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Tips or tricks when working with micarta?
- Thread starter Lo/Rez
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
- Messages
- 7,743
What, specifically, did you need? Paper is really nice finished to a high grit and can be polished. Canvas is nice with a media blasted finish. Both grind fine with with low grit belts, but be careful not to overheat. Obviously wear a respirator while grinding. I hand sand a lot after shaping. Mostly I'm doing small pieces for ferro rods, but it's the same basic process for the few sets of scales I've done.
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2013
- Messages
- 2,614
Use sharp belts when grinding, not too fast of speed to avoid burning. Its easy to cut. I use a coping saw without any issues.
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2008
- Messages
- 5,547
Micarta in scale thicknesses can be cut fine on a wood bandsaw, a lowish tooth count works better. You can rip it as well if you're working with a block, but it sucks on a wood saw and will dull your blade prematurely. Not nearly as bad as G10, of course.
I find that all types of micarta I've tried take a good polish. With canvas especially, a thread may surface here and there that never blends in all the way, but it's not a big problem. White paper micarta takes a lot of hand sanding to get to where you can buff it to a clean polish. Oiling lightly before buffing helps dope not stick in any pores in the material. Often the first buff serves merely to tell you where you need to go back and hand sand some more...
Canvas micarta in particular likes to clog belts. As mentioned above, sharp rough belts and slow speed help. I like to keep a compressor air nozzle by the grinder, to blow the micarta dust out of the belt periodically, and to keep things cool if the micarta or any fasteners seem to be overheating.
Wear a respirator when grinding it.
Be careful with paper micarta, it's a little more delicate and can split on you depending on its quality.
You'll notice that micarta is a little elastic, particularly when heated- i.e., that pin hole you just drilled that should fit fine just closes up a little too tight for the pin or corby to slide through. Sometimes I fix this by sanding my pins a little smaller, or a precisely oversize drill bit can be bought, but my favorite trick with corbys in micarta (wood too) is to ream the hole by hand with an endmill held in a drill chuck. A sharp 4 flute cutter, being twisted in with very little friction and thus no heat, will cut the hole or counterbore perfect for your pin or corby to slide in.
Finally, I save a lot of micarta scraps for random uses around the shop. In particular, I have a bunch of different little detail sanding sticks made as needs arose, out of scrap micarta and G10.
I find that all types of micarta I've tried take a good polish. With canvas especially, a thread may surface here and there that never blends in all the way, but it's not a big problem. White paper micarta takes a lot of hand sanding to get to where you can buff it to a clean polish. Oiling lightly before buffing helps dope not stick in any pores in the material. Often the first buff serves merely to tell you where you need to go back and hand sand some more...
Canvas micarta in particular likes to clog belts. As mentioned above, sharp rough belts and slow speed help. I like to keep a compressor air nozzle by the grinder, to blow the micarta dust out of the belt periodically, and to keep things cool if the micarta or any fasteners seem to be overheating.
Wear a respirator when grinding it.
Be careful with paper micarta, it's a little more delicate and can split on you depending on its quality.
You'll notice that micarta is a little elastic, particularly when heated- i.e., that pin hole you just drilled that should fit fine just closes up a little too tight for the pin or corby to slide through. Sometimes I fix this by sanding my pins a little smaller, or a precisely oversize drill bit can be bought, but my favorite trick with corbys in micarta (wood too) is to ream the hole by hand with an endmill held in a drill chuck. A sharp 4 flute cutter, being twisted in with very little friction and thus no heat, will cut the hole or counterbore perfect for your pin or corby to slide in.
Finally, I save a lot of micarta scraps for random uses around the shop. In particular, I have a bunch of different little detail sanding sticks made as needs arose, out of scrap micarta and G10.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2010
- Messages
- 1,315
I concur with everything Salem said. Be very careful when cutting/sanding on power equipment. If the micarta gets too hot, the burned area will be too deep to sand out.
I have had success with resawing scales from small blocks of micarta - but I highly recommend 3-TPI or 4-TPI resawing blades. Finer toothed blades won't clear the dust out of the kerf, resulting in heating and burning.
And definitely wear protection. Even though the dust isn't directly toxic, it smells bad and the fine phenolic dust is horrible for your lungs.
TedP
I have had success with resawing scales from small blocks of micarta - but I highly recommend 3-TPI or 4-TPI resawing blades. Finer toothed blades won't clear the dust out of the kerf, resulting in heating and burning.
And definitely wear protection. Even though the dust isn't directly toxic, it smells bad and the fine phenolic dust is horrible for your lungs.
TedP