How to Work Micarta Handles?

[5artist5]

I made some denim micarta over the weekend. I used 3m polyester resin.
But Im not sure how to go about working it into handle shape.
Should I just start belt sanding it with 80 grit like I would with a wood handle and then move finer grit? Or is there some other method? What should I be looking out for, if anything?
Should I be wet sanding?

Any advice would be great!

Thanks guys!

[Doug Lester]

Shape it just like a wood handle. Wet sanding might give you a different look from dry sanding. It will probably polish the material a little better. No treatment with a sealer or varnish is necessary.

Doug

[AUBE]

Keep an eye out for dry spots. This is fairly common with thick/tight weave materials like denim. Also the styrene in polyester resin will evaporate which can leave the material a bit on the dry side if the styrene level was high.

In minor cases just applying some cyanoacrylate (Superglue) to dry spot fixes the problem. If you have major dry spots leading to delamination you will need to toss it out and switch to a resin with a lower viscosity.

[5artist5]

Great, Thanks guys. I knew you all would have some thoughts on it.

[5artist5]

Do any of you use a buffing wheel on the micarta to shine it up? And or some type of polish?
I read that someone uses teak oil and rubs it in with cotton cloth?

[Ray Rogers]

Be careful about getting the material hot since polyester resin is very sensitive to heat. Buffing friction can cause it to flow and even burn if you get unlucky. If your micarta is worth having then it shouldn't absorb any moisture, not even oil. No finish is needed beyond sanding to the desired grit, sandblasting if you want it dull but grippy, or buffing if you want it shiny....

[5artist5]

Any thoughts on what compound to buff it with?

[Ray Rogers]

White Diamond followed by No Scratch Pink, available from K&G. Get a set of catalogs from each of the supply houses. That makes it easy to read descriptions of about 100 compounds and see what each is for. Catalogs are incredibly useful for the Newbie, faster for almost everything than the web and offering stuff the web leaves out ....

[5artist5]

Ok, I have a Jantz catalog, who are the other supply houses?

[Ray Rogers]

Sheffield's, K&G, Knifekits.com, Texas Knifemakers and any others you might find advertising in Blade or Knives Illustrated. Catalogs from materials suppliers like Boone Trading can also be useful. Basically, look at the ads in Blade and see what might be current . Catalogs make it very easy to do comparison shopping and some even offer basic tutorials on aspects of knife making. Being books, they have indexes which make finding what you want easier than some websites. I used to take a book bag full of catalogs to work with me every day and thumb through them while I answered a tech support phone which tied up my computer so I couldn't look at websites. I still keep my catalogs current for knife supplies, tools, metals, etc. The internet is great but there are still some areas where books have an advantage...

[5artist5]

Great! I will check them out. Thanks.

[5artist5]

I just wanted to say thanks! Got some catalogs and I got some of that pink no scratch polish and it was perfect for what I wanted!
Really put a nice finish on the micarta.