@@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.
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.
@@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.
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!
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.
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.
Another good idea is to use the silicon baking sheets that folks often buy just to make biscuits, etc., after placing the sheet on their kitchen countertop. Nothing sticks to the sheets so it makes for a super simple cleanup even if they're making something that included a sticky and/or hard drying ingredient. Wrap the bottom plywood sheet in one of the silicon baking sheets, alone with the top board(s)...anything that's going to be pressed adjacent to your finished product but isn't an intended component thereof. Then, you will thereby eliminate and beating and hammering or sawing away of the adjacent wood "end caps, as they'll simply pull tight apart and you'll be left with your product material with much ease. Thanks for the video btw, good work.
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.
My son and I are working on our first knife project. I’ve been watching thousands of videos but you keep it simple for us to follow your lead and affordable for us to try it without investing on expensive tools that may not be used often. I’m a volunteer firefighter and have a good bit of old hose on hand. So I used the coupon code and ordered the resin to make some knife handles out of yellow and red hose jacketing. Thanks for providing me hours of entertainment!
Lucky you have access to the fire hose. That will make some great scales and will probably be easier to work with. Thanks for watching my videos! It's always appreciated 👍👊
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
You are right, there are a lot of how to micarta videos but the presentation and simplicity of this one make it one of the top videos Gonna make a 4X2 press tomorrow. Thanks for the video.
Really appreciate the detail that you go into explaining each process. It has greatly helped me in planning my projects. Keep up the great work, thank you
At last, a clear explanation of the good ways, and the traps! :) epoxy leakage all over, been there... I make my own for tiny tools, with 3D printed cases and a vise. For beginners, paper is much more easier to manage than tissue, and gives super nice results if you altern colors.
I've been involved with composites since the early 90s. Built alot of cool projects - custom interiors, FRP enclousers even worked on a bat mobile, boat repairs blah blah blah... When building your mold from wood use masking tape to line it. Most polyester & epoxy resins won't stick to it. Also if wanting a consistent thickness use screws as adjustable standoffs. When using man made material such as nylon or poly based webbing its very important to use an aggressive fiberglass type roller to roll into the material. This helps push/force the resin in also eliminating air bubbles. Hope this helps to whoever reads it. When
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.
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.
Great video! This is why TH-cam 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’d use two 12mm/0.5” steel plates with 6 bolts(corners and middle top and middle down), also 12mm/0.5” diameter This would add a few tons of pressure and should drastically reduce air bubbles Bonus: - you can use a digital torque wrench head that you attach to your clicker wrench and tighten all bolts to exact same torque - it would be great if the bottom plate would have some clamping attachment so that you can secure in a vise or to the table Love your videos!
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 TH-cam 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 TH-cam video of this and garner a butt-load of views after I share the link.
Very interesting. I would go with the wooden press you showed last but I would also add one clamp in the middle just in case the wood bows due to the nut/bolt pressure at each end. B
I purchased one inch thick aluminium plate to use as press plates in my 20 ton press. I also pre clamp the edge of my material so i can flip the sheets over as i make the build. That keeps the build organized and helps with time and also keeps the buold from sliding around when pressed.
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.
Cactus juice, a vacuum chamber made from an old refrigerator compressor, and a large Mason jar with any type of wood; and an electric toaster with the timer removed. With all that and some dye you'll make some nice scales, however I like all natural. Natural wood is beautiful.
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
Few tips I'd like to add. First use a use shaped mold so the excess drips out of the ends then u don't need a pan and the material won't walk. Next I recommend warming up the epoxy and hitting it with the heat gun to remove bubbles if u have the slow set stuff can take ur time.
