Show your homemade Micarta

Niles · #1

I know there are quite a few folks out there making their own micarta.

Care to share?

Here's my micarta handles for the Elmax mule. Made from denim and a red cotton fabric:

phillipsted · #2

Looks very nice, Niles! What kind of resin did you use?

TedP

Niles · #3

phillipsted wrote:Looks very nice, Niles! What kind of resin did you use?

TedP

I don't remember the brand, and I'm at work at the moment, but I used the fiberglass resin from Walmart. Home Depot sells the stuff in larger quantities for better economy if you know you'll be doing several handles.

Here's part 1 of a three part series that's really good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKCu9bU ... ata_player

angusW · #4

Looks nice Niles. Did you make those in a hydraulic press?

EDIT: After watching the video I take it you didn't. Looks pretty easy. I'll have to try it out some day. Thanks for the link.

Niles · #5

angusW wrote:Looks nice Niles. Did you make those in a hydraulic press?

EDIT: After watching the video I take it you didn't. Looks pretty easy. I'll have to try it out some day. Thanks for the link.

Yea, I just used a board and clamps. I've got another batch brewing right now--burlap and construction paper. I'm not as sure about how these will turn out though...I'm not sure I used enough resin on the burlap to fill in the holes. We'll see.

ChapmanPreferred · #6

Outstanding! Nice work Niles.

brj · #7

jabba359 · #8

My roommate said we were moving out at the end of the month of February, so I threw out a bunch of my old jeans that I had intended to turn into Micarta, thinking I wouldn't have a chance to use them any time soon and wanting to minimize the junk I had to move. Two days before the end of the month I found out that the other apartment had fallen through and that we weren't moving after all, so I'm kicking myself for tossing out my denim literally days before you posted the link showing how easy it is to make Micarta (I thought it was much more difficult). Guess I better get to work wearing out my current crop of jeans...

street soldier · #9

jabba359 wrote:My roommate said we were moving out at the end of the month of February, so I threw out a bunch of my old jeans that I had intended to turn into Micarta, thinking I wouldn't have a chance to use them any time soon and wanting to minimize the junk I had to move. Two days before the end of the month I found out that the other apartment had fallen through and that we weren't moving after all, so I'm kicking myself for tossing out my denim literally days before you posted the link showing how easy it is to make Micarta (I thought it was much more difficult). Guess I better get to work wearing out my current crop of jeans...

If you are looking for cheap denim, check out your local thrift stores. I'm sure that they have old jeans of all colors and sizes on the racks. Should be pretty inexpensive as well.

Niles · #10

street soldier wrote:If you are looking for cheap denim, check out your local thrift stores. I'm sure that they have old jeans of all colors and sizes on the racks. Should be pretty inexpensive as well.

I got mine from a fabric store. Just a couple buck a yard and half a yard will likely do.

jabba359 · #11

Thanks guys for the denim suggestions. I just thought it would be cool to have Micarta made from the jeans that I wore. Plus the price for salvaging the denim from my worn out pants was right (free!), but I think I'll just have to make a trip to the fabric store.

Niles · #12

Thanks for all the replies gents. I'm excited for the folks that are going to give it a go...excited to see what you come up with.

Brj, I dig your colors...very cool!

I finished a couple handles tonight. The first is made from construction paper (blue and white):

The second one is made from burlap and construction paper (black). I didn't care for this one. I was pretty excited about burlap, but it just didn't come out how I expected it would, so I didn't spend much time on the fit and finish. I have another set of scale ready to be shaped and sanded that is entirely burlap (no construction paper), but I'm not sure I'll like it any better.

What I did like was the spine:

crankitup · #13

very nice work indeed

Zencowboy · #14

I like the burlap...unique! Niles, where do you get you pivot/barrel/screws? The 3/16 x 1/4 shoulder step-drills are out of stock and cannot find another place. I was going to just use a 3/16 drill then lightly bore in the holes with a 1/4 drill bit!? What you think?
Making my micarta with one of my old pants this weekend.

THANKS!

phillipsted · #15

Zencowboy wrote:The 3/16 x 1/4 shoulder step-drills are out of stock and cannot find another place. I was going to just use a 3/16 drill then lightly bore in the holes with a 1/4 drill bit!?

This should be fine, Zen. I broke a step-bit once and did exactly what you said for a couple of scales. Make sure to use a 1/4" bit with a wide point angle (like 135 degrees) so you get the bottom of the hole as flat as possible. As long as you are careful to align the bit with the existing holes, it will turn out great!

TedP

Zencowboy · #16

Thanks Ted! Will do that.
The pivot/barrel/screws I wanted was at knifekits.com due to their 302 stainless steel and I guess longer description than the other sites...but out of stock too.
Here:http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/product_i ... cts_id=469

So, going with 416 stainless from USAknifemaker.com
http://www.usaknifemaker.com/pivot-barr ... p-101.html

Thanks

Niles · #17

Zencowboy wrote:I like the burlap...unique! Niles, where do you get you pivot/barrel/screws? The 3/16 x 1/4 shoulder step-drills are out of stock and cannot find another place. I was going to just use a 3/16 drill then lightly bore in the holes with a 1/4 drill bit!? What you think?
Making my micarta with one of my old pants this weekend.

THANKS!

That's exactly what I did. If you've got a 1/4" router bit, you can use a regular 1/4" bit to start the hole then finish with the flat bottom router bit to square it off.

As for the pins, I've been recycling the knifekits screws. They're spendy so I've been using them on a few handles at a time.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to make some micarta pins. I hope that I can press them in tightly enough to not need to glue the handle down and make it permanent. Hopefully the handle will be stable, and if I want to change it out I can just tap out the pins. We shall see.

Looking forward to your handles!

Evil D · #18

I really like the burlap but it needs a rough texture, not polished.

Niles · #19

Evil D wrote:I really like the burlap but it needs a rough texture, not polished.

I'm in the process of changing it...stay tuned, we'll see what you think.

Niles · #20

Alright, better, but I'm still not entirely sold on the burlap:

Sure feels nice in the hand though. A little more careful filing and sanding could really bring out the pattern better that what I did here.