Micarta Tips wanted!

[Jedadiah]

Hey good people,

i'm wondering if any of you have any tips or tricks you could recommend as i am shortly embarking on my first attempt at using Micarta scales.

Never having used it before i wondered if anyone has any experience in bonding, using liners, shaping and finishing and could give me some do's and dont's. I intend to use loveless bolts for the first time so the same goes for that.

Thanks very much,

Jedadiah

 

[Longstrider]

Hi Jed, I've just finished my own first ever micarta handle and despite what others have said about the stuff I found that I really like working it. It's tough stuff so don't expect to manage with a quick sanding. I shaped my slabs almost to the point where they were a flush fit to the edge of the full tang before I fitted them to the knife (with three 6mm stainless pins in my case) then drilled a few divots in the back of the slabs with a 7mm drill bit to give the epoxy resin a better grip on the shiny micarta.
I was warned not to work micarta on a powertool (my Rexon belt linisher) as it gives off some pretty nasty fumes when hot, but I soon got bored with coarse wet-n-dry and did a lot of the shaping on the machine. To be honest, it did "hum" a bit, but nothing near as bad as I had expected. Cocbolo dust is far worse
Work slowly and be prepared to go down to at least 800 grit wet-n-dry before you try to polish the micarta. From 800 grit I cheated and set about it with an 8" stitched cotton buffing wheel mounted in my pillar drill. A quick wipe of buffing compound (exacly the same stuff I use on my sharpening strops) on the buffing wheel and the micarta soon had a lovely polished finish. Doing it to this state purely by hand would require a good deal more elbow grease I'm sure, but it would still be perfectly possible.
If you are looking to keep your handle as symetrical as possible micarta makes the job easy by being slow to wear away under the ebrasive (so you don't over-do it too easily) and the layers mean that you can match the two sides as nicely as you want to by comparing them as you work.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[Martyn]

Hey good people,

i'm wondering if any of you have any tips or tricks you could recommend as i am shortly embarking on my first attempt at using Micarta scales.

Never having used it before i wondered if anyone has any experience in bonding, using liners, shaping and finishing and could give me some do's and dont's. I intend to use loveless bolts for the first time so the same goes for that.

Thanks very much,

Jedadiah

Just work it like hard, stabalised wood, it works well, it's forgiving, predictable and doesnt throw any surprises. Rough it a little before bonding and it will set up lovely.

 

[Lord Farquhar]

Cheers for the tips all. I have been 3 years knife making and never used the stuff and i have had some kicking about for ages.

 

[Jedadiah]

Yeah, cheers fella's, very much appreciated. I'm itching to get going but i'm not able to start yet, through one thing and another. Easy does it!

 

[C_Claycomb]

Before glueing the slabs on to the tang I always flatten them on 120g wet and dry lubricated with water and stuck to glass or formica counter top. Micarta is not always dead flat! Also, I like to get through that shiny surface before trying to glue it.

On the finishing side, wet sanding cuts down on the dust tremendously. A very nice grippy, tactile, finish can be had by wet sanding to 220 or 320 grit and stopping there.

I find the dust from micarta much more offensive than that from any wood except sonokling rosewood, but I do only a tiny bit of shaping with power tools (just a touch with a dremil sanding drum). All the rest is done with wood rasps and files.

Micarta is a phenolic resin, get it hot enough and it gives off phenol vapour , so I have been told.