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 try to keep my videos as short as possible and as efficient as possible. Sometimes a picture, or a “moving” picture can say 1000 words.🙂. Thanks for the comment my friend 👊
Micarta was the original brand name created by George Westinghouse for products based on Leo Baekeland’s phenolic resin discovery. In 1913, Micarta was sold for the first time outside of the Westinghouse group of companies. In 1945, Norplex was formed in Wisconsin, USA. In 1975, the demand for industrial laminates had grown substantially, and the laminates factory in Postville, Iowa was opened. Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, both Norplex and Micarta made significant innovations in laminate materials. The two companies merged in 2003
Good information and caveats. By the way, I decided 20 years ago that life was too short to endure a cold workshop or makerspace, so I have a 55K BTU heater in the garage, and a 110K BTU heater in the basement. One of the better investments I have made.
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.
helpful hint, use a consolidating roller between layers to push the air bubbles out. You can make one, by adding lots of washers to an old cut down paint roller.Cut the roller end,just under the size of your jig and add a nut to stop the washers coming off.
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
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.
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 .
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.
you all prolly dont care but does any of you know of a way to get back into an Instagram account?? I was stupid forgot my password. I love any assistance you can give me
@Colt Liam Thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and Im trying it out atm. I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
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 👍
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.
Epic frickn shoutout to the sponsor Total Boat, that was awesome. You hit the nail on the head when you said, "mentally ready" for the project. You never really showed all the mess and sticky shizz every where...lol. Great video Alex and awesome invention, you should patten that thing STAT!
What I didn’t show was I got it all over one of my cameras 😂 I had to chip epoxy off the record button 😩 I also ran out of glove half way through one time haha 😆. Thanks again man!
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
Very interesting and informative. Liked the way that when you balanced the epoxy resin on your head you were giving it your “seal” of approval. Merry Christmas.
If you want to get the air out of your epoxy heat it up to 100° or so and it will become less viscous and release the air. Be sure to let it come back to room temperature before you begin your project, so the resin doesn't set too fast. Also the resin being a little warmer it will soak into the material better the two factors in determining the speed at which the resin sets are Catalyst level and material and ambient temperature
Making paper micarta is easier it has a huge range of colours and with less impurities from the stock material. I have also used Jute webbing, 2" wide, which gives consistent results. Your idea with the bolt clamping is good too. Love your video's and ideas.
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.
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!
This is a very informative video. I'm not a knife maker but I am a luthier and I build guitars. Traditionally a lot of parts on guitars are made of plastic and I've always thought that that look very cheap, I've been looking for another material to replace the plastic parts that I use. These parts include pickguards, pickup covers, potentiometer knobs, and switch tips. I think this material would be perfect. I'm going to attempt to make some Micarta and shape it with my CNC machine. If this works out then I may be using it on all of my guitars from now on. I already have a vacuum bag setup that I use for wood veneers and I think this will be pretty simple to make. Since pickguards are flat I'm thinking that the top layer can be a material with a graphic design. I've seen Micarta used for fretboard material which is traditionally made from wood and it's worked out great. I'm curious do you know if this material is flexible, can it be reshaped with heat?? If it can be then I may be able to use this for binding and inlays.
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
You started on the difficult level with burlap and nylon webbing. It is a lot easier when using something with a tighter weave like t shirts or a cotton sheet. I used visqueen for release and tshirts for the micarta when I did it. Dont try to contain the excess, spread a piece of visqueen out to catch it. Make the pieces significantly larger than what you need. I made a 1 ft x 1 ft square and sandwiched between 2 pieces of 2 ft x 2 ft plywood. I screwed the plywood together making sure that the threads only engaged 1 side. Also added a concrete block in the center. You want low viscosity resin. The more resin you squeeze out the better the micarta. If you want to revisit this subject I believe it was nighthawking light here on you tube who showed how to make carbon graphite out of t shirts. It might have been one of the other science channels though. I never got around to trying to make carbon graphite scales, I would definitely watch a video on it. Oh, wd40 can be used as a release agent, no visqueen or parchment needed. Didn't come across that info until I was done with mine. I am also in Florida, would recommend a heated shop or summertime when messing with epoxy. I have never tryed it but apparently you can thin epoxy resin with denatured alcohol. Edit: carbon fiber not carbon graphite.
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...
