Supplier for plastic spacer material?

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
7,680
Does anybody know where I can get some plastic spacer material? I can find tons of vulcanized available but most of the makers here seem to think it's too hard to work with and complain that it's affected by moisture. Texasknifemakersupply lists the plastic material but they are "out of stock" on all colors, so no luck there. Couldn't find any at Jantz, knife kits, or USAknifemakers.........

Anyplace I'm missing?

Thanks
 
The spacer from Texas Knifemaker's is somewhat brittle.

I've heard of some people using relatively thick plastic disposable plates from Walmart, etc.

Mike L.
 
Don't waste your time with plastic!!!

I quit using vulcanized stuff about 9 years ago and started surface grinding micarta down for spacer material (works great but time/labor intensive for something so simple).

It was fairly recently that it FINALLY dawned on me that my buddy Chuck Bybee (Alpha Knife Supply http://www.alphaknifesupply.com ) sells G10 in a myriad of colors in just about any thickness you could want.

I currently have 0.014", 0.024", and 0.060" It is THE WAY to go (IMHO) :)
 
I wanted to add that using plastic plates is a horrible idea. It's cheap material that your epoxy won't stick to, and if you clean things up with Acetone it will eat right through that crap.

Sheets of G10 from AKS are a few bucks and will make a ton of spacers.
 
I'm glad that somebody mentioned that. There are very few plastics that are durable and chemical resistant enough for this application and there are also very few that epoxy will bond to properly. Lunch plates, cups, plastic packaging, vinyl siding etc all have poor adhesion. Some can be solvent welded to similar material, but not to steel, and epoxy, CA etc don't bond well to these materials. Not well enough for a knife handle.
 
NickWheeler said:
Don't waste your time with plastic!!!

I quit using vulcanized stuff about 9 years ago and started surface grinding micarta down for spacer material (works great but time/labor intensive for something so simple).

It was fairly recently that it FINALLY dawned on me that my buddy Chuck Bybee (Alpha Knife Supply http://www.alphaknifesupply.com ) sells G10 in a myriad of colors in just about any thickness you could want.

I currently have 0.014", 0.024", and 0.060" It is THE WAY to go (IMHO) :)
Click to expand...
+1 on what Nick said,it's the way to go.Also great people to deal with.

Stan
 
I use thin kydex works grest!! Knifekits.com had some and i found some on ebay aswell, and premiumknifesupply carries it aswell
 
NickWheeler said:
Don't waste your time with plastic!!!

I quit using vulcanized stuff about 9 years ago and started surface grinding micarta down for spacer material (works great but time/labor intensive for something so simple).

It was fairly recently that it FINALLY dawned on me that my buddy Chuck Bybee (Alpha Knife Supply http://www.alphaknifesupply.com ) sells G10 in a myriad of colors in just about any thickness you could want.

I currently have 0.014", 0.024", and 0.060" It is THE WAY to go (IMHO) :)
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks Nick and others for the advice. I'll get over there and give them a look:thumbup:
 
Wow! Just went and checked out the site over at Alpha. TONS of great stuff there. I will definitely send some business his way! Thanks again Nick:thumbup:
 
bacustomknives said:
I use thin kydex works grest!! Knifekits.com had some and i found some on ebay aswell, and premiumknifesupply carries it aswell
Click to expand...

Have you ever epoxied a piece of wood to Kydex and later tried to peal it off? I have tried 3M CA40H and I've tried an Areo marine 4:1 epoxy and it didn't stay put. Stuck to the wood fine. I can bond it to itself with weldon#4 and multipurpose pipe cement, but these don't bond to steel.

What has been your experience with Kydex and adhesion?
 
has been fine always ruff it up,has worked fine for me never an issue of lifting on me?? dont burn,dont chip or break either,thats using ca glue only,,
http://cgi.ebay.com/Knife-Making-Sp...899?pt=Collectible_Knives&hash=item3a556f0f23

014-2.jpg

:confused:
 
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I also use the thin G10 sheets from Alpha Knife Supply for liners. It works and looks much better than the vulcanized rubber I have used in the past.
 
Way too many good things said about Alpha. I've been over there and looked at the inventory, which is fairly extensive. I think that's where I'll be going for spacer material:thumbup:

Thanks for the input guys!
 
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