micarta ?

[cjd1980]

whats the diff between real micarta and the "mycarta" will "mycarta " hold up like micarta does it need to be sealed. the stuff i made seems pretty durable and was really easy to do any con i shold know about before using it on custumer knives thanks chris

 

[Patrickknives]

From what I have seen Mycarta is probably not as tough a micarta, micarta is made by an industrial process and is very uniform and about the toughest part of a knife. However Mycarta is more than tough for a knife handle and you can put it on any knife with confidence. The advantage of mycarta it adds another design element to the knife, stuff done with blue jeans and camaflouge is really cool.

Mycarta is made using resins just like micarta and should not need sealing. There have been posts on how to deal with the little fuzzies when you sand, a good drying oil like tung works well and give a good finish.

 

[Mark Nelson]

What kind of resin did you use? Did you check the chemical, heat and impact resistance of whatever you used? That will determine how well it hold up. Everyone compares the homemade stuff to micarta when in truth we should compare it more to G10. Since it is made with resin (hopefully good epoxy) instead of a phenolic.

 

[cjd1980]

the first stuff i made i just used some fiberglass resin i got at th hardware store the next bach i make i'll proboly use some west systems epoxy form the marine supply wanted to try it out before i went and purchased a gallon of epoxy for it is there particular epoxy that you guy recomend for it thanks chris

 

[Mark Nelson]

West Systems, System Three, MAS Epoxies are three common epoxies that will give you good results and will be much much better then any polyester resins or Vinylester resins that you can get. From impact, heat and chemical resistance and also moister absorption rates epoxy is the way to go. I use one from Dow Chemical called DER 24 which is harder to get but works well for me and gives the durability that I want. When I first started making this stuff I had a lot of questions about kinds of resins. What I did was went to some model airplane and boat building forums. May sound silly but people that build model airplanes for a living know more about epoxy and polyester resin then I think just about anyone except for the people that design and make the stuff. They get the most out of it and have used it all. They can tell you how to squeeze the most performance out of them also. Yes it is best to heat treat almost all epoxies like tempering the steel you use. May have to contact the company that makes what you use but you can find the info out there for each epoxy. Across the board if you wanted the best use epoxy. Lighter, stronger holds up better.

 

[James_Terrio]

...stuff done with blue jeans and camouflage is really cool...

Do you know of a way to do camo micarta so the camo pattern more or less shows up when you shape the piece? I tried to make a piece with camo duct tape by cutting it into strips so the pattern repeat was the same on each layer... sadly it didn't work worth a damn, the adhesive and/or the tape itself didn't bond with the epoxy so it never cured up Someone once suggested to print out a camo pattern so each page/layer would be the same, but good gawd that would take a while to print off like 100 copies to get enough thickness to make scales No idea how typical inkjet ink would react with the epoxy, either... any hints guys? Maybe it would be best to buy a whole bolt of camo cloth so I can cut it into pieces where the pattern matches, but again that sounds like a lot of work.

"20 years in front of printing presses and guitar amps... and people wonder why I say 'huh?' alot..."
JT -- formerly known as GibsonFan

 

[MRpink]

Maybe it would be best to buy a whole bolt of camo cloth so I can cut it into pieces where the pattern matches, but again that sounds like a lot of work.

Make your own camo! Just buy the right color linen and slap them together. Ban modified his Busse AK with custom micarta handles from Shadetree Phenolics (Fod). The handle material is a mixture of carbon fiber, black canvas, OD canvas, and red linen, and some other stuff.