I was thinking about making some of this stuff until I started watching videos. I don't think it will be worth my time since I don't seem to have a lot to spend on it. Great video
Get tight napped rollers 3 inches wide and a resin roller to quickly wet out the layers and the bubble roller will work the bubbles out. You will improve your production time dramatically. As far as bagging, those pieces have to be quite small or preferably shredded, sifted into catalyzed resin while blending, and ideally vacuum degassed before pouring into mold.
@@Eng-OS do you have a suggestion on the type of alcohol used? Is 70% isopropyl alcohol safe? what about 90%. Or would you recommend something like 98% ethanol?
Welcome back Alex (sort of lol), glad to see you're back at it. Probably one of the most knowledgeable knife makers/sharpers on youtube. I've seen videos with more views and your knives are still sharper. I know the videos are over done but you should absolutely do a video about sharpening/knives gadgets and see what you think, probably the most honest opinion too.
Well I’m just a beginner at knife making and been sharpening for years but still a beginner there as well. There’s always more to learn 🙂 Thanks for the comment my friend 👊 I have considered a video like that, and even filmed one, but didn’t like how it turned out, so I never posted it. Maybe I’ll try again 🙂
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". ;-)
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.
work with epoxy a lot. Try using a small laminating roller. Kind of a cylinder wit concentric rings on a roller handle. It would help wet the material and works the bubbles from between layers. you will use less epoxy and have less squeezing out under pressure
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.
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.
On your bolt-together vise: try making the "top" of the vise slightly curved or thicker in the middle than on the ends. This way, when you tighten the nuts on the bolts you are more likely to get even pressure across the whole strip. Without the slight curve in the middle what can happen is that the ends get pulled tight but the middle can bulge up a bit as the resin gets compressed at each end. Hope this makes sense.
I didn't mention in the video but the piece I used had a slight warp in the opposite direction. That way when I was tightened in clayed flat. It was also checked with calipers to make sure everything was as even as possible all the way around.
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).
For your press, if you screwed one "guide", we'll call it, to the bottom, and one to the top (so when clamping then together there is a guide on each side), that would help to reduce any bowing that you might see in your clamp. In that short of a distance it's probably not a big deal, if it's even noticeable, but this method would help.
what can i say? awesome video. your description and direction were clear. i think the press that you came up with is the way to go when you dont have the means to go drop on a real press!! since im 4 years after the fact maybe youll have a video on some easier ways to shape some micarta scales... great video though, thanks.....
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.
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.
Really like your videos, a few things you might try and things I thought about: Peelply is not very expensive and if you use that closest to your laminate it’s easier to bleed out the air bubbles, you can even have a thin material outside that can “swallow” some of the exes resin. Also some materials should not be pressed too hard since it can end up a dry laminate with to little epoxy related to “stuff”….. The last press you did is great I might stiffen the top pice or make it slightly slightly bent and use the convex side down, otherwise you get the laminate thicker in the middle and also get the bubbles to float to centre instead of out from the laminate.. Great and informative videos, thanks!! Ps, surrounding temperatures change the viscosity on epoxy a lot, a little warmer will help drench the fibre better but you lose a bit of open time to work with it Ds
Maybe use a channel-iron that fits snugly in the screw-press, to keep the thickness uniform across the length of the press? I would like to make wider blocks of micarta, to experiment with various hand-gun stocks...
Dude...you are one of those who explain things in the best manner possible. Nothing important left out and nothing unnecessary added. Awesome video.
He does for sure! That’s why I love his content
Get some mold release spray for epoxy molds
I’m not a knife maker. Alex, I watch these videos because you appear to be a really nice chap.
Thanks my friend! I appreciate you taking the time to watch! 👊
@Matthew M I know I do! That face and voice help too ;-)
@Matthew M, I wish more people were like you :)
@@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).
@@shonaoneill5151 do you think gold leaf would work?
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.
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.
Yeah I leave mine on a heat plate as I mix. I had one of those lab beaker with the magnetic mixer till it broke lol
I clicked because I didn't know what micarta was. Thanks for addressing that in the beginning.
