WIP...First attempt at micarta scales

Enluzenment

Enluzenment

Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
201
So I decided to finally give making micarta a shot. The results are...ok. I would say it came out satisfactory but not fantastic. If I ever make some again I think I'll use a little more resin than I did. I'm about 90% done with a set of scales of my nine. I just have some final sanding and I gotta find some permanant hardware for it. I was thinking of bringing the bolster area down a little, I feel like its intruding on the blade a bit. I was also thinking of reshaping the butt to mimic the shape of the steel (hexagon like). Let me know what you guys think. Constructive criticism is apprecitated.

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That looks a heck of a lot better than my first attempt at it. I think you did great. Micarta is a bit of a pain in the ass to make, especially without a second pair of hands.

Nice job man, I think you did a nice job pullin off the two-tone scale though, and they look well shaped.
 
Looks good to me. Nice timing I was getting ready today to make some. Any tips? What cloth did you use?
 
LG&M said:
Looks good to me. Nice timing I was getting ready today to make some. Any tips? What cloth did you use?
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Well this being my first attempt I probably don't have as good of tips as the guys who've done it a lot but I would say the biggest tip I can give is make sure you do it outside or in a well ventilated area. I made the mistake of putting the micarta together in my basement. BAD IDEA! The whole house was engulfed in the resin fumes. I had to open all the doors and windows and air the place out for a couple hours. Definitely wear a mask for sanding and gloves for applying the resin, I wore glasses for sanding too, the dust doesn't feel good in your eyes. At least I smartened up and brought the belt sander and dremel outside for the sanding. It gets VERY dusty. Other than that, like I said above, don't be shy with the resin when your putting the micarta together, give it a good slathering. I used black and blue canvas. The person who owned my house befoe me used to sew up covers and awnings for boats and they left a few rolls of the stuff in the basement so I lucked out and have some good heavy duty awning canvas to work with. The whole process isn't difficult work but like GarnetandBlack said it's kinda just a pain in the ass. It can get tedious with all the sanding and it's very dirty work for sure. Do you have a belt sander? I can't imagine how long it would take without one. All I have is the little $40 1x30 from HF but it did the bulk of the work for me. If you have a 1x30 sander split one of your belts in half and you can get into the tight radii. Just make a slit with a knife and tear it the rest of the way, usually tears pretty straight. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the tips. I have the same HF sander. I will post when I make some after it warms up a bit.
 
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