Thread: Polishing Micarta

I'm not sure if this is an issue with how it was made or how it was finished. Since I both made it and tried to finish it I'll welcome info on both.

This is black paper micarta. Made with polyester resin. This is the third set of scales that has been made. These were from the third batch. Each batch was done the same way. Resin/paper repeat then clamp.

These were sanded to 2000. Then buffed. I tried the normal red rouge and a blue . THe blue seemed to work better. Now granted it gets shiny but you can see the non uniform finish on them. Is this an air bubble thing? Or is this just how it goes with micarta.

Either way I won't be using the polyester resin anymore, ordered some glaze coat and will try that. I'm hoping that gives better results.

Any tips here would be great.

Thanks much
Bruce

Nice scale shape. I will be watching this as well, because I'm curious why you didn't get uniformity. I've only made one batch of micarta, and the fabric didn't soak up enough epoxy, so it came out rough. Interested to see what some more experienced members have to say.

I've never done self-made micarta, so can't comment on that...

I REALLY like those scales. The imperfections give them character and make them seem aged.

Like I said, I've made maybe 6 batches by now, white and black. I am not stingy with the resin either. The white seemed very dryish.

The process is so simple that I'm not sure where things went wrong. The only thing I can add to this is that where I made it the ambient temp was well below 70. From what I read that should not matter except when it comes to drying time.

I'll be curious also to see what people have to say. All the research I've done points to it "should" polish to a nice high shine.

Originally Posted by HNSB

I've never done self-made micarta, so can't comment on that...

I REALLY like those scales. The imperfections give them character and make them seem aged.

Thank you. I'm not unhappy with how it looks, I'm unhappy with it not meeting my expectation and I don't know why. The why part is killing me.

Micarta can be tough to work with in my experience. I have a Martin guitar with micarta fretboard, nut, saddle and bridge. I liked it so much that I picked up a few samples of micarta to carve into nuts and saddles. It was really, really hard to do. I can do it with bone blanks just fine, but for some reason I just couldn't get a nice uniform finish on the parts I made from micarta. I don't know how Martin did it. It's a great material though if you can work it.

I've seen G10 that is mirror finished and I know that micarta is not exactly the same but still. I've seen some scales that claim to be micarta that are mirror so I know its possible.

I'm really hoping that the answer is just use a clear epoxy to make it and all your problems go away.

I wonder if it is? What color was your resin?

Originally Posted by medicevans

I wonder if it is? What color was your resin?

Well it was your basic bondo fiberglass kit.The resin itself was an off white. yellowish.

I can't comment on making them but I can surely tell you how I finish them. I hand sand them all the way to 2500 grit sandpaper (taking my sweet time between grits) and sometimes depending the Micarta finish on my buffer with white rouge. I have never used a clear resin or other coating over my Micarta or g10 for that matter. Been doing this for years with great success.