You still don't.
@@July-qo7jp it's clearly just fabric with a polymer. Its not rocket science.
@@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.
@@July-qo7jp You're right, where's the phenolic?
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!
I tried making this years ago..used kevlar...used a vacuum sealer.....first try...no mess...came out perfect no voids.
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.
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.
Another good idea is to use the silicon baking sheets that folks often buy just to make biscuits, etc., after placing the sheet on their kitchen countertop. Nothing sticks to the sheets so it makes for a super simple cleanup even if they're making something that included a sticky and/or hard drying ingredient. Wrap the bottom plywood sheet in one of the silicon baking sheets, alone with the top board(s)...anything that's going to be pressed adjacent to your finished product but isn't an intended component thereof. Then, you will thereby eliminate and beating and hammering or sawing away of the adjacent wood "end caps, as they'll simply pull tight apart and you'll be left with your product material with much ease.
Thanks for the video btw, good work.
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.
Great tips👍👍 if I ever decide to try this again, the trash can tip is great. I would never have thought of that👊
My son and I are working on our first knife project. I’ve been watching thousands of videos but you keep it simple for us to follow your lead and affordable for us to try it without investing on expensive tools that may not be used often. I’m a volunteer firefighter and have a good bit of old hose on hand. So I used the coupon code and ordered the resin to make some knife handles out of yellow and red hose jacketing. Thanks for providing me hours of entertainment!
Lucky you have access to the fire hose. That will make some great scales and will probably be easier to work with. Thanks for watching my videos! It's always appreciated 👍👊
The honesty in your videos is refreshing, we're not all "know it alls
I tend to falll in the category of "Know it nots" 😂 Thanks my friend!
😂😂😂
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
You are right, there are a lot of how to micarta videos but the presentation and simplicity of this one make it one of the top videos
Gonna make a 4X2 press tomorrow. Thanks for the video.
Your screw press method is the best I have seen, and probably the most practical way. Nice!
Really appreciate the detail that you go into explaining each process. It has greatly helped me in planning my projects. Keep up the great work, thank you
At last, a clear explanation of the good ways, and the traps! :) epoxy leakage all over, been there...
I make my own for tiny tools, with 3D printed cases and a vise.
For beginners, paper is much more easier to manage than tissue, and gives super nice results if you altern colors.
I've been involved with composites since the early 90s. Built alot of cool projects - custom interiors, FRP enclousers even worked on a bat mobile, boat repairs blah blah blah...
When building your mold from wood use masking tape to line it. Most polyester & epoxy resins won't stick to it. Also if wanting a consistent thickness use screws as adjustable standoffs.
When using man made material such as nylon or poly based webbing its very important to use an aggressive fiberglass type roller to roll into the material. This helps push/force the resin in also eliminating air bubbles.
Hope this helps to whoever reads it.
When
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.
Dont get your hopes up too much. Some of my stuff can go off the rails😉 Thanks for the sub👍
I love your creativity. I have worked with fiberglass and resin for years and it isn't fun. This is a great tutorial. You are the man!👍
Thanks man! I feel sorry for you😂jk I think like everything you get better as you go. 🙂👊
The possibilities for the application of DIY Micarta is endless... Color schemes, materials etc. awesome vid!!
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.
It's videos like this one that make You Tube an exceedingly valuable platform for video sharing. Excellent work, Alex!👍
Thanks my friend! Hopefully this will help someone save some time and money 🙂
Saw this process for homemade armour. Very intriguing. Fibreglass sheets with epoxy. light weight and resisted the 12 gauge slug. Could be handy.
Damn! That's pretty awesome!
@@johnny5fingers0966 Did you find the video for it?
I did. It's interesting how the layers intentionally separate in order to absorb the energy from the slug.
Great video! This is why TH-cam 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’d use two 12mm/0.5” steel plates with 6 bolts(corners and middle top and middle down), also 12mm/0.5” diameter
This would add a few tons of pressure and should drastically reduce air bubbles
Bonus:
- you can use a digital torque wrench head that you attach to your clicker wrench and tighten all bolts to exact same torque
- it would be great if the bottom plate would have some clamping attachment so that you can secure in a vise or to the table
Love your videos!
