Re-Handling a Busse

S

sketchbag

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I just scored an Active Duty with no handles from one of the bros on the exchange. I've got a sheet of micarta, some red liner material for those sexy go-faster stripes, and my fasteners ready to go.

In lieu of a band saw, what would you recommend for cutting the micarta? I've got a jig saw (think thats what its called, the hand tool with the small reciprocating blade) and a Dremel which I could get some "roto-zip" cutting bits for.


Also, how can I go abouts sculpting and sanding the micarta so that it's perfectly flush with the steel, without scuffing the coating?
 
The problem as I see it is that you want to preserve the coating. that makes the rehandling task MUCH more difficult. You've got to sand the scales close, then fit them, then remove them, then sand them a LITTLE, then fit them, then remove them, then sand them a little...

Until they're perfect. Thats why its so hard to make grips for guns by hand too btw. You can't just scratch the metal then polish it out.

If you strip your blade your job will be much easier.

OR, and I'm a newb, so I don't even know if Busse offers this, you could just buy already machined scales for your knife and put those on. That would be doable without scratching the coating.

Otherwise, IMHO, you need to strip it and deal with the stripped blade.
 
Micarta is a pain to cut without some kind of table saw. The jigsaw will work, use one of the finer toothed wood blades you can find, the high tpi metal blades just tend to burn up and the coarse toothed wood blades bind up and won't cut. The big thing is to get it clamped down REALLY good, if you can do that it's smooth sailing I think. First time I tried cutting micarta scales from a large piece I figured I could use the jigsaw and just put some pressure on it with my hand while I cut, thing was jumping all over the place and the cuts looked aweful. If you want to leave the coating on the spine and handle intact then use a scribe after you do a rough fit of the scales and outline the handle profile onto the micarta, use files or a belt sander (or a dremel with a drum sander, takes a steady hand though) and do the final shaping of the handle before you install it on the knife. If you do use any power sanding tools it's a good idea to do this in a well ventilated area with at least a dust mask on, if you have a respirator use it.
 
Fiddleback,
ahhh I was afraid of that. Oh well, I abuse all of my knives and this AD will be no exception, may as well deal with the soon to be uglied up coating now and save my self a lot of hassle trying to work around it.

Any tips on cutting the sheet of micarta into the roughed out handle shapes? Obviously I'd like to get them as tight as possible to save my self from any unnecessary sanding.

Thanks!
 
huh, I found cutting micarta easy with a jigsaw (using linen electrical micarta). The hard part is the fact that i was using a small piece and the saw hit the clamp. I think that a coping saw would work well.
 
Find someone with a bandsaw you can borrow. A jigsaw sounds horrible.
 
Yoda,
Thanks, those are some very helpful tips!

I'll give it a shot scribing the outline and sanding the scales to fit separately, but I've got a bad track record with things like that. Drywall for example, unusual custom fit pieces that need to be rasped into shape never go well for me, as I work it down it's always not enough-not enough-not enough-TOO MUCH! At least with drywall loose fits can be dealt with, I'd just end up wrecking the slabs and having to start over probably.
 
Fiddleback said:
Find someone with a bandsaw you can borrow. A jigsaw sounds horrible.
Click to expand...

I've been asking around to no avail, although my brother probably has one he's never been one to share his tools. Ever. :thumbdn:

I hope I'll have a similar experience as Kieth. I've got a 12"x12" sheet of canvas micarta, so I've got some margin for error.
 
Having a big sheet like that is helpful. You can try to stay away from the clamps.

Keep us posted. Good luck.
 
Really I think the easiest way will be to cut them into appropriately sized rectangles, temporarily fasten them with bolts or whatnot, then using a belt sander with a 60 grit belt to hog off the excess, then sand to fit. But this means you're going to remove the coating from the handle area unless you're extremely careful. Oh, and do dull the edge and tip before shaping the handle with powertools, the small ones can get away from you real easy.
 
make your self a template of the knife handled area with some mild steel, try to use a band saw to cut the micarta, it should be better than a jig saw, then sand the shape to fit your template, when its done attach to your new knife, with your coating still intact.
 
fastcamo said:
make your self a template of the knife handled area with some mild steel, try to use a band saw to cut the micarta, it should be better than a jig saw, then sand the shape to fit your template, when its done attach to your new knife, with your coating still intact.
Click to expand...

If I had the means of making a precise template from steel I'd just do it to the micarta :p


Anyway, here's an update
CIMG1327.jpg
CIMG1324.jpg


Used the jig saw, didnt have clamps so I just held it down with my palm. Did most of the sanding with the dremmel. Still got a ways to go custom fitting the handle ergonomics.

This ones going to get stripped and hopefully mirror finished eventually.

I sanded the slabs till they were mostly flush, but I had to remove them to sand the ends, and I'm having trouble getting the slabs lined up perfectly when I reattach them. Any suggestions?
 
To get the slabs to match perfectly would require one last sanding as a final step after all of the screws are locked down tight ensuring that the handles will stay put. That would probably be the easiest way. You can also try fitting the handles perfectly with some superglue (assuming that they were already sized correctly) before attaching the fasteners.
 
Ban said:
To get the slabs to match perfectly would require one last sanding as a final step after all of the screws are locked down tight ensuring that the handles will stay put. That would probably be the easiest way. You can also try fitting the handles perfectly with some superglue (assuming that they were already sized correctly) before attaching the fasteners.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan. I'm guessing I'm going to have to re countersink the screw holes with a drill press, I did them manually with the dremmel so tightening the screws will probably push it out of alignment.
 
sketchbag said:
Sounds like a plan. I'm guessing I'm going to have to re countersink the screw holes with a drill press, I did them manually with the dremmel so tightening the screws will probably push it out of alignment.
Click to expand...

The countersink looks fine to me. Like I said. Tighten down everything first followed by another final sanding to flush everything up.
 
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