Mycarta - some color

meridianblades

meridianblades

BIG SHILL
Silver Member
I know that the micarta topic has gone around here, and the naming rights etc. We have a few knife makers that make their own, and call it "mycarta". Lots of times its uniformly layered, and then ground to expose the layered colors, like this handle, but this multi colored stuff is just a mix of canvas and rag I believe. Spendy to make, but the skies the limit for colors......some of it even glows in the dark. :thumbup: Would stuff like this work for butt caps etc ?

layeredg102.jpg


a.jpg


b.jpg


103pd.jpg
 
Last edited:
Micarta can easily be used as butt cap material as it's not taking much force from the cue's impact. Most of the impact is absorbed at the front of the cue (tip) and eventually ends up at the butt cap/ bumper.

The only issue that you may have concern for is if the material has any shrinking side affects due to temperature changes..but I highly doubt it.
 
Im pretty sure the temps are not going to bother the mycarta.....They are common place on extreme use blades, and its pinned or bolted to a steel tang, so movement is going to very apparent. This stuff gets exposed to blood, water, dirt etc etc on a regular basis and comes back for more...How about layered G10 ??? or G10 in colors :thumbup:

layeredg10.jpg


blueg10.jpg
 
Last edited:
On a regular basis I consult for a knife manufacturer who uses various layered materials such as the fabric-reinforced phenolic(s) pictured at the top of this thread (they also use natural materials such as antler, fossil ivories, fossil bone, etc.).

The reason knife handles look so good is due to the shaping of the handle itself; the raw material is about as mundane as it comes. In a round-turned configuration - regardless of grain orientation - it's going to look kind of like plywood turned into a tapered cylinder. In other words, BORING.

I'm pretty sure I was the first cuemaker to build a Damascus Steel joint on a cue. I had a rough bar forged up by a well-known blade maker, and one of the things I specified was a very rippled and twisted layup. Had I not done that it would have looked like a stack of sheet metal layers "glued" together, and would have sucked. Because it had such an interesting grain pattern I acid etched the joint collar, thereby removing some of the high-carbon steel while leaving the chromium steel untouched. I then had it heavily gold plated and buffed the plating off afterwards. The deeply etched steel retained its gold layer while the other layers polished to a bright silver appearance, and the joint came out looking like a million bucks - which is what I wish I had charged for the cue...

Unless you can get someone to lay up phenolic the way they can lay up Damascus Steel, (or Mokume, or...?) I'd say forget about getting it to look like the knife handles pictured in this thread.

TW
 
Thomas Wayne said:
On a regular basis I consult for a knife manufacturer who uses various layered materials such as the fabric-reinforced phenolic(s) pictured at the top of this thread (they also use natural materials such as antler, fossil ivories, fossil bone, etc.).

The reason knife handles look so good is due to the shaping of the handle itself; the raw material is about as mundane as it comes. In a round-turned configuration - regardless of grain orientation - it's going to look kind of like plywood turned into a tapered cylinder. In other words, BORING.

I'm pretty sure I was the first cuemaker to build a Damascus Steel joint on a cue. I had a rough bar forged up by a well-known blade maker, and one of the things I specified was a very rippled and twisted layup. Had I not done that it would have looked like a stack of sheet metal layers "glued" together, and would have sucked. Because it had such an interesting grain pattern I acid etched the joint collar, thereby removing some of the high-carbon steel while leaving the chromium steel untouched. I then had it heavily gold plated and buffed the plating off afterwards. The deeply etched steel retained its gold layer while the other layers polished to a bright silver appearance, and the joint came out looking like a million bucks - which is what I wish I had charged for the cue...

Unless you can get someone to lay up phenolic the way they can lay up Damascus Steel, (or Mokume, or...?) I'd say forget about getting it to look like the knife handles pictured in this thread.

TW
Click to expand...

It is not pretty cut round............unless

you can get a big piece and cut it at an angle... then it will turn with varying patterns.

Kim
 
whammo57 said:
It is not pretty cut round............unless

you can get a big piece and cut it at an angle... then it will turn with varying patterns.

Kim
Click to expand...