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 TH-cam 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 TH-cam video of this and garner a butt-load of views after I share the link.
Very interesting. I would go with the wooden press you showed last but I would also add one clamp in the middle just in case the wood bows due to the nut/bolt pressure at each end.
B
I purchased one inch thick aluminium plate to use as press plates in my 20 ton press. I also pre clamp the edge of my material so i can flip the sheets over as i make the build. That keeps the build organized and helps with time and also keeps the buold from sliding around when pressed.
I’m a retired fireman and made some scales out of an old turn out coat. Turned out good.
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.
Cactus juice, a vacuum chamber made from an old refrigerator compressor, and a large Mason jar with any type of wood; and an electric toaster with the timer removed. With all that and some dye you'll make some nice scales, however I like all natural. Natural wood is beautiful.
Nice job! The blue strapping made for a beautiful scale material
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
Few tips I'd like to add. First use a use shaped mold so the excess drips out of the ends then u don't need a pan and the material won't walk. Next I recommend warming up the epoxy and hitting it with the heat gun to remove bubbles if u have the slow set stuff can take ur time.
I love how up front you are about the mess..Really solid information. Thank you.
Nice video, you are thorough, your voice is pleasant and you do not have loud obnoxious "music" or video in the back ground. Thank you sir.
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.
FINALLY- a youtube channel that doesn't insult the intelligence of the viewers by over-explaining processes just to make the video longer. Thanks.
I try to keep my videos as short as possible and as efficient as possible. Sometimes a picture, or a “moving” picture can say 1000 words.🙂. Thanks for the comment my friend 👊
Great video I like how you explained the better way to do Micarta without being messy. Thanks!
Micarta was the original brand name created by George Westinghouse for products based on Leo Baekeland’s phenolic resin discovery. In 1913, Micarta was sold for the first time outside of the Westinghouse group of companies. In 1945, Norplex was formed in Wisconsin, USA. In 1975, the demand for industrial laminates had grown substantially, and the laminates factory in Postville, Iowa was opened. Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, both Norplex and Micarta made significant innovations in laminate materials. The two companies merged in 2003
Good information and caveats. By the way, I decided 20 years ago that life was too short to endure a cold workshop or makerspace, so I have a 55K BTU heater in the garage, and a 110K BTU heater in the basement. One of the better investments I have made.
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.
helpful hint, use a consolidating roller between layers to push the air bubbles out. You can make one, by adding lots of washers to an old cut down paint roller.Cut the roller end,just under the size of your jig and add a nut to stop the washers coming off.
Add paste was to the mold to stop any stray glue sticking, it's worked for me making laminated bows
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
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.
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 .
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.
Use tyvek tape
I love your videos. You gotta get a space heater for your shop. I couldn't live without one.
Excellent video man! Nicely done👌 I think I’m going to try and make some now. Thank you🙏👍
Thanks man! Good luck! I’m sure yours will turn great 👍
you all prolly dont care but does any of you know of a way to get back into an Instagram account??
I was stupid forgot my password. I love any assistance you can give me
@Cyrus Thatcher instablaster ;)
@Colt Liam Thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and Im trying it out atm.
I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
@Colt Liam It did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thank you so much, you saved my account !
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 👍
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.
Epic frickn shoutout to the sponsor Total Boat, that was awesome. You hit the nail on the head when you said, "mentally ready" for the project. You never really showed all the mess and sticky shizz every where...lol. Great video Alex and awesome invention, you should patten that thing STAT!
What I didn’t show was I got it all over one of my cameras 😂 I had to chip epoxy off the record button 😩 I also ran out of glove half way through one time haha 😆. Thanks again man!
Idk why but I’ve watched this video like 5 times already and it still doesn’t get old
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
Very interesting and informative. Liked the way that when you balanced the epoxy resin on your head you were giving it your “seal” of approval. Merry Christmas.
