DIY Micarta Knife Scales (pic heavy)

[KentsOkay]

I "cast" a handle around my surplus triangular bayonet today...cut up jeans soaked in the epoxy, formed around the bayonet, and pressed/clamped while setting...I'll grind and shape it tomorrow with my dremel and then post some pics...

Jamie


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Zombie trench spike minus the knuckle guard?

[Jamie]

It's not finished or pretty, but it's sorta cool...I've roughed out the handle with the Dremel, and will finish shaping it to my hand later today...

J


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[kbilly84]

That looks cool! Can't wait till mine are done.
I've decided to be a DIY snob and do it entirely by hand, so it's a bit slow going. The general shape is just about done. I need too start thinking about how to attach the scales to the knife. Thoughts/Suggestions?

[kbilly84]

Alright, My first attempt is almost in the books. I'll need some field time with it before I can decide on the final shape/contour of the scales. But, what I've got right now:



Started as a Ka-Bar/Becker BK11

[sigboy40]

So do you just rough cut the scales to the tang and then sand to fit? That seems to make the most sense to me.

I'm going to go buy epoxy now and get started. So I have some cure time to figure it out.

[MaconCJ7]

Regulator has started a trend.

Where's the finished images Jamie and kbilly?

[Regulator]

So do you just rough cut the scales to the tang and then sand to fit? That seems to make the most sense to me.

I'm going to go buy epoxy now and get started. So I have some cure time to figure it out.

That's the way I did the ones in this thread. I am now getting ready to attempt to mould a handle right onto a small blade. We'll see how it works once it's no longer 107 degrees out there and I get back on that project.

[kbilly84]

So do you just rough cut the scales to the tang and then sand to fit? That seems to make the most sense to me.

I'm going to go buy epoxy now and get started. So I have some cure time to figure it out.

That's what I did. The knife I put 'em on is a KaBar/Becker BK11. The tang and the handle are the same thing. Got the scales "close enough" - about a 1/8" overhang. Attached with Loc-Tite Weld Epoxy. Then trimmed 'em flush, rounded the corners, sanded smooth, and contoured.

Where's the finished images Jamie and kbilly?

The Pic above is pretty much how it sits now. Probably how it will stay. As is, it fills my hand quite nicely.
Here is attached to the shoulder strap on my deer hunting bag:

Had to mod the sheath to get the new scales to fit. Eventually, I'll add a piece behind it to wrap around the handle and secure it a little better.

[chills1994]

granted these are NOT knife scales, but rather 1911 grips I made:

[chills1994]

Okay, now for some tips on how to do this:

1. go to Lowe's and buy the big gallon can of epoxy resin. It has a white plastic cap, under which there are two tubes of hardener. It is much MUCH cheaper buying it by the gallon.

2. buy some 1/4" thick steel plates and some C-clamps to make your sandwich canvas/linen sandwich while the "glue" is hardening up/curing. I first used pine 2X6's, and even with a couple of layers of wax paper or cellophane to protect the clamp boards from the epoxy, all the little imperfections and grain and knots and little divots transferred through the wax paper and into the finished project. you could end up with a little gap right where the scale meets the knife blank or the 1911.

3. work outside on a nice day, perferably when it is not so windy. the stuff has a pungent odor to it that will linger inside the house. I think the min temperature is 55*F listed in the directions on the side of the can.

4. wear disposable latex/vinyl gloves (well, DUH!)

5. use half gallon plastic milk jugs to mix the epoxy in. I would cut off the front corner opposite of the jug's handle, but leave maybe about 3 or 4 inches of the bottom of the jug intact as like a mixing bowl. I would use plastic spoons to mix it. I think the directions said to add ten drops of hardener per every ounce of resin, but don't hold me to that. I would fill the bottom up firs with...ahhh...jeesh... 3 ounces of water, let's say. made sure it was sitting level on the counter, then used a sharpie marker to put a tic mark on the outside at that 3 ounce water mark. empty out the water, dry it out real good with a paper towel, then I would go outside, with the gloves on, and fill it with resin to the 3 ounce mark. then I would poke a hole in the hardener tube, gently squeeze it and count each and every drop, to say 30 drops. then mix with the spoon, or a stick, dowel, shim, popsicle stick, whatever.

6. for the canvas micarta, I would use a dark layer of canvas, then a light layer of canvas. I would put down a very epoxy coated light colored canvas first, on top of wax paper coated board or steel plate. then the next layer of dark canvas would be UNcoated, just laid it right down on top of the sopping "wet" light layer. then I would dunk the next light layer into the milk jug, swirl it around a bit with my gloved hand, give it a good squeeze and the stretch it and lay if flat on top of the dark layer, then I would press my hands from the center out to smooth out any bubbles.

with the lighter colored strips it is easier to see if you have it thoroughly soaked with epoxy or not. In my opinion, there is no need to soak every single layer of canvas.

7. it would take me about 22 layers of canvas, IIRC, to get a thickness just right for 1911 grips...somewhere right around 5/16" thick

8. of course if you used linen which is much thinner you would need a ton more layers to achieve the same final thickness. I would highly recommend reducing the amount of hardener used then, because it will set up in the jug before you get all stacked together and clamped.

9. the textured type effects were done with an old floor mat from my truck. the rough blanks looked like this:



I cut up my old floor mat, and then screwed it to one 2X6. put wax paper over the ridges of the floor mat and then put a couple of layers of wax paper on top of that, THEN commenced with the heavily epoxied first light colored strip of canvas.

10. this cutter doo-hickey, that green matt, and a nice straight edge make it easy and quick to product a bunch of similar sized canvas or linen strips in a hurry:



11. you can learn about by just going to google and typing in "DIY micarta" , "DIY mycarta", or "jean carta"

12. wear a long sleeve shirt you don't care about...actually all the clothes you shouldn't care about.

13. some of your better or bigger walmart stores will actually have a fabric sewing section and have canvas on hand. if you can grab a roll that is about to run out, you get more fabric at a better price that way. other stores like jo-ann fabrics send out coupons in their emails and/or have coupons in their fliers at the front of the store.

14. I usually just did the glue ups in the evenings and let the whole enchilada cure up in the clamps over night.

15. I always made it a point to set it up so the glue wouldn't get onto the C-clamps, especially their threads

16. once I was done with the milk jug, I made sure that whatever was remaining was nice and cured hard before I threw it in the trash. the chemical reaction does produce its own heat.

I am sure I have forgotten some stuff, so I will be back with some more tips.

[chills1994]

I knew I would forget something....

I have all sorts of heavy duty stationary power tools, but you can definitely get by with hand tools to do one off projects.

17. wear a dust mask when sanding

18. I am thinking that for like blending and shaping finger grooves like for knife scales, a sanding wheel like this would be nice, chucked into a drill press or regular drill clamped into a vise:

[KentsOkay]

Those are fucking awesome. Great post.

[chills1994]

Thanks!

everything is still very much prototypes. for now, it requires a lot of hand-work. I am going to try to coat them in minwax polyurethane that has the Behr grippey/texture sand added to it.

I have been kinda jones'ing for a CNC router, so I wouldn't have to do so much hand-work. I could just clamp a micarta panel to the CNC router table, hit a few buttons, and then go do something else.

The VZ grips or Gator grips is kinda what I aspire to.

I have kinda dabbled in regular wood too, but I think to really make those "POP!" would require checkering
(checkering = more hand-work = meh!) , so I am looking into laser engraving places.

[calicojack]

okay. so i went out and picked up a yard of green burlap and a yard of brown burlap. I want to blend them together to create a simular design like in the OP. how do you all recommend layering different colored fabrics? do you recommend a 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 etc? Also I had heard that 14 layers will equal a 1/4" brick is that right?

[Regulator]

I went 1.1 with regular jean material. Burlap is thicker but may compress more so I don't know how many would make your 1/4 inch. Go thicker and you can always sand down. Good luck!

[calicojack]

2 notes:
burlap obsorbes the resin like no one else's business. it's also very fragile, meaning that if you squeegy it to hard, it pulls a part.

2: don't get this shit on your hands.