My first attempt with homemade Micarta scales.part 1)

[traps38]

Well,i wanted to share with everyone here also with my attempt at making scales with homemade Micarta scales that i have studied from youtube videos and from threads with your info and input.

I have been waiting for scale blanks to come in from Australia but have been taking a little longer than i have expected so i decided to dabble with learning how to make this Micarta thing.

My first attempt was to make scales with colored paper like this:

After i used the Fiberglass resin and hardener and all the clamping together as had seen,when i removed them after 24 hours they looked good.

I then proceeded to cut them up but they unstuck and came apart, so that didn't go quite as i had expected.

Now i don't know if i didn't use enough of the Resin and put to little as i was pasting it on or clamped it to tight and to much resin came out,i just didn't know.

So decided to cut some fabric material out in pieces and try that out instead to see maybe if it could work better as it will be more porous and might hold the resin better.


I then proceeded again with pasting them one at a time piece by piece with more generous amounts of resin this time sandwiched together,about 15 pieces of fabric,
and then clamped them up again for 24 hours.



This time it turned out better.
The micarta is pretty easy to cut with a coping saw so that helps a lot as i don't have a band saw.

I then continued my normal process of rough sanding the scales on my newly acquired belt sander and then hit the sanding by hand from 220 grit till 2000grit.

I will continue in a second part as i won't be able to post more pictures here.

 

[traps38]

My first attempt with homemade Micarta scales (part 2)

After i finished with the sanding i got this:



Now just some final touches with putting on the scales, and voila:



Now they are far from perfect but for the first time a was pleasantly surprised how they came out.

This is for sure something that i will continue with as it is pretty amazing and endless in the types of scale designs that can be made.

Now this razor is in my "Honing garage" ready to hit the stones.

Any comments or help for the next time would be greatly appreciated and thank you again for all your help.

NEXXXXTTTTT to be continued.

 

[Cartier]

That is awesome. Please keep me updated. I have wanted to make Micarta and this is pushing me close to bucking down and doing it. I would like to see your other creations.

 

[tomjr]

nice.

 

[daflorc]

That is pretty cool Traps! Tip: if after finish sanding you find that any of your micarta material doesn't finish very smooth, put an epoxy resin finish over it - if you do this, you can use pretty much anything you want to make scales - think gold flakes, sand, miniature gears, etc. etc. I think I saw some guy make scales out of hay

 

[traps38]

That is pretty cool Traps! Tip: if after finish sanding you find that any of your micarta material doesn't finish very smooth, put an epoxy resin finish over it - if you do this, you can use pretty much anything you want to make scales - think gold flakes, sand, miniature gears, etc. etc. I think I saw some guy make scales out of hay

Thanks,that sounds really cool.

 

[otto76]

Pretty cool!
It took me a second try with the construction paper micarta, my first batch did the same thing yours did. My problem was not enough resin, it didn't get spread out thick enough on the edges.

 

[Slash McCoy]

A good use for old worn lapping film!

 

[otto76]

A good use for old worn lapping film!

That's a very interesting idea.

 

[traps38]

Pretty cool!
It took me a second try with the construction paper micarta, my first batch did the same thing yours did. My problem was not enough resin, it didn't get spread out thick enough on the edges.

Did the second attempt come out with a nice design pattern?
Any pics?would love to see them.

 

[otto76]

I thought it looked pretty cool, maybe my favorite scales so far. The pattern all depended on the sanding so they all looked a little different.


The last pic was from a different batch and I think I had too many colors. I will stick with two or three tops in the future.

 

[traps38]

They are al amazing.
The one with the fountain pen is gorgeous.
What colors did you use and did you use anything to glossy them up?
And does anything happen to these scales if they are under water too much?

 

[otto76]

They are al amazing.
The one with the fountain pen is gorgeous.
What colors did you use and did you use anything to glossy them up?
And does anything happen to these scales if they are under water too much?

Thank you, appreciate that.
The colors on the first three are orange and black, just alternated about every three or four pages. The last one is blue, yellow, green, red, maybe another color in there too. I think it was a little too much.
Nothing to gloss them up except hand sanding with micro mesh. It is pretty much impregnated with resin which gives it kind of a sheen and also (so far) has kept it waterproof. I haven't submerged the scales or anything but water hasn't been an issue, I believe that is one of the "pros" for using micarta is it's durability and water resistant properties.

I have a bunch of chopped up necktie I am wanting to try next, haven't had a lot of free time lately so I have been sticking with acrylic.

 

[Gamma]

Nice work - you could probably sell blanks of that material if you made extras.

Very cool.

 

[otto76]

Thank you Gamma. I have considered that, this stuff is such a mess I have been too lazy to make any unless I really wanted to use it myself

Doc226 is the one who got me turned on to this..have you seen his paper micarta scales? Very very cool.
He also made me some out of my old clothes, before I had the vise and stuff to do it myself, ended up becoming these scales:

 

[Doc226]

Thank you Gamma. I have considered that, this stuff is such a mess I have been too lazy to make any unless I really wanted to use it myself

Doc226 is the one who got me turned on to this..have you seen his paper micarta scales? Very very cool.
He also made me some out of my old clothes, before I had the vise and stuff to do it myself, ended up becoming these scales:
View attachment 344948

My only request was the shorts be washed-LOL

 

[otto76]

My only request was the shorts be washed-LOL

Of course.

 

[traps38]

One thing i also thought of since i had my mother cut out some of the material i used, like my shirt is that it is an awesome way to remember your parents.

My parents are getting older and we don't live forever as we all know.

I have my mom picking out some old clothes of hers and my father's and i will be making some micarta with that.

It might be a little weird but every time i will use or look at my straight it will remind me of them.

 

[otto76]

Oh yeah, I get it!
The scale material Doc made me was from two of my favorite articles of clothing that I had literally worn ragged and couldn't bring myself to trash. I had a lot of fun in those clothes!
I have a couple of my kids favorite pieces of clothing, stuff I have a lot of memories of them in, and I will make scales out of them. I'm not very sentimental and don't usually feel like holding onto stuff but I think these will be really cool to have and remember them at such a young age.

 

[Gamma]

Thank you Gamma. I have considered that, this stuff is such a mess I have been too lazy to make any unless I really wanted to use it myself

Doc226 is the one who got me turned on to this..have you seen his paper micarta scales? Very very cool.
He also made me some out of my old clothes, before I had the vise and stuff to do it myself, ended up becoming these scales:

I remember that thread, esp the shorts washing stuffs.
I've been checking out home-made micarta info for a long while - there's a cool thread online somewhere where someone did some really impressive work by making thick blocks of fabric Micarta and then cutting/shaping it for knife handles. Love the resulting patterns - never had the ambition to try it myself though. I have enough trouble dealing with the standard pre-fab materials, and I don't do enough resto work to justify getting deeper into it.
I'm always very interested in seeing projects like this develop, I get to live vicariously though the efforts of others sometimes - well, often actually.

Cool stuff.