Help with handle material cross contamination

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
I need a little help.
I have that chopper Im working on with OD green micarta handle and natural or tan canvas micarta rear bolster and the green dust keeps getting stuck in the tan.
Im only going to 220 grit on the handle cause I want it nice and grippy, is that my problem or was it poor choice of material combo?
Thanks for any help.
Justin

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I've done black and white g-10 handle combos with no issues whatsoever. I've sanded dry with Black Ice paper and still no issues. Try going up a grit to 400 and see if it's better or worse. I take g-10 all the way up to 800 grit and still find that I don't have any grip issues.
 
John nailed the issue, but might not have realized it..... you are using micarta.....micarta is terrible about "cross contamination" of light and dark colors..... especially the canvas type of micarta..... G10 doesn't do it nearly as bad.

Short of using a different type of handle material(s), the best advice I can offer is that once the handle it finished, flush it with acetone and lightly scrub with a VERY FINE bristle STEEL brush..... that MIGHT do it. The best method I've found when I get that "cross contamination" on synthetics is to finish our the light/dark micarta, and then bead/sand blast it.....that will clean out all the cross contamination, and leave the type of "grippy" finish you mentioned.

There are some handle materials and/or combinations of handle materials that just cause you grief..... light and dark together is one of them! :)
 
Thank you guys for the replys. I will go higher in grit and if that dont work I will blast it.

Ed when you blast a handle do you try and tape off the tang or just blast it and re sand the tang?

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The way I do it...... I finish everything out, then CAREFULLY tape off everything with "painter's" tape.......blast it, pull off the tape and call it done. :) I don't worry about the edges of the tang (full tang).... most of the time I just leave that in the "blasted" finish, and gently blend the transition with fine sandpaper. If you want the edges clean all the way around, it's a pretty simple job to just lightly sand then to match all the way around.
 
Another thing you may wanna consider is the type of paper you're using. When sanding handle material I always use the white paper/abrasives. The black (SC) paper will contaminate natural materials even when working on a single material.
Also, like Ed said, scrub the heck out of it. I use plain ol Dawn dish liquid, hot water, and a stiff toothbrush. I alternate back and forth between scrubbing and applying some type of light oil, until I get the look I want.
 
Darrin Sanders said:
Another thing you may wanna consider is the type of paper you're using. When sanding handle material I always use the white paper/abrasives. The black (SC) paper will contaminate natural materials even when working on a single material.
Also, like Ed said, scrub the heck out of it. I use plain ol Dawn dish liquid, hot water, and a stiff toothbrush. I alternate back and forth between scrubbing and applying some type of light oil, until I get the look I want.
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Those are some good tips Darrin, thanks buddy!

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