Would it work or has anyone tried this?

D

devilpig

Joined
Mar 23, 2010
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You've got micarta which is paper/linen based and G10 which is fiberglass based...both impregnated with epoxy. Has anyone ever tried thin layers of leather impregnated with epoxy to make a hybrid natural/synthetic handle material? Just a thought as I'm getting ready to try my hand at making micarta and g10.
 
This guy did it.
[video=youtube;jhDtC-kv3S4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhDtC-kv3S4[/video]
 
Excellent, thanks for the reply. It looks as if he used one piece of leather on each side. I was thinking more along the lines of using thinner leather and layering it just like you would to end up with a 3/8" or 1/2" slab of micarta. It might end up with a cool effect once it was shaped.
 
This sounds interesting. Try it and let us see your results.
 
let me ask the stupid question, cause i'll admit i am stupid in this. what would be the interest or advantage of using leather? just different and see if it works, or the looks of it, or the feel of the scales with leather? or ...something i haven't thought of yet? thanks in advance for the insight/feedback....
 
Not sure if its more work than its worth, but what came to my mind when you say leather is a sort of leather cloth... like tiny strips woven as you would regular cloth, just with leather as the "yarn"
 
I thought of it mainly just as an alternative. Can't say that there would be a clear advantage. I assume it would feel like micarta or g10...pretty much like hardened epoxy. But there are differences in the feel, so maybe the leather would feel better/grippier. Plus another reason it crossed my mind is that I like the natural brown color of leather and the overall look, but I prefer synthetic scales for the longevity. Maybe this would be a good mix of the two.
 
SpartanSaint said:
Not sure if its more work than its worth, but what came to my mind when you say leather is a sort of leather cloth... like tiny strips woven as you would regular cloth, just with leather as the "yarn"
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I'm not sure if I have the skill to pull that off properly, but I like the idea.
 
devilpig said:
I'm not sure if I have the skill to pull that off properly, but I like the idea.
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I can't imagine it'd be very easy, but it sounds cool. I'm not even sure if you could get leather into strips thin enough to weave. Cowhide would be a major pain, but from my basic albeit crude understanding of leather working, I think you could experiment with more exotic hides that exhibit different traits. I think I heard somewhere that kangaroo was supposed to be very thin and very strong, maybe that would be more workable? Not likely to be cheap though.

Another thing that comes to mind is the old fashioned stacked leather you see on traditional style handles. You could alternate dyed and what not that when contoured would reveal an interesting pattern I would think
 
Unless you get some exotic (ie very thin) leather that would weave into a fabric almost, I'm afraid it would be too thick. Of course this is assuming you were layering it as I had planned, just as a micarta is layered. But if you were going to do very thin scales it might work. It would have to be a VERY tight weave though.

I'm gonna try my hand at layering some thinner leather and try it just as you would with denim for homemade micarta and see how that goes first.
 
I would mill out a recess in the middle of each handle slab and glue a piece of leather in the recess. If the leather didn't work, you could replace it with pearl (mother of).
 
Well, the first tests are promising, but didn't turn out great. The leather I used is very thin (not sure of the #) but it needs to be thinner. Also, I tried fiberglass resin and I need to use some epoxy resin. I knew beforehand that the fiberglass resin wouldn't set up as hard as epoxy, but I tried it anyway. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.
 
I put a leather lace wrap on a longbow years ago. It just didn't look clean enough for me, so I sanded the leather to a comfortable shape and used the leather dust mixed with epoxy. I then applied to the handle. It came out looking great and had a textured look and feel to it.
 
devilpig said:
Well, the first tests are promising, but didn't turn out great. The leather I used is very thin (not sure of the #) but it needs to be thinner. Also, I tried fiberglass resin and I need to use some epoxy resin. I knew beforehand that the fiberglass resin wouldn't set up as hard as epoxy, but I tried it anyway. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.
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You can thin that leather down easily with a belt sander. I've done it when sheath making with good results.
 
Something similar. Rick Marchand said he uses a piece of leather under his jute cord wrap and then epoxies the whole shibang. Might drop him a line.
 
I like the idea of the thin strips. For what its worth I cut strips (1/8 inch thick) and placed them in place of the cracked grips on an old gunboat. They are held in place with Gorilla Glue ( applied according to directions ). This occurred about one month ago and I am still evaluating this deal.....so far I really like it for looks, grip and uniqueness(?).
I plan to report back after more use and stress.

Herb
 
This type of process, the making of materials such as Micarta, is generally done by first drawing a vacuum on the material and then injecting the epoxy which has, itself, also been vacuumed to remove air bubbles. Once the epoxy has brought the vacuum to zero, then pressure is applied during the curing process.
 
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