Birch Bark "micarta"?

james terrio

james terrio

Sharpest Knife in the Light Socket
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Apr 15, 2010
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I know lots of folks have made handles for hidden tangs with stacked birch bark "washers", but I was curious if anyone had tried layering it up as you might with cloth to make scales for full-tang knives. I put together a little test slab yesterday, I'll let you know how it comes out. If it works I think it will look cool but there are some issues I'm concerned about...
 
a birch bark micarta sounds very cool. it would fit right in with a puukko design, since they can be found with birch handles, except with the added strength of a full tang, which would be cool indeed
 
I did that about ten years ago by layering and clamping sheets of bark and soaking in CA to laminated and stabilize it. The result looked sort of like gray Pakawood more than birchbark. It was OK, but not really worth the effort.

You can laminate the bark in the normal fashion, split it lengthwise, and then laminate the halves on a liner to make scales for a full tang with the look of a Puukko. For the liner I would suggest black phenolic spacer material. The scales would look good with copper Corby rivets and copper hardware on the knife.

Got to get out some sheets of bark and play with this.
 
bladsmth said:
Got to get out some sheets of bark and play with this.
Click to expand...

Please do, I'd love to see your results. I didn't soak the bark, just scraped the crumbly stuff off the back, removed most of the super-thin white "paper" from the outer layer, and layered it up with LocTite epoxy, then clamped it gently between plastic-covered boards. We'll see in a while what it looks like, and more importantly if it's solid.

The bad news is, it takes a lot more bark than you might think to get strips long/wide enough for scales... I cut out all the bits with major voids, the really coarse sections etc in an attempt to get uniform, flat layers without too many holes. The good news is, I have oodles of smaller pieces left for making "washers" in the usual fashion :D
 
Well boys, preliminary results look promising at least. The scale is somewhat flexible and has a nice warm feel to it.

BBcarta001.jpg


Now obviously this is pretty raw, certainly not stabilized and will require a good finish. CA to seal the pores, maybe?
 
I agree that it looks sweet. I understand though that birch bark is high in oils (which is why it makes such a good fire starting material) and this might cause some problems with glue sticking to it, or becoming delaminated in the future.

Would a petroleum based polyurethane work as a possible "glue" for oily materials? Is there such a thing as glue for oily materials?

- Paul Meske
 
That's one of my concerns, Paul. Normally a birch bark handle is held between a guard or ferrule, and a peened or threaded pommel so delam wouldn't be much of an issue. It remains to be seen if it will rear its ugly head in this case.
 
Yes, that is pretty much what I got. It looked like tan Pakawood with stripes and some dots.Each layer had a dark stripe at the lamination. It was OK.
 
UPDATE:

After leaving the test piece alone for about 3 weeks, my 12-year-old daughter was able to tear it apart with her bare hands. As I get some different epoxy I will try this again, but for now I wouldn't recommend birch bark scales for a knife handle.

Any ideas regarding better adhesive are very welcome!
 
Did the epoxy bond fail, or the birch bark layer/s? It might require a vacuum chamber and thin epoxy like they use to stabilize wood to get the epoxy far enough into the bark to strengthen it.
 
Mahoney said:
Did the epoxy bond fail, or the birch bark layer/s? It might require a vacuum chamber and thin epoxy like they use to stabilize wood to get the epoxy far enough into the bark to strengthen it.
Click to expand...

Both, she broke it in two and twisted/peeled apart the layers. I think you're right with the vacuum chamber concept, but I'm not set up for that. For now I will stick with stacked handles when using birch bark.

EDIT: I wonder if it would work if I laminated another piece and sent it to a pro stabilizing shop?!? Or would the epoxy interfere with whatever resin they use, or vice versa...
 
It will work far better if the laminate was stabilized after laminating. The problem with just layering it up is that it is not a strong material to start with.

WSSI stabilizes laminated things all the time. It should cost you about $10 to get a block stabilized. Make the laminate in oversize blocks and square off all six sides before stabilizing.
 
That makes sense, and I have a fair amount of nice maple I want stabilized anyway. I'll look into that :)
 
Or use it stacked on a hidden tang knife.
That is how it is done traditionaly in Scandinavia.
They leave it untreated to be grippy even when wet.
 
All the Puuko style handles I have seen or made, started with untreated bark, and when the stacked handle is finished, it is soaked in Linseed oil for a considerable time and allowed to cure for up to several months. It is quite grippy, still.
 
Yup, I understand and admire the traditional stacked handles, just wanted to try something different. I'm cantankerous like that :)
 
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