Responding to viewer requests. This video covers my process for making Micarta. A very durable and robust material for Knife or Pistol handle scales. Envision Composites Silmar 41. compositeenvis...
Thank you Doug. This is the resin I use for all my casting. It makes very good pen blanks along with other blanks. It is durable and impact resistant which a lot of polyester resins are not. I also did a bowl on RU-vid using this resin. Turned out perfect until I allowed it to fly off the lathe and hit the bedway. Destroyed it. Here is a link to the first part. if you are interested. The bowl would have been very nice. Oh well! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jDlBavtVkCk.html
Thank you Jeff. I have seen the Micarta you are taking about and it really does look good. Like a ladder pattern. Glad you enjoyed this project. Take care.
Thank you Mark. The Concert tshirts would be a great idea, Just don't get the silkscreen paint in the micarta. The resin will not penetrate it and you will have gaps. A bowl blank would be a huge challenge to build just because of the time it takes. Try using a slow setting resin. Thank you for your comments and suggestions my friend. Do a kindness!
Thank you Jeff. The spacers really help keep things uniform. I am not sure how many layers I used. 20 to 30 probably. I just kept cutting the layers until they were stacking about 20% taller than the spacers. It allows for very tight compaction and epoxy penetration all the way through. I hope this helps. take care.
Stephen -- As you promised last week! Thanks for following up as usual. Interesting product and I think there could be a lot of uses for Micarta. One thing I am wondering about heat transfer? I have some cookware with metal handles that get hot to the touch and I am wondering if I could overlay Micarta on the handles (for stove top cooking (not for ovenware or open flame), do you have any thoughts on heat transfer from the metal handles through Micarta? Thanks for showing the process. Regards and as always, my best to your family. Stay Safe!!! Dennis
Thank you Dennis. Glad you enjoyed this project. Micarta is a great handle material, but I am not to sure how it would perform with heat. You would need a heat resistive resin. The Silmar 41 I use would probably not work. Not sure but that is my opinion. However, there are heat resistive resins out there. You could give it a try. Thank you for a great question and take care my friend.
Thank you John. I agree. This resin is clear when it cures. However, it will sometimes pull dye colors from the material. The yellow color was probably from the markers I used when cutting the material. Thank you for your observation. Take care!
Very nice demo, Stephen. How long do you think a gallon of the silmar polyester resin would last? I bought a quart of a similar resin for pen blanks at Hobby Lobby and it went solid on me in about a year--without adding catalyst. A gallon would last me a long long time.
Thank you Tom. Glad you enjoyed this project. I am sorry to hear about your resin. When I first started using Silmar 41 I did not do a lot of casting and the gallon I had sit in the shop for a long while. I did not have a problem with it hardening up. I do not know what caused yours too. I would just suggest to only buy what you need at the time or the near future. Sorry I can't be of more help my friend I have just never had that problem, Yet. Take care!
Thank you Jesse. Glad you enjoyed this project. With Micarta the sky is the limit. Your idea is great and you should give it a try, if you have a need for scale material that is. I think it would turn out pretty fantastic. Thank you again and take care.
Thank you Donald. Glad you enjoyed this project. I use this same resin for making my pens (Silmar 41). As long as it is only resin. I generally have no problem with the air bubbles. If you add wood or some other material, in which case I use a vacuum chamber to degass the resin. I have updated the description to include a link to Silmar 41. Hope this helps.
another great and informative.. youtube is such a good way to share knowledge that benefits everyone.. thank you for sharing what you know and showing us how to do it right. bet you didn't think you would end up being a teacher when you were growing up... great video and we can't wait for then next video, a little way down the road..
Thank you Juan. You are right. I did not ever think of being a teacher. Even now I simply show my processes some may be right and some may not be but I also try to show why I use certain processes. So glad you enjoyed this project and thanks for sticking with my channel. Take care my friend.
