Odd color Micarta

[19-3Ben]

As I've discussed before, I am setting up to make some knives in the near future (with pre-made blanks, so I guess I'm just assembling knives if you want to be picky).

I told my wife that if she wanted me to, I'd make her a knife and she picked out a skinner knife blank that she really likes. It's a great quality carbon steel one from Camillus from when they auctioned off their blanks.
My wife loves the color purple. I wanted to surprise her by making it with purple micarta grips.

Problem is, I can only find micarta in black, OD, hunter/forest green, grey, and white. I can't find a solid purple micarta blank anywhere on 'teh intarwebz.'


What am I to do?

 

[hso]

I have seen purple micarta so you should be able to find it if you contact the knife making supply houses and ask.

 

[Valkman]

Try http://www.knifeandgun.com
http://www.alphaknifesupply.com/
http://www.sheffieldsupply.com/

Mostly you'll find red or maroon micarta, don't know if purple is even available. The last resort is to find one of the guys that make micarta and have them make you some - check the knife forums for that.

 

[hmphargh]

You might look here: http://www.thewarfields.com/cnccookbook/CCMicartaIdeas.htm

 

[19-3Ben]

hso- Unfortunately, I looked around a bunch of the knife supply and didn't see them.

I had been very resistant to the idea of making it, but after seeing hmphargh's link, it looks like it's not quite as bad as I had imagined.

Anyone know what type of resin to use and where to buy it?

I don't have a press like was used in the linked write-up. I'll have to use a couple of large hardcover books with free-weights balanced on top.

 

[19-3Ben]

Ahhh, I just did some looking around. Looks like I'll have to use some serious weight! No problem. I can use wooden boards in conjunction with about 150lbs of freeweights. I can't imagine needing more than that.

I also saw that there are several tutorials where they talk about using fiberglass resin as the bonding material. If you guys have any other suggestions, I'm more than happy to hear about it and learn from your experience.

 

[LJH]

19-3Ben, I have had great luck making "micarta" using a section of channel iron, flat tube, and c clamps. I will need to take a few pictures of the setup when I get to the shop. If your just making scales then you dont need big flat sheets, just enough to cover the handle.

 

[JVoutilainen]

19-3Ben,

You can use a car jack as an improvised press

 

[19-3Ben]

I like the suggestions. Thanks so much. I had never really seen myself making micarta, but this could be seriously fun!
I feel like a girl. I was laying in bed awake last night imagining which color schemes to use! I'm excited to get to work on this.

 

[Black Toe Knives]

It isn't rocket science couple of boards and few c clamps. I made is all last summer. Fiber glass resin is available at most auto part places. Plus Lot tutorials out there.

 

[rcmodel]

Some pretty interesting colors here.
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=587_826_841

Don't overlook the Dymondwood either. It is as hard and durable as Micarta but comes in a lot more colors & patterns. It is very striking stuff after shaping!
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=587_826

rc

 

[LJH]

Here is my setup for making micarta-like scales. The dark color on the metal is wax. I used to cover the form with wax paper but that didn’t help, the fabric would become stuck and would require a large hammer to unstick them from the form. With a heavy wax coating the stuff pops right out.

Its easy, cut fabric to fit, saturate with resin, place in form, compress with c clamps, then let harden for a day or two.
Work over large heavy plastic sheets, resin squishes out and gets all over everything.
A pair of kitchen knives my wife and I finished not too long ago.

 

[Indifferent]

I hope you enjoy making your knives. Hope you got the info on making your own Micarta, before you went out and purchased some.

I started making knives a few months ago.
Here are two that I made using homemade micarta, one from a prefabbed blank, the other I made the whole knife. Also tooting my own horn, my recent knife work in progress.