Polishing micarta scales?

[Cash$]

I have seen lots of different micarta scales online. They look rough and jagged... Can they be polished?

Here Is an example:

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Micarta can be polished. The coarser grades like burlap don't polish as well as linen or paper Micarta.

 

[Skimo]

I've got a polished paper micarta handled knife, excellent little thing. I'd probably take that straight to a buffer.

 

[Lieblad]

.....

 

[Cash$]

I have a spyderco resilience and wanted to get some grips to jazz it up a bit but I'll stay away from micarta till I can handle the grips in person. They seem rough and not pleasing (looks can be deceiving). Too bad there just isn't that many choices for this knife. I custom camo my g10 grips and etched my initials and color filled with glow paint.

 

[Ratman79]

i have a bark river in black canvas micarta and it appears quite shiny and polished- bravo 1 specifically. im not sure how its done though.

then on the other hand i have several bussekin with canvas micarta and they are matte and not "slippery" like bark river.

so to answer the original question, sure, micarta can take a fine finish.

 

[Bighaze51]

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I think it depends mostly on what material(s) are used in it (different papers, linens, canvas, etc). This is one of my micarta-handled folders (actually A.G. Russell's proprietary 'Rucarta'), and it's pretty glossy & smooth. That being said, even it has a limit as to how shiny it gets by simple polishing alone (I've tried):

I'd imagine the coarseness / weave of the fabric itself probably makes the most difference.


David

 

[Eric@DLT]

The scales on that spyderco look like they came direct from the cnc machine. Bark River does get a high polish on their micartas but they do go through several steps to get there from using belt sanders, and various grit buffing wheels. Most are finished with a high gloss, I think it was around 1200 grit.

If you're careful it could be done. I'd just be worried about removing to much material with a scale that thin.

 

[Keyman]

I find all types of micarta.....paper, linen and canvas can be finished to a fine polished look.
This type of finish does a wonderful job displaying the beautiful weave pattern that micarta has.
However, rough unpolished canvas has awesome grip and is extremely comfortable "in hand".

Polished canvas micarta


Un-polished canvas micarta

 

[Cash$]

Any constellation the picture I posted for the Spyderco resilience micarta grips is from Cfgrips a company that sells on eBay. They sell all sorts of grips for different knives.

So, is it worth buying those or am I better off spending 3times the amount and having custom grips made for the resilience?
I was wanting something around 40bones to bring the knife alive again.

Here Is a photo of the knife with my custom camo painted scales and initials glowing

 

[Keyman]

For $40 I'd buy the scales from Cfgrips.
They look like they will be grippy enough, that's for sure.
If you want something better than that you'll need to spend more $.