micarta question

T

troutback

Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
4
hi folks,
i am new to knife making and have just finished my first knife(sort of). it has micarta paper scales. i was thinking i would rather have micarta canvas or linen instead(havent epoxied the scales in place yet till i make up my mind).

question is....i had read somewhere about a guy in the navy talking about making his own micarta while in the service.

i tried a bit using the epoxy i had lying around but it doesn't seem hard/rigid enough.

what is the type of epoxy used to make micarta?

would west system work?

thanx in advance for the hundreds of responses this will surely generate....
 
I have a bud who makes/sells micarta and he uses West by the gallon!

There's a very good tutorial on making your own around here someplace...can't ever find it when I'm looking for it, someone will be by soon to link you to it.
 
I have used Bondo fiberglass auto body repair resin, that you can buy at wally world, works great with burlap.
 
Micarta is made with a phenolic resin, and it gets very hard.
The home made stuff, which I call MyCarta, is made with epoxy resins, and can range from a fairly hard material to a mushy mess. I have tried a good bit of home made MyCarta, and have never found any that comes even close to true Micarta.

I prefer the canvas Micarta, as the grip is better. Paper Micarta is a bit tricky to finish. If you want a smoother handle than the canvas, use the linen.
Stacy
 
thanks for the responses.

i don't have any west system at this time but have worked with it for wood/boat related projects in the past(am a professional woodworkwer).

bladesmith, your response brings up more of the original question. is there a phenolic based epoxy that is available to make micarta with? or is it a large chemically based process that one needs a manufacturing set up for?

i see that jamestown distributors(boatbuilding supplies site that carries west system products) carries a product called phenolic microballons that are to be mixed with epoxy as a fairing material. has anyone used this? it's described as similar to west's thickener. wondering if it might give the desired results, maybe being dissolved into the epoxy and making it act more like a phenolic based compound?

thanx again.
 
troutback said:
thanks for the responses.



bladesmith, your response brings up more of the original question. is there a phenolic based epoxy that is available to make micarta with? or is it a large chemically based process that one needs a manufacturing set up for?


thanx again.
Click to expand...

That is a really good question. There is no phenolic based epoxy, because then it would be epoxy, not phenolic. Epoxy is to phenolic, what phenolic is to thermoset polyurethane, or thermoset polyester (fiberglass resin), or crosslinked acrylic. Different animals.

I think Bakelite is phenolic, but I don't know where you might get it as a raw, unprocessed material.

I expect the reason you don't see it is because it probably takes both heat and pressure to set most of them off, which would be outside the scope of the do-it-yourselfer.
 
thanks again cauldra,
excellent tute.

also nathan, you've got me thinking....making phenolic with heat. that's exactly what happens with west system. heat. adding the phenolic microballoons might be just what the doctor ordered.
 
Adding phenolic micro-balloons to epoxy will make it Micarta the same way sprinkling charcoal powder on 1030 will make it W2. ( it won't!)

Phenolic resin is an entirely different animal from epoxy. It is an industrial process, and not for home procedures.

IMHO the comparison is about 10 for phenolic and 5 for epoxy, as far as scale quality goes. ( 1-10 scale)

Stacy
 
your right bladesmith, i did more research....phenolic resin, formaldahyde, heat....sheesh....

by the way, what's with the finnish reference there?
 
Formaldehyde - jeesh, the dust from that stuff must be really nasty. I have decent dust collection in my basement shop but I'm still hesitant to use it indoors! What's the word on the street about the dust hazzard and handling it?
 
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