Still boring. Again, think of a thick sheet of plywood, and imagine how you would orient the grain it so it DIDN'T look like it was just a bunch of flat layers. It'd basically be one large monochromatic butterfly.

TW
 
TW
The pics of wild rag mycarta is a side pic. Flip it on its side cut it to size, (Its 1.5 inches square by 6" long) and then turn on the lathe. The "pattern" is random, and would appear just as it does in my pics, if you used it as a butt cap. Pick your colors........I just used it as an example.

The days of single layered plywood type phenolics are gone, unless you're talking a factory made Norplex product or G10/G11. When I say phenolics (mycarta) I mean canvas, linen or paper, that makers are laying up in their shops. They twist it, and press it, etc in lots of different configurations and colors. Some guys use burlap with the coffee bean company printing still on there, and you can see bits of it after its finished out. That knife handle with the different layers of blue is made out of old jeans.

Heres the link to how that one was made and the toughness tests they put it through .....:thumbup:

http://www.fendleyknives.com/LM105.htm

http://www.fendleyknives.com/LM105_tough.htm
 
Last edited:
Wow, homemade "micarta". Will wonders never cease. I find the end result far too ugly to put into a cue, but some of what they did in their experiments is how I've been sandwiching my veneers (for full- & half-splice cues) for more than 20 years. West is best; I use HDPE blocks between lay-ups, and cure it in a 12-ton heated press, but the idea is the same.

I remember Dennis Diekman's "teaching" on how to laminate veneers back in the mid-90's; he recommended Elmers Glue smeared between the veneers, all stacked on wax-paper laying on a flat floor, with a cinder block on top. Funny then - still funny now.

TW
 
Thomas Wayne said:
Wow, homemade "micarta". Will wonders never cease. I find the end result far too ugly to put into a cue, but some of what they did in their experiments is how I've been sandwiching my veneers (for full- & half-splice cues) for more than 20 years. West is best; I use HDPE blocks between lay-ups, and cure it in a 12-ton heated press, but the idea is the same.

I remember Dennis Diekman's "teaching" on how to laminate veneers back in the mid-90's; he recommended Elmers Glue smeared between the veneers, all stacked on wax-paper laying on a flat floor, with a cinder block on top. Funny then - still funny now.

TW
Click to expand...

Some like it, some don't, I prefer burl myself, but theres no denying it can be done with very effective results. Most of the folks that make it regularly, use a press, but that particular WIP post just shows anybody can make it with some boards and a few C clamps.

Maybe its not something that people would want to see on their cues, or maybe the colors need to be toned down, I dunno, but those veneers that are really bright and colorful was what made me think of this stuff...


Larry
 
Last edited:
Thomas Wayne said:
On a regular basis I consult for a knife manufacturer who uses various layered materials such as the fabric-reinforced phenolic(s) pictured at the top of this thread (they also use natural materials such as antler, fossil ivories, fossil bone, etc.).

The reason knife handles look so good is due to the shaping of the handle itself; the raw material is about as mundane as it comes. In a round-turned configuration - regardless of grain orientation - it's going to look kind of like plywood turned into a tapered cylinder. In other words, BORING.

I'm pretty sure I was the first cuemaker to build a Damascus Steel joint on a cue. I had a rough bar forged up by a well-known blade maker, and one of the things I specified was a very rippled and twisted layup. Had I not done that it would have looked like a stack of sheet metal layers "glued" together, and would have sucked. Because it had such an interesting grain pattern I acid etched the joint collar, thereby removing some of the high-carbon steel while leaving the chromium steel untouched. I then had it heavily gold plated and buffed the plating off afterwards. The deeply etched steel retained its gold layer while the other layers polished to a bright silver appearance, and the joint came out looking like a million bucks - which is what I wish I had charged for the cue...

Unless you can get someone to lay up phenolic the way they can lay up Damascus Steel, (or Mokume, or...?) I'd say forget about getting it to look like the knife handles pictured in this thread.

TW
Click to expand...

That sounds amazing Thomas can you post a picture?? Ever since I saw a William Henry knife Ive always wanted to see it in a cue.
Dustin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top