Finishing DewCarta

Freds Edge

Well-Known Member
Finishing a set of scales on a folder and can't seem to get a clean high finish , went as far as to wet sand at 1000 grit then buff but small imperfections still pop up. . Is it that DewCarta is canvas micarta and I'm dealing with the nature of the beast.
 
I started finishing the front of a set of scales yesterday and I'm having the same problem. I'm at 600X right now which should be fine for Micarta but there are still some fuzzy imperfections. I'm gonna take it to 1000X and buff later today and see what happens. I don't know whether to buff with white or pink. Anybody have any suggestions?
 
Darrin , I buffed with white then went to a blue a high poly compound , I think the problem may be the nature of the canvas material.
 
I am up at work right now so it will be a couple of weeks before I can work on the dewcarta scales,I broke the blade on the intended knife so started over.The dewcarta is realy fuzzy and the guys that have worked it so far say it goes away with the finer grit sanding,It leaves me wondering if the material is not getting completely soaked with resin.I've worked with micarta for years and never ran into this.
 
That is my though , it appears I have small blisters opening up on the canvas fibers. I will post a pix of the knife later today.
 
I am up at work right now so it will be a couple of weeks before I can work on the dewcarta scales,I broke the blade on the intended knife so started over.The dewcarta is realy fuzzy and the guys that have worked it so far say it goes away with the finer grit sanding,It leaves me wondering if the material is not getting completely soaked with resin.I've worked with micarta for years and never ran into this.

When I first looked the material over I had the same thought and the next thought was, is this stuff gonna absorb moisture?
 
From something I read that Dewey posted he says take to 600 then seal with CA and resand up to 600. I will look for the thread.
 
Don you are correct the little imperfections are micro bubbles, and with out a pressure or vacuuming unit we have to find ways around it
Any white dots are sanding dust in the micro bubbles, so clean with acetone several times, I do at least three times if you want a gloss finish, coat three times with super glue and sand to 600, take a good look at it and see if it doesn't need a couple more coats if satisfied hit it on the buffer with green rouge. I've done saturation test and it doesn't absorb much water very little. Hope this helps. Dewey
 
Fred I will haft to enlarge on my computer at home I'll get back with you and yes the super glue will fill most small imperfections and imho is the best way to go.
 
Darrin the fuzziness with the courserbelts is because the bigger grit chips out the resin and leaves the cloth its like running your hand through hair the grit pulls the resin out.
 
sorry Darin just read your first post take a picture and send it to me, could there be an imperfection or dry spot yes and if there is Ill send you a new pair no questions asked that is my policy. I had a guy that had a chip out ,the piece actually hit him in the neck I called a couple days latter and he told me about it,said if the knife didn't sell due to him narrowing the grip he would haft to regrip it latter,I told him no and I sent him a new set of scales the next day.He didn't ask I just sent them and that's the way it is.
 
Wow, at almost $40 per set of scales, seems like a lot of extra work required to get a nice finish.

The finish one the pieces shown on Boss's site needs to have it's process explained so more people aren't getting bummed out trying to finish it like micarta or g10 and wind up with the problems shown.

green-_-black-45.jpg
 
I'm not trying to be rude here Dewey, just honest so please don't be offended. I've only got as far a finishing the front of a pair of scales. The epoxy will be cured and I'll finish the knife in a couple of days and take pics then. Like I said, I've only finished a very small area and I've already found the small voids/bubbles you were talking about. I've also found an area about 3/32" wide and about 1/4"-3/8" long that is nothing but cured epoxy. The bubbles may be able to be fixed (with extra work) but the epoxy filled void cannot.
I won them so I don't need a replacement set. I'm glad I won them because I would be very upset if I paid that much $$ for a product of that quality. I wouldn't want to use material that may or may not need to be replaced at any price. I wont be using it any more unless the quality greatly improves.
Again, I'm not tryng to be rude or mean I'm just trying to give an honest review of the product.
 
Well Darrin I appreciate the honest review and like I said I will replace any set that has an issue that's why I replaced the other. Out of over 600 handles made I have had 2 bad sets including yours and I'm sure that when I have thousands under my belt someone wont be happy all I can do is my best and try and fix the problem.
As far as what I did for usa's web site it was just as I stated sand to 600 clean with acetone start with three coats of super glue ,sand and if needed reapply and sand to 600 and buff thats it .
I've had two knife makers work with me on this and both have relayed stories of handle material issues even as far as needing to replace handles on presentation woods, ivory and bone as pete told me it happens.
I havent seen the issue yet Darren so I hope you will give me the opportunity to see the problem so I can try to rectify the problem . Please send me a photo. Dewey
 
I agree with Darrin.

Also, I think that with the required work to get the displayed results, the price per set needs to be cut by 50%. $40 per set is too high to then have to spend extra work filling voids with CA, sanding, reapplying CA, resanding, etc.
 
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