Reconstituted stone?

M

Mark Redmon

Well-Known Member
What do you all think about reconstituted stone for knife scales? I am trying to figure out what to use for some kitchen knives that will be a Christmas present for my mom. The blades will be back from heat treatment any day now, and I'm still scratching my head on what to use for the handles. I was really hoping to match her kitchen decor.. she has a grapevine kind of theme going...

In a perfect world, I'd stack some purple/lavender G10 or micarta (doesn't seem to exist) with ghost jade G10 on top. Now I'm looking for alternatives. My concern with the recon stone is fragility. Masecraft says it's 85% ston 15% resin. Maybe it's more durable than it sounds... I'm going to give them a call in the morning, but I thought I'd check with the dogs in the meantime.

Thanks,
Mark
 
Personaly I would not use it in any large pieces. Flexing can be a problem. Most of the time I used it as a spacer material where it is fully surrounded by rigid materials.
 
Thanks Mike... I didn't think about that. These are going to be pretty thin to begin with. I still really want to go with a synthetic (and still match her colors if possible) but maybe I should at least consider some stabilized wood or something.
 
I have used a lot of recon stone on my little neck knives. It is very brittle and will chip or crack easily. Most of the danger is when you are drilling and pinning it. Once it is securely attached to the a full tang I think it is pretty stable. Dropping it on a concrete floor would probably chip it or maybe crack it.

For a kitchen knife, I would not run it through the dishwasher since, as Mike Miller said, it is 15% plastic so extreme changes in temperature might make it flex. The most stable and water resitant choice would probably be Micarta or G10.
 
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Mark, what colors are you looking for. There is every color of the rainbow out there. US Knifemakers have a wide selection. Try Carbon Fiber sheets also. There are some incredible colors their too.
 
Ideally, I'd be looking for purple or lavender. I've checked just about everywhere, but no one seems to make it. It's ok, I'll just have to go with plan "B"... as soon as I figure out what plan B is.
 
Mark, while you have Masecraft on the phone, ask them about Corian, it is a counter top material, and I have used quite a bit of it on kitchen knives, seems to work well, it is a little brittle when working, but when attached to the knife, it is ok, may chip or crack if dropped on concrete floor. It comes in many colors from Masecraft, it also polishes up nice and stays nice. As far as the dishwasher goes, I do not reccomend putting any knife