Haha perhaps 😂 thanks my friend! Merry Christmas to you as well👊
If you want to get the air out of your epoxy heat it up to 100° or so and it will become less viscous and release the air. Be sure to let it come back to room temperature before you begin your project, so the resin doesn't set too fast. Also the resin being a little warmer it will soak into the material better the two factors in determining the speed at which the resin sets are Catalyst level and material and ambient temperature
Making paper micarta is easier it has a huge range of colours and with less impurities from the stock material. I have also used Jute webbing, 2" wide, which gives consistent results. Your idea with the bolt clamping is good too. Love your video's and ideas.
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.
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!
WOW! That is a TON of work!!! Can't wait to see you form that into a handle!!!
It will probably be hollow in the middle😂
This is a very informative video. I'm not a knife maker but I am a luthier and I build guitars. Traditionally a lot of parts on guitars are made of plastic and I've always thought that that look very cheap, I've been looking for another material to replace the plastic parts that I use. These parts include pickguards, pickup covers, potentiometer knobs, and switch tips. I think this material would be perfect. I'm going to attempt to make some Micarta and shape it with my CNC machine. If this works out then I may be using it on all of my guitars from now on. I already have a vacuum bag setup that I use for wood veneers and I think this will be pretty simple to make. Since pickguards are flat I'm thinking that the top layer can be a material with a graphic design. I've seen Micarta used for fretboard material which is traditionally made from wood and it's worked out great. I'm curious do you know if this material is flexible, can it be reshaped with heat?? If it can be then I may be able to use this for binding and inlays.
What about using vacuum storage bags for your clamping method? It would offer some degassing as well as applying even pressure over the whole piece
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
You started on the difficult level with burlap and nylon webbing. It is a lot easier when using something with a tighter weave like t shirts or a cotton sheet. I used visqueen for release and tshirts for the micarta when I did it. Dont try to contain the excess, spread a piece of visqueen out to catch it. Make the pieces significantly larger than what you need. I made a 1 ft x 1 ft square and sandwiched between 2 pieces of 2 ft x 2 ft plywood. I screwed the plywood together making sure that the threads only engaged 1 side. Also added a concrete block in the center. You want low viscosity resin. The more resin you squeeze out the better the micarta. If you want to revisit this subject I believe it was nighthawking light here on you tube who showed how to make carbon graphite out of t shirts. It might have been one of the other science channels though. I never got around to trying to make carbon graphite scales, I would definitely watch a video on it. Oh, wd40 can be used as a release agent, no visqueen or parchment needed. Didn't come across that info until I was done with mine. I am also in Florida, would recommend a heated shop or summertime when messing with epoxy. I have never tryed it but apparently you can thin epoxy resin with denatured alcohol. Edit: carbon fiber not carbon graphite.
Awesome video! Very informative. Thanks again Alex
Paper micarta can look really nice because with different colours, the contouring looks really defined.
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...
I was thinking about making some of this stuff until I started watching videos. I don't think it will be worth my time since I don't seem to have a lot to spend on it. Great video
Get tight napped rollers 3 inches wide and a resin roller to quickly wet out the layers and the bubble roller will work the bubbles out. You will improve your production time dramatically. As far as bagging, those pieces have to be quite small or preferably shredded, sifted into catalyzed resin while blending, and ideally vacuum degassed before pouring into mold.
I have been a fibre glass boat builder in the past and a good way to make the resin thin and soake in quicker use acetone to thin it
Great tip👍
Don't use acetone with epoxy, acetone tends to inhibit the polymerization. Alcool works better and has almost no impact on the reaction.
@@Eng-OS do you have a suggestion on the type of alcohol used? Is 70% isopropyl alcohol safe? what about 90%. Or would you recommend something like 98% ethanol?
Use small ammount of acetone, 10 - 20 ml. Try on a small batch. Don't know for this type of resin.
@@joshuaszeto higher the concentration better it is, ideally you'd use pure ethanol. However even the 70% iso works ok.
