Micarta scale question...

ridgeline

ridgeline

Think Twice - Post Once
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May 10, 2009
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Has anyone here attempted to or successfully dyed or waxed/oiled the micarta scales on an RC-3,4,5,6? I've seen other knives with this done, sometimes with favorable results. If anyone has a pictures, please share! Thanks.
 
Interesting, I didn't know you could do such a thing. I thought they came the color they came.
 
Shotgun said:
Interesting, I didn't know you could do such a thing. I thought they came the color they came.
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You're not wrong by any stretch, that is the case. However, it is my understanding that one micarta accepts alterations well, it can be sanded, and I've heard of people waxing and or dying them as they are still have a lot of porosity in their finished form. I'll keep looking for a few examples of this, hopefully someone else has heard of or even tried this themselves.

I like them how they are, but there is always room for improvement.
 
ridgeline said:
I like them how they are, but there is always room for improvement.
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You mean there's always tinkering that can be done whether it needs it or not. At least that's my problem. Interesting topic you've brought up. My Tan micarta gets dark very quickly from oils on my hands. I wonder how they'd react to surf board wax. I have some sticky bumps from our last trip to the beach that I'm tempted to experiment with.
 
My RC-4 Desert Tan with the canvas micarta handles sure do darken up with handling.

Just a drop of light gun oil on them makes a really dark spot.

I'm curious too on what others have done to change the micarta's appearance.
 
I've noticed that cleaning with liquid soap and water will bring the Tan micarta back to the lighter new look after they've dried. If darker is what you're looking for, I don't think it would hurt to try some type of dye. It will either work, or end up doing nothing.
 
You can dye micarta but it won't stay. What you are dying is only the very top exposed layer of linen or canvas and sunlight and wear will fade the dye quickly. The resin the the fabric is layered with will not accept dye. You can also buff/polish the micarta to a high luster finish but in so doing you have defeated the gripping property that helps you hang onto it when working especially in a wet environment. I would say the dying and polishing is for looks and collector stuff only. I wouldn't bother on a knife I was going to use a lot. Mike
 
People have had success dying G10 IIRC. So it should definitely be possible to dye micarta as it is in fact more porous and the fibers in the epoxy are absorbent.
 
Well give it a try and let us know then. I know that Micarta that is dyed bright orange for safety knives fades badly in sunlight with just a little time . We tried it a little before going to the G10 for our orange handles so that influenced what I wrote above. Even the color of the micarta when you get it changes a lot after exposure to sunlight over a little time whether used or not. Mike
 
MikePerrin said:
You can dye micarta but it won't stay. What you are dying is only the very top exposed layer of linen or canvas and sunlight and wear will fade the dye quickly. The resin the the fabric is layered with will not accept dye. You can also buff/polish the micarta to a high luster finish but in so doing you have defeated the gripping property that helps you hang onto it when working especially in a wet environment. I would say the dying and polishing is for looks and collector stuff only. I wouldn't bother on a knife I was going to use a lot. Mike
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Thanks for the input Mike, I was just wondering how it would look. I plan on using my RATs, so I don't want to alter the great grip of the micarta on my RC-6 and soon to arrive RC-4. Only reason I was curious was that I've seen some pictures of other knives that looked good with the dyed scales.
 
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