Thread: Attempt at home made Micarta scales Flop

So epoxy won't stick to the plastic bag or am I missing something?

I have used more than once those plastic bags. Epoxy dont stick on those bags.
Some people use backing paper but imo those bags are easier to remove from the material.

Note: make dure that the plastic lays flat otherwise you get not a flat surface and you must sand that out.

Originally Posted by traps38

This is what i am up to till now.

Attachment 132917Attachment 132918Attachment 132919Attachment 132920

Took the material i cut out.
Layers of it with resin and then clamped over night.
And till here now.

OK, i just finished sanding out my rough scales on 120 grit sander and this is what the scales look like now.



I don't think they look that bad.

Now i have to hand sand them till 2000 grit and see what they look like then.

To be continued.....

Love the color pattern.

Originally Posted by kalerolf

Love the color pattern.

I agree. Those are going to look nice when done. Good luck and keeps us posted.

Well,here is my end product.

Don't forget this is my first time making Micarta.

Now there a lot of tweeks i need to figure out but i think this is something i am going to try and figure out and have fun with.



Just a couple of questions if anyone knows.

Is there anything you can put on Micarta scales to make them shiny and what happens if you wet the scales now?

You can't really tell in the picture but there is some brown gold color between the design of the blue and white which i figure is the resin showing.

Is there a way for this not to show or just use dark colors next time?

Please be kind with your remarks and i will for sure do another one soon.

Hope you enjoyed my process.

I'm really intrigued from top to bottom. How do the scales feel in your hands? I'm huge on textures and following the pictures from start to finish has really piqued my interest. You did a fine job on that, sir.

I like the look of them. The white marks look like they are floating over the other colors like a cloudy sky. Never worked with micarta yet since I couldn't get it to set right, but I would think that sanding to a high grit and polishing would make them shine. Maybe someone with more experience will chime in. Either way great job, I like them.

Originally Posted by Jonah

I'm really intrigued from top to bottom. How do the scales feel in your hands? I'm huge on textures and following the pictures from start to finish has really piqued my interest. You did a fine job on that, sir.

Thank you.
They feel solid and have a good weight to them.
They did get very smooth from the sanding and feel great.
Now i have them in my "Honing garage" waiting for them to get honed.
NEXTTTTTTTTTTTT......

Originally Posted by traps38

Thank you.
They feel solid and have a good weight to them.
They did get very smooth from the sanding and feel great.
Now i have them in my "Honing garage" waiting for them to get honed.
NEXTTTTTTTTTTTT......

That's really neat. I'm definitely a "learn by touch" kind of guy. If I'm in a store and I see something new, most times I have to touch it to experience the tactile response. I keep looking at those scales and I am absolutely intrigued. Now I have to make some myself, thanks for the inspiration