Welcome back Alex (sort of lol), glad to see you're back at it. Probably one of the most knowledgeable knife makers/sharpers on youtube. I've seen videos with more views and your knives are still sharper. I know the videos are over done but you should absolutely do a video about sharpening/knives gadgets and see what you think, probably the most honest opinion too.
Well I’m just a beginner at knife making and been sharpening for years but still a beginner there as well. There’s always more to learn 🙂 Thanks for the comment my friend 👊 I have considered a video like that, and even filmed one, but didn’t like how it turned out, so I never posted it. Maybe I’ll try again 🙂
That’s usually the case with most things in life 👍🙂
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". ;-)
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.
work with epoxy a lot. Try using a small laminating roller. Kind of a cylinder wit concentric rings on a roller handle. It would help wet the material and works the bubbles from between layers. you will use less epoxy and have less squeezing out under pressure
Try using a heat cured stabilizing resin, they're thin and you can save some material by draining after impregnation.
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.
I wish Pete from Cedric and Adda channel could somehow get all that twisted sisal rope together and do block handle scales.
What a gem that fella
Brilliant. I shall be looking at having a go at making some. I have a few ideas for other applications ither than scales
I have some more ideas as well😀 good luck 👍
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.
Sponsored! Heckin yeah! TOTAL BOAT!!
On your bolt-together vise: try making the "top" of the vise slightly curved or thicker in the middle than on the ends. This way, when you tighten the nuts on the bolts you are more likely to get even pressure across the whole strip. Without the slight curve in the middle what can happen is that the ends get pulled tight but the middle can bulge up a bit as the resin gets compressed at each end.
Hope this makes sense.
I didn't mention in the video but the piece I used had a slight warp in the opposite direction. That way when I was tightened in clayed flat. It was also checked with calipers to make sure everything was as even as possible all the way around.
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).
For your press, if you screwed one "guide", we'll call it, to the bottom, and one to the top (so when clamping then together there is a guide on each side), that would help to reduce any bowing that you might see in your clamp. In that short of a distance it's probably not a big deal, if it's even noticeable, but this method would help.
One of the nice things about that custom press is that you could use a torque wrench to get it just about perfect.
what can i say? awesome video. your description and direction were clear. i think the press that you came up with is the way to go when you dont have the means to go drop on a real press!! since im 4 years after the fact maybe youll have a video on some easier ways to shape some micarta scales... great video though, thanks.....
Excellent kindly upload which one is strong
Hey dude, thank you very much for taking the time to make this. Excellently filmed and demonstrated.
I have a vacuum bag sealer for fish etc, I might try using it next time to try and eliminate air bubbles.
For thickness i would use spacer blocks . That would take care of the guess work .
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.
Great idea on the packing tape👍👍 I do have a vacuum pump but didn’t use it for the video as most people won’t have one. Also great tip for the heat👍
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.
That was funny seeing Doug's face pop in there!
You should throw it in a pressure pot to get those bubbles out. Works like a charm.
Thanks for the video, excellent points to consider. I'll be making the 2 bolt press and my first try using black and white card stock.
For pan mixing I think I might try silicone bake ware.
Really like your videos, a few things you might try and things I thought about:
Peelply is not very expensive and if you use that closest to your laminate it’s easier to bleed out the air bubbles, you can even have a thin material outside that can “swallow” some of the exes resin.
Also some materials should not be pressed too hard since it can end up a dry laminate with to little epoxy related to “stuff”…..
The last press you did is great I might stiffen the top pice or make it slightly slightly bent and use the convex side down, otherwise you get the laminate thicker in the middle and also get the bubbles to float to centre instead of out from the laminate..
Great and informative videos, thanks!!
Ps, surrounding temperatures change the viscosity on epoxy a lot, a little warmer will help drench the fibre better but you lose a bit of open time to work with it Ds
Maybe use a channel-iron that fits snugly in the screw-press, to keep the thickness uniform across the length of the press? I would like to make wider blocks of micarta, to experiment with various hand-gun stocks...