Micarta liner material

Iirc Bob loveless said that liners on a nice custom knife is like lipstick on a pretty woman.

Also, as far as making your own handle material, if found that its too big of a PITA to be worth it for me. In order for it to be done right you need to use higher quality epoxy(west systems) and once you do that you aren't really saving much money. I've done it with bondo fiberglass resin and haven't been too impressed with the results.
 
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Daniel Rohde said:
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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Liners are not necessary.
 
Daniel Rohde said:
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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SugarSkulls said:
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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I'm not a fan of making my own handle material, but your link is from Fiendley Knives and I'm friends with both those guys. Good people.
 
if you want 1/16 or 1/8 micarta,try bingham projects.com. They have it listed until riser material. They have it in serveral widths and lengths for use in making bows. it is available in 4 colors also.
 
argel55 said:
if you want 1/16 or 1/8 micarta,try bingham projects.com. They have it listed until riser material. They have it in serveral widths and lengths for use in making bows. it is available in 4 colors also.
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Mcmaster-carr had everything I needed and then some. Thanks for the info though!
 
Fiddleback said:
Liners are not necessary.
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I agree; as JG said when quoting Loveless, they sure look nice though :)

I'd like to mention that part of Andy's success comes from the fact that he makes good solid knives you can recognize immediately from across the room... part of that recognition factor comes from his style/use of liners. That's really smart. :thumbup:

There's at least one exception to "liners not being necessary or functional" (ain't there always? ;) ) ... when building a knife with removable scales, I like to put a neoprene "liner" on the scale. But technically that's not really a liner, it's a gasket.
 
Anybody use GPO3 for a liner? Really bright red fiberglass material. It is a loose fiber/non-directional product used in much the same way that old liner material was for electrical insulator... Just wondering if it turns out any brighter red than the typical G10 does.

-Eric
 
I got some micarta liner material in from Mcmaster-Carr and it looks really good. Thanks for the info. Just finished this one with it last night:











in a couple of the pics the handle is shinny from WD-40 and the others are dulled from being in hand.
 
I still use the fiber spacer with good results. I would not use it on a survival knife or one I was going to leave soaking in water. That said, I like it for natural materials as a shock absorber because it can flex. I also lightly sand it and rinse with acetone before using acurglass to epoxy it to the scale or handle and try to saturate it with epoxy. Same way I do a stacked leather handle, the leather is soaked with epoxy and compressed. After finishing I also wax the handle so that may be one reason I haven't had any issues down in the humid/dry/hot/cold south. If I'm using a stabilized material I don't use a liner unless I want visual contrast. I also use some hard plastic liner material that I got a while back. Depends on the application.

I have had one knife returned for work, and it was due to the antler handle cracking, no issues with the liner. I have had way more issues with metal spacers than fiber.

YMMV
 
JG, lookin good. To really make that combo POP add a white g10 spacer between the nat can liner and black scale material.
 
Fiddleback said:
JG, lookin good. To really make that combo POP add a white g10 spacer between the nat can liner and black scale material.
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I took your advise and have some with the white liner glued up now.

Gluing many layers seems kind of tedious when they're all rough cut to scale size. With all the sanding and lining up of materials it seems as though it might be easier to do an entire sheet this way. Of course it would have to be a combination that you plan to use frequently in the future as it would provide enough for multiple sets. Does anyone glue up entire sheets for layered scale combos they like? Any particular methods you use that would be different than just working scales sized pieces?
 
I don't know how you would accomplish flattening entire sheets. The trick is to cut the liner material 1/8" wider and longer than the scale material. Then when they slip around as you clamp them down there is some slop built into the process. Apply CA glue to one side of the bottom layer and lay it on your clamping table on wax paper. (Hint: buy a roll of wax paper and cut it into thirds at the bandsaw. This way you get 3 rolls from the one. Put wax paper down on your clamping table beneath your scale stackup. This way they never get glued to the table. Easy as pie at unclamping time.) Then apply glue to the flattened side of your scale. Now put the middle piece on the bottom piece and the top piece on top of that and then use spring clamps to hold it all down. There are pictures of this process in the thread that Mistwalker did for me. I started a thread here in Shop Talk titled A professional photographer visits the shop. Give the scales 15 minutes to cure then spray the exterior with quick set. Basically the quick set is only necessary to keep the squeezeout glue from getting all over your hands.
 
Fiddleback said:
I don't know how you would accomplish flattening entire sheets. The trick is to cut the liner material 1/8" wider and longer than the scale material. Then when they slip around as you clamp them down there is some slop built into the process. Apply CA glue to one side of the bottom layer and lay it on your clamping table on wax paper. (Hint: buy a roll of wax paper and cut it into thirds at the bandsaw. This way you get 3 rolls from the one. Put wax paper down on your clamping table beneath your scale stackup. This way they never get glued to the table. Easy as pie at unclamping time.) Then apply glue to the flattened side of your scale. Now put the middle piece on the bottom piece and the top piece on top of that and then use spring clamps to hold it all down. There are pictures of this process in the thread that Mistwalker did for me. I started a thread here in Shop Talk titled A professional photographer visits the shop. Give the scales 15 minutes to cure then spray the exterior with quick set. Basically the quick set is only necessary to keep the squeezeout glue from getting all over your hands.
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the wax paper cut in 3rds at the bands saw is genius.
 
JG Custom Metal Works said:
Does anyone glue up entire sheets for layered scale combos they like? Any particular methods you use that would be different than just working scales sized pieces?
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I do. I suck a sheet of G10 down to a flat vacuum table and use a big facemill to skim a few thou off the top surface to get the shine off. Since it's on a CNC I go ahead and trace out the finished scale shape oversize on the sheet with a shallow cut so I can see where the scales material needs to go for the next operation. most of the time I laminate the work with black Acraglas on black G10. I set up sheets up to 12X24 and process them as if they were a solid sheet.

Some osage orange that was processed this way:

110.jpg~original


I don't generally like brightly colored liners on my work.
 
Fiddleback said:
That idea was Ken's. Ken is my 2nday in charge.
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I concur, that's a great idea. I'm in the process of building a little table for gluing scales.

I used the white G10 liner between the black and natural micarta and it turned out great. Thanks a bunch for the help everyone, I really appreciate it. Here's a few pics:




 
Nice job. That one looks great.
 
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