expand...

is there a particular reason you won't use regular liners?
 
Thanks a ton for the info gents! Just got a mcmaster-carr order placed.

Fiddleback- You make some beautiful knives and are an inspiration. Do you ever have any issues with using superglue to bond the micarta and g10 together? I was thinking about using gflex for that too but I wonder if that would be overkill. Of course there would be a longer cure time but I wonder if it would make for a stronger bond? Not that I'm implying the superglue isn't 100% secure, as I'm sure you wouldn't use it if that was the case. Any particular brand of superglue? I have used some that worked like utter shit.
 
Fiddleback, Your layered Micarta handles look great especially with the matching pins. Thanks for the info on Garolite CE. I want to use it too. By the way I have used thin red "fish paper" liners on some of my knives and I think it looks good. Is there a problem with fiber liner? I don't want to use it if it degrades. Thanks, Larry
 
Fish paper, or fiber liner material is not stable and expands and contracts due to water absorbtion. Some folks say that sealing it with superglue solves the problem. It is very hard to seal the leading edge once it is on a knife though. I just avoid it. The red fiber liner is a nice bright red though. Its a shame. I like red liners. I still see it on lots of knives, so its not a totaly 'off the table' material either. I just don't use it on my knives.

I have never had one issue with superglue as my scale layering adhesive. I use Star Bond, which I get from Amazon. Its the cheapest/sold in the largest packages that I have found. They also sell it dyed black and brown. This is especially important when using it to fill voids in burls, etc. G-flex would be stronger IMO, and that is what we use to put the scales onto the blade. That process is much more detailed and set time is valuable. I've never had to fix one delaminated scale, so the super glue is plenty good.
 
Red fiber always makes me think of Loveless.
Collectors- did he have problems with it, and are his knives known to fail due to having it?
 
I'm not a knife maker by trade but a hobbyist. I have found many articles for DIY micarta and saw some really beautiful handle scales made.

This is one of my favorite sites on the topic:
http://www.fendleyknives.com/LM105.htm

I've made a plank using cheaper Bondo resin, cut up jeans and slacks and my plank came out nicely. I will be doing the future ones with a helper though. It becomes a race to get them layered and in place before the epoxy sets up. What I like the most about the DIY is that you control the thickness, colors and layering.

That knife pictured is beautiful!

I am about to make a couple knives from blanks for my 2 closest friends for Christmas so I've been lurking around forums for ideas. Nice to meet you all.
 
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What you have been saying about the liner explains why a kitchen knife I made has it liners expanding a contracting the where REALLY bad(volcanized white ones from jantz).I thought they weren't supposed to do that thought? Is there any real reason to have a liner?(I've heard that they keep the hands material from shrinking and expanding??)
Daniel-nice discussion-
 
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