most expensive micarta ever

The only problem you would have is the fact that the pattern on the bills is printed just on the surface of the paper. Once you went to shape or polish the piece you would just sand off most of the design. Like you would sanding a painted piece of wood or metal just on a much thinner scale. It might show in some places but it would be just random luck. Now if you built a mold into the shape of the handle and just press bills into a finished shape then that might work. I have tried with printed patterns on paper and cloth and it just doesn't work well. Now I did make a piece for the Graham Brothers that had 12 carat gold leaf in it that was the second most expensive piece I made. The most expensive was a silk and carbon fiber piece.
 
If you have access to a light table get a few $1 bills line the edges up and look through them with the light. You'll notice that they very rarely line up. Because they print them in sheets and then cut them, it's hard to get them exactly the same. Maybe you could get sequential bills. That might make them, at least, come from the same print run.

It would definitely be cool if you could do it.
 
i think it would look really cool on the right knife.....what about adding silver or gold leaf to epoxy....i wonder if it would just melt.....ryan
 
I would probably run off copies of the bills, then use those. See how that works out first.
 
I could hook you up with Naira (Nigerian Money)
The only problem is the small notes are actually made of plastic!!!!!
 
I'm afraid I'd have to agree with Mark.
I tried something similar with printed patterns. Unless the pattern goes all the way through the material and not just the very surface of one side, when you grind it, most of the cross section is paper with just a little line of color. The pattern is overwhelmed by ugly paper because the material's thickness is made up of paper and the printed surface is what, .001--maybe?

Also, the best resins that will really penetrate the paper tend to attack the inks and things get funky.

On the plus side, US currency is printed with very robust inks and probably penetrates much further than typical printed matter. Still, I'd suspect the inked surface will still be a really small percentage of cross section.

Think I'd try a small test stack before chunking a pile of bills.
Good luck!
 
Then after making the knife to go with it etch the Presidents photo fromt he bills chosen into the blade.
LOL Etch the words "Hey IRS try to TAKE This money from me" LOL

Larry
 
i would think the older green back bills would look good. AtomicPC ;), i have been looking for an knife idea for blade 20XX. i think it would have to be a dager with some gold inlay.
 
Cool Idea! Just cut the corners or a 1/4" strip off of a dozen or so bills,you can still spend it and you get to test the real deal.Casting a bill wrapped around a contoured hande might work too :confused:
Just think if you throw enough sh!t at the wall some of it has to stick!!!:D
 
Of course pool balls are made of plastic. Even the clear ones. I wonder what it would take to have a bill surrounded with the hard plastic then make the handle out of it? Polish it up real nice.
 
you could use the crystal sheen and pore half the scale in a mold then place bill. then pore the other half.
 
Any Cal. said:
I would probably run off copies of the bills, then use those. See how that works out first.
Click to expand...
Good idea. Because if you did do it with real currency, and Secret Service finds out, you could be in trouble.

Title 18 United States Code, Section 333

Mutilation of national bank obligations

Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites
or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft,
note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking
association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System,
with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence
of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Click to expand...

Then again, they've never used it to convict anyone yet....
 
That sounds like a cool idea, but I wouldn't use wood for the top and bottom press plates. When you really put it under pressure you get too much of the wood grain texture pressed into it. I've got a bunch of 1/2" white teflon that I've used to make some molds. A little tap, and it releases from the epoxy without any problems. I got it from a local plastics shop. The guy said it was very common, so it should be easy to find. I got a bunch of cutoff pieces, 8"x32", for $10.

If you're going to make a wood box for the mold, at least wrap all the pieces individually with saran wrap before screwing it all together. Unscrew it after it's done and all the pieces come off so you can reuse it.

New dollars always have a waxy feel to them, so maybe they wouldn't work so well. I'd try a single bill folded up several times and pressed to see how good the epoxy fills it.

I've been wanting to do the same thing only using those small cloth American flags that are used for promotions or given out at parades around the 4th of July. The 3D effect would be most cool.

good luck, and lets see the pictures.
 
just to answer your question: don't use any old resin and certainly not your typical 5 minute epoxy resin. It won't fare well in a short while from hand oils and humidity (i know I made a shaving handle from the stuff).

You gotta get Marine Epoxy at your local marine shop. Unfortunately they might want to sell you a big friggin container... if so... find a marine shop that has a repair shop at the back... then your chances of getting smaller containers resin are better.

as far as soaking in the bills, You will have to do it under a vacuum bell with a small pump. My buddy does extremely well by just using plastic bags and an old pump from a fridge (and mastic to plug gaps between the bag and the vacuum hose). We have molded custom knee pads that way for ice canoeing (www.canotaglace.org if you want to see the sport, not the pads).

my guess is, you will have to build a mould box, put the shredded bills in it, pour the resin (premixed A and B) place the bell atop (or inside the bags) create vacuum. wait.

demould, start carving.

good luck.
 
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