Spar urethane and micarta

[Aktundra]

Im teaching myself how to make Eskimo ulu’s. Trying to make do with materials already on hand (old saw blades, hardwood flooring samples, etc). To get the handle width I wanted, I had to sandwich some flooring hardwood on either side of a thin strip of colored paper & epoxy micarta.

Needless to say, a working ulu, is in & out of water & fish guts for hours & days on end, while the fish are running, then thrown in a box till next year. Probably one of the most severe conditions for a wood & steel tool.

I have some OLD clear spar urethane, left over from a canoe project, I figure it would be a durable coating for the wood/micarta handles

Does anybody know if a urethane will degrade or otherwise be incompatible with micarta ?

 

[Joshua Fisher]

All wood finishes have a shelf life, oil based urethanes have about a 6-8 month shelf life, after that pitch it. It may not cure properly. Other than that if you went out and got a new can of spar varnish it should dry just fine on micarta, it would be a poor finish for a knife handle in my opinion, it’s far easier to slap a heavy coat of oil on the handle and blade at the start of the day and when you toss it in the tool box for next season then it is to strip/sand the urethane when it will need refinished in less than a year with that much use.