- Joined
- Mar 26, 2004
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- 1,617
Hi,
Many people asked me this on the last days, so I decided to post about the process.
Probably other fellow makers already know all of this, but it might help people trying to start on the knifemaker path.
In order to make any multilayered material, you have to have a decent vice (horizontal is better, but any kind would do).
The resin I use is either polyester or epoxi, and once you mix it with a "thickener", as the resin by itself is too liquid, you place one layer of this mix in top of a piece of fabric (like you were putting jam on a cracker or something), then you place another piece on fabric on top and start doing the same process over and over until you reach the desired height. (Take into consideration that you're going to press that, so the height will get considerably reduced)
Once you get this, you put it on the vice, making sure that the parts of the vice (or the layers of metal that you use between the micarta and the vice) are properly oiled, or otherwise this micarta will stick to the vice and it will be a real mess to unglue it.
Once it gets completely dry (time would depend on the materials and resins) you just take it off the vice and can use it as you please.
You can use pieces of fabric of the same color or different, depending on what you want to achieve.
What I do in order to achieve some designs on the micarta so I don't have to make stange shapes on a handle or cut diagonally or so, is to place little acrylic cilinders on the bottom and top of the micarta before I press it, so even if I loose a lot of material as I can only use the center part, it gets me nice designs.
The process for a multilayered wood is the same as the one I use with micarta, so even if I don't have images of the process of actually making micarta, I can use some of the wood process ones that I do have.
Here's an image of the cylinders I mention, right off the vice. In this case I wasn't making micarta, but a wood multilayer in wich I used black resin instead of transparent, to test how the wood would absorb the resin, making a nice effect.
Now this image is similar, but showing how I alternate the cylinders to get that wavy result.
And this is the final result, once I got rid of the non usable parts of it by filing it on both sides. Once I get this, i use it as a regular piece of wood on a handle/sheath.
Two more examples of multilayer wood ready to use.
A multilayer made of leather to use on a sheath.
And finally, the finished work on some handles.
This particular one was painted black with an aerograph on the top and the bottom, and then laqued with transparent poliurethane. (blade is 9260 diferentially hardened)
This one wasn't laqued for more grippyness (blade is D2)
Cotton fabric 3 colored micarta (my first attempt at micarta in different colors)
On a small damascus test knife
I hope this helps!
Ariel
Many people asked me this on the last days, so I decided to post about the process.
Probably other fellow makers already know all of this, but it might help people trying to start on the knifemaker path.
In order to make any multilayered material, you have to have a decent vice (horizontal is better, but any kind would do).
The resin I use is either polyester or epoxi, and once you mix it with a "thickener", as the resin by itself is too liquid, you place one layer of this mix in top of a piece of fabric (like you were putting jam on a cracker or something), then you place another piece on fabric on top and start doing the same process over and over until you reach the desired height. (Take into consideration that you're going to press that, so the height will get considerably reduced)
Once you get this, you put it on the vice, making sure that the parts of the vice (or the layers of metal that you use between the micarta and the vice) are properly oiled, or otherwise this micarta will stick to the vice and it will be a real mess to unglue it.
Once it gets completely dry (time would depend on the materials and resins) you just take it off the vice and can use it as you please.
You can use pieces of fabric of the same color or different, depending on what you want to achieve.
What I do in order to achieve some designs on the micarta so I don't have to make stange shapes on a handle or cut diagonally or so, is to place little acrylic cilinders on the bottom and top of the micarta before I press it, so even if I loose a lot of material as I can only use the center part, it gets me nice designs.
The process for a multilayered wood is the same as the one I use with micarta, so even if I don't have images of the process of actually making micarta, I can use some of the wood process ones that I do have.
Here's an image of the cylinders I mention, right off the vice. In this case I wasn't making micarta, but a wood multilayer in wich I used black resin instead of transparent, to test how the wood would absorb the resin, making a nice effect.
Now this image is similar, but showing how I alternate the cylinders to get that wavy result.
And this is the final result, once I got rid of the non usable parts of it by filing it on both sides. Once I get this, i use it as a regular piece of wood on a handle/sheath.
Two more examples of multilayer wood ready to use.
A multilayer made of leather to use on a sheath.
And finally, the finished work on some handles.
This particular one was painted black with an aerograph on the top and the bottom, and then laqued with transparent poliurethane. (blade is 9260 diferentially hardened)
This one wasn't laqued for more grippyness (blade is D2)
Cotton fabric 3 colored micarta (my first attempt at micarta in different colors)
On a small damascus test knife
I hope this helps!
Ariel
