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My way of making micarta or composite materials for knifes

My way of making Mycarta (Micarta is a trade mark) or a custom composite of your choice. You can use paper, tissue, canvas whatever to laminate and achieve stunning effects. Alays use every kind of protection for your eyes, lungs and every side of your body. Please do this work in a well ventilated areaor do it this work outside as me. Your safety is first. A safety mask is MANDATORY, also wearing a nice old stuff to protect you from winter wind. Ingredients: Various tissues, take care to cut something more the size you need. You need 5cm? Cut into strips of 7cm minimum. Disposable latex gloves, cutter, foil disposable container, someting stable to work over.

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Wooden cramps, resins of your choice.

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Other ingredients: an old heavy shirt used and abused, safety googles, a lot of gloves and MASK!

Optional a heavy hat when the winter snow is knocking at your door.  Just kidding: not operate this work under 15°C or you can have the risk of not polimerizing the resin.

Wear two pairs of latex gloves. One is always with your hands, the other will be disposed after each work session, or before fastening with the cramps as I do.

Cutting some oiled paper, long just a bit more of the wood slab.

Wrapping the oiled paper on the wood slab. The aluminum container help me in taking off my clothes some resing when oozing out.

Stirring resin and hardener in the resin container as factory gave to me… I prefer to do this to avoid any problem as possible. And also, when I make micarta I do it in big quantity. If I realize for certain reasons to do some small quantity of resin, I use a bottle of sparkling water (sparking water bottles are stiffer…) and then I mix the requested amount or resin.

Very important: a nice one minute stir with an old micarta cutoff stick

First layer of resin just above the paper. Very important. Helps in sticking the first layer of tissue.

Pouring some resin…

I take a lot of care in pouring and spreading the resing. Leave always a thin film of reisn upon every tissue layer.

I use a lot of resin, it’s better to fill any hole of the tissue

Came on! Here you can see the thin layer of resin. Useful to stich the nextcoming layer of tissue.

I spread the dry tissue carefully. Some pression and some massaging to ooze out the air bubbles. I like the micarta has to be very tough and stiff. This helps.

Here another layer of tissue: it has to be never sloppy or limp. Well?

Let’s go to make the tissue brick until the end of the layers.

I was laughing under the mask. Who made this pictures is my beloved girl and she’s having some cold…

Take off every single hair from tissue. It’s better. It’s annoying I know, but it saves your material. You see my shirt dirt? It so because  resin and tissue hairs are sticked on.

The spreading is over. I finished all the layers. Now I wrap with the remainig oiled paper the layers, as a salame.

Take care and ply flat without any bubble. If possible do some pression. Some resin will pour off the sides. It’s okay

Here the other wood slab. Checking for exact alignment is better.

First of all I put a cramp on the center of the slab, tighting not too much

Left side cramp…

Right side cramp. Now I’m tigheting all the cramps to give uniformity in thickness. NOt too overtight or the resin can pour off leaving the tissue almost dry. Just tighting hard but not allow the blood to spill from your veins! :D

The last check for thickness. Better to do this now rather than with the grinder later!

Another Check… and some more tightening

Today work session.

Hope this will help to make your custom composite of your choice. you can experiment with paper, tissue, canvas, linen, cotton, carbon fiber, ecc. Use always good quality resins and tissues. Safety first and ahve fun! Cheers! Stefano


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