From my little experience with epoxy I realized that saturation of the media is crucial. It may cut down cure time but a heat gun will make the epoxy so runny it will saturate the media greatly. Great video by the way.
@@OUTDOORS55 Hi there Alex, I have made my own micarta for years, and I will offer you an air tight tip. Make a small investment in a 6-12 ton hydraulic bench press, and make your own jigs from steel, I can make micarta with absolute success every time using this method. Hope this helps. Also, the material from which you make it doesn't have to be absorbant ie I make some micarta from epoxied layered paper (alternating colours ever 5 to 20 sheets).
Late but useful for anyone interested still. Used to be an epoxy flooring technician. It's similar to other resins in a lot of ways. If it sets up (dries) too fast the air bubbles tend to get trapped. Also if any moisture gets under or in it, it can bubble as well. We generally wait 30 days to put down epoxy over concert because it's still drying and releasing air and moisture which will go up into the epoxy, causing air bubbles ir straight up cracks. You can also reduce air bubbles by mixing at a slower calmer pace in a figure 8 mixing motion. Also if you warm the resin and surface it's going on it pre-seal natural materials such as wood and paper with a brush on or spray sealant prior to resining. You can also use a heat gun to help remove air bubbles as well. This will work for resins and epoxies.
@@yourmom1302 Trademarked Micarta, which you can buy is not fiberglass resins nor epoxies. Real Micarta is Phenolic resin and has properties homemade micarta hasn't. It is harder and when grinding a knife Micarta will stay even with the steel so the blade handle area is not noticeable by feel, the steel doesn't stick out. I absolutely will not use anything but real Micarta.
You might want to look into silicone spatulas (the ones used for cooking and cakes) to spread the epoxy. They are flexible like the foam thingy you use, but don´t soak up epoxy (or anything, for that matter). Also, epoxy wont stick and will come off easily do the their flexibility.
Tuck tape is great as well for release. Also, if you want to add some texture on one of the sides, I find that using a plastic cutting board works very well
Hi Alex, you may not need to use a press at all. I used to make custom fins for a number of longboard makers. I had to make my own panels to cut the fins out of before foiling them. To make the panels, I used 6oz Silane cloth, Volan if the look was vintage or composite layers of Carbon Fibre cloth and coloured Silane, depending on the look (or stiffness) they wanted. I used laminating resin (easy to control the working time) and pigment powder to get the colours they wanted. The lam resin is polyester, so you need an organic solvents mask while you're working as the fumes are pretty toxic. I had a big piece of safety glass which was actually a chipped shelf from a department store. I cut the fibreglass cloth fairly accurately, pooled some resin on the glass, then laid up each piece of cloth pouring on more resin and using a roller to get the air out and keep the thickness even. I would go about 4-6 layers over thickness and then leave the whole thing to set. No press, no edges, no paper, nothing but the sheet of glass. The panels would separate from the glass cleanly with a little prying with a paint scraper. I never had any air bubbles or defects, and you could use the entire panel except for about an inch all round the edges. I can't think why this method wouldn't work with burlap, nylon or even a close weave like denim provided your resin is thin. The most important things I found are the saturation, careful rolling, and using a resin that has a working time of about an hour.
Great video! This is why RU-vid exists. Open source knowledge about what we are all interested in. You put the time and effort (and a few headaches I’m sure) in to teach us some great stuff. Thank you!
For sure! I’ve learned so much from youtube. It’s becoming such a great database of information. There were a few headaches. Specifically dealing with wet epoxy and camera gear. I only got a little on my camera 😂
I love how you bring up the sentimental value t-shirt bit...that's exactly why I'm here...I have an American flag t-shirt that I bought like a week after 9/11 (proceeds went to disaster relief)...just a couple weeks ago it ripped badly as I was taking it off...that shirt has been with me over half of my 36yr life...wanted to incorporate it into a knife and take it along for a few more decades. Great video!
Nicely done and well explained. Thanks for showing your whole process and how some attempts did not work out as well as your final press. Too often you tubers post just the best parts of their work and not how they got there. Seeing the outcome of everything that led up to a solid useable piece of micarta can save your viewers time, money and frustration. Thanks you for your time. Now I’m off to take a crack at this. Also, Doug popping up here and there was hilarious.
You can definitely get some good results at home using basic stuff, you just may have to fill some voids every now and then. It’s still going to take some experimenting though. Doug is the man! Such a great guy. I couldn’t help it🙂 Good luck! Let me know how it goes!
@@OUTDOORS55hey bro. Do you make & put on micarta handles on knives for people. I have this one LA Police Gear tanto fixed blade knife a coworker gave me a while back. Its not a very expensive knife. But I love it...except for the handles. They don't have enough girth. I was looking here on RU-vid to see if I could find someone that makes replacement micarta, or just any better/upgraded handles for some popular or commercially made fixed blade knives. If you do, let me know. Oh, and depending how hard core you are into doing this, I can provide you a bunch of old U.S Border Patrol uniforms that are made of fairly heavy duty green ripstop material. They're transitioning over to a new uniform made of a new material. So there's going to be a plethora of uniforms that are going to be getting thrown in the trash eventually (minus the official patches). It'd be cool to make some micarta out of this green ripstop material. Maybe you could make me some micarta handles for my LA Police Gear tanto knife out of this, & I can send you a bunch of old uniforms for your own scales/projects. Let me know if you're interested. Even better, you can make another RU-vid video of this and garner a butt-load of views after I share the link.
I use a 12 ton harbor freight hydraulic press with a bed made from 1/4" U-channel with end caps welded to the sides for support and the upper press made from square tubing. I was using wax paper but have switched to parchment paper since watching this video. With the hydraulic press it's easy as pie to press the micarta and squish the resin out.
Great video! My friend is a pen turner making kitless fountain pens and has had a lot of success using commercial micarta. I've started pouring pen blanks using epoxy resin and this seems like a natural next step, if I can get the process down. Working with resin is super messy but the results can look amazing, and this video was super helpful.
Now THAT'S how tutorial videos should be. None of this no talking crap, or talking too much about crap that isn't pertinent to the tutorial.. Subscribed, and I WILL be checking your videos first. Thanks man.
I really appreciate your videos and your style of narrative. I've worked a bit with resin and by far the best thing to wrap it in is plastic like from a grocery bag, but use it like you did the wax paper.
i have made micarta once, but i took the time to learn about what i needed to do, that being said stuff didnt go completely right but i like the result.. always nice seeing your vids, you really take the time to explain, thanks for that
I wish you'd made this video about 7 months sooner. I wouldn't have had as bad of a failure making micarta as I did >.< nice press, much better than the clamp-trap I came up with
I am thinking that if you make it too thin, you can go back and make more micarta and add this thin piece in the middle and it should become part of the Micarta block . Best video I have seen on this .
You can also use non-ferrous metals to forge wield together to make micarta for jewelry or making fancy guards for your knives, swords, pizza cutter....or whatever bladed implement you can make that you feel needs a guard.
Nice Video! It enabled me to know my first impressions on liking wood handled knives is still my first choice. Although there are other projects I would and have used such materials.
for the weight you could possibly get a gallon(or even 5 gallon) bucket, fill it would water, and place it on top of the wood, it would obviously only work for the baking tray method and similar methods, but it gets rid of the clamps and should evenly compress the micarta
Thanks for making the video, a couple things about bondo fiberglass resin; it's not epoxy, you can adjust working time by adding more or less activator/hardener.
I use a similar process to this but instead of the clamps are used a few two by fours and an old scissor jack which I have permanently set up underneath my bench work great 👍
haaahh! marcaida. never thought i'd see the karambit master here. :D thanks for opening my mind about micarta. put anything in epoxy resin and boom! great job.
Thanks for sharing. I would, if not already suggested, spring for a handful of washers (probably much bigger than the bolts, to add stability of the 2x4s.) to use as spacers between the top and bottom 2x4s to make it easier to produce truer pieces. I make blades (Orc style, beefy.) and am considering this for handle making because I've found it a challenge to find a reliable source of handles for my type of blades. Hope that helps you.
I use West System boat laminarion epoxy. I use a couple of different "clamps." I used a wood press and a vacuum press. My favorite "micarta" is 10oz. Cotton Canvas and coarse woven nylon.
I think I would do a variation of the pan press, but use a larger pan, a nice thick piece of plywood on the top, and lower one of my car tires onto the press. Nice and easy
Awesome video. Will probably only attempt this for customization purposes. Seems like a lot of messy work if you're not prepared. Hope to see more vids from you soon!
You can get a small bench-top 6--ton hydraulic press at Harbor Freight for under $90. And you can make a vacuum chamber with about $100 worth of parts, and both can be used for all kinds of other projects...
Try use of air hose: it's a 1.5" fire hose press like bowyers use in pressing lamination of fiberglass into limbs. Also use Johnson paste wax to forms and sheet metal backing will help release on form.
For the wood clamp it would be beneficial for the material to have a center clamp as wood tends to bow, depending on how committed you are to reducing bubbles(read how hard you tighten it down).
Quick tip: you can also use red Tuck Tape on your press in place of parchment paper as it doesn't bond at all with the resin. I've used it several times to make resin molds and so far so good.
Is "Tuck tape" a typo for "duct tape" ? If not where does one get Tuck tape? You say "red" is that important as well? Sorry not trying to "that guy" it is a sincere question. Thank you.
just two things to potentially help that diy press work. Soak the wood in paraffin wax and grind down the threads where actuation occurs. Could always try and vacuum bag the whole thing to pull air bubbles but idk how effective that would be. Great vid as always
Instead of 2x4s, use a 6"x3" steel C-channel, a 6'x0.5" wide steel plate (ground down to fit inside the C-channel), and the silicone paper mentioned below. Weld your bolts into the C-channel, then thread the nuts thru the top. That'll allow you to pop the block out fairly easily, especially if you use some sort of release agent (like petroleum jelly) on the steel. Another thought: rotate your fabric pieces 45deg to create a cross-ply, like they do with carbon fiber, for strength. Great video, fantastic way to make your own "Marcaida". ;-)
I like the idea of personally making something to add to a knife. LOL love the "cameo." Maybe one day I'll try to tackle the process. Great look at the process and gave me a better idea of what it looked like.
Yeah, it’s one of those things I’ll probably only do if I have something particular I want to turn into scales or a knife part. Other than that, unless I’m set up to do it with more professional equipment I probably won’t do it much🙂 But never say never 😂
I use canvas or blue jean material. Layer 2 or 3 different colors. When you round out the handle, the micarta has a wood grain look. For cleaner method. Put a 2x4 across a garbage can. Sit the wood press perpendicular on the 2x4. All the drips go in the can. When you get through sanding the scales, paint them with 2 or 3 coats of super glue sanding between each coat.
The simple wood press is fine as long as you make sure of a couple things. Firstly, the wood contacting/closest to the micarta should be perfectly smooth. Pine 2x4s will give your micarta wood grain contours which is really annoying. Secondly, make both sides are thick enough that they will be absolutely rigid. I use two 1/2" thick hard maple boards sandwiching the micarta and they themselves are sandwiched by 2x4s for strength. So from bottom to top (or vice versa) the order is 2x4, 1/2" maple, micarta, 1/2" maple, 2x4. Lastly, use as many clamps as possible. I use some cheap Harbor Freight C-clamps that work great. For a 1.5' long press I use 4 clamps arranged in a zig-zag pattern. Left, right, left, right and evenly spaced across the length. They're evenly offset of the center line (controlled by the width of the walls of the press) which prevent the top surface from leaning to one side and making one side more thin.
You might have thought of it already. But if you haven't cheap small hidrolic botle press should do the trick. And will produce more preasure than clamps.
Good information, I've been wanting to try and make some myself and this video definitely helped. Thanks for taking the time to make this and share it!
Nice video. Thank you for sharing. Thumbs up! One note, if the "stuff" you use is fiberglass, then you are making G10, not Micarta. Micarta typically uses linen or other woven cloths or papers.
I may experiment with that in the future. Although I’m typically not a fan of coatings. Seems like they always wear off fast and leave the blade looking crappy. I typically like a forced patina using ferric chloride or even vinegar. It protects against rust and doesn’t really wear off. Just my opinion though. Coatings are getting better 😀
@@OUTDOORS55 I would love to see your process with the ferric chloride, and vinegar. From the research I was doing, there isn't a coating that you can do at home that is worth it.
by adding resin on top of dry fabric you are beginning with the air on the bottom, and then having to work hard to push resin down and work the bubbles up through the resin. A better approach is to begin with a pool of resin in the pan and then push the dry fabric down on top, so that the resin rises from below and pushes air up. Then, once the fabric is wetted out, add more resin to form another little pool on top of the wetted fabric before adding the next layer of dry fabric. This method reduces the 'cross-travel' of the air bubbles through the resin, and may reduce the problem of bubbles in the cured product. Maybe a minor improvement, but easily done.
Use packing tape, no sticking problem. Use a vacuum pump setup, if you end up with any bubbles you can fill them with epoxy. You can also press them into a form. I use carbon fiber and clear West. Heat keeps bubbles down.
What an awesome video from the old shop. 🤔 should I try or should I buy. Haha. I’m in way too deep with all I’m trying to do with knife making. Love the thought of making my own micarta but also trying to make leather sheaths( unsuccessful) and make knives and sharpening skills and heat treating and learning kydex and the list goes on. Swore I would only use wood scales but 🤔. Think I’ll buy some micarta. Heck I just ordered some fordite and came across this old video trying to learn how to use fordite for scales. Like I said I have never used anything but wood before. I’m rambling now, better shut up. Great video as are them all Alex. Peace
This was a cool video man. I think it's awesome that you got a sponsor too. I think I'll stick to buying micarta for now, while I'm still learning the basics of knife making....but I'm sure down the road I might give it a try
@@OUTDOORS55 oh definitely, I'm not saying that I dont want to, just that I need to learn the basics first. At least now we have learned from you what works and what doesnt, lol. You know I never miss one of your videos, as soon as I get the notification, I click on it, and that's no BS
Just vacuum bag the whole thing. Or resin infused system. Ie what high end boat builders are doing. With out an actual hydraulic press or screw press it's just difficult. Thx for the vid.
you can make vacuum chamber out of a fridge compressor easy peasy jsut find a big sauce pot and silicon a tube into it mine reached -28 HG ?mercury inch ?
This has more in common with knife making than most realize. I think the more you put into it the more you get out. Making sure each layer is perfectly epoxied, and perfectly laid and pressed are key. And dealing with the ensuing mess😂 Thanks for the comment my friend 🙂👊
The bag method thinking about it would probably work better with those vacuum sandwich bags wouldn’t it that would then drawl all the resin into the material and eliminate any air pockets that might pop
I wondered how you made those handles 😃. Alex I bought a utopia kitchen sharpening stone, 1000 grit on one side and 3000 grit on other, tried sharpening a kitchen knife first, as I told you earlier in No good at sharpening knives😁. I do believe the knife was sharper before I got thru with it!!!😂😂,,, I guess I just need to practice some more😀. Great video Alex, very nice of you to share your knowledge my friend. ☆Jay.👍👍
Thanks Jay! If your knife is duller it most likely because your not maintaining a given angle. That’s the hardest part. Once you can do that you can sharpen anything. 🙂 Thanks for watching my friend 👊
@@OUTDOORS55 Thanks Alex, you are sooOOOO right!!! I've got to practice holding the angle true. I tend to catch the blade in the grit and end up dragging or lifting/digging the blade into the stone. I'll get better at it or I'll end up buying the wife new kitchen knives for Christmas. LMBO 😂😂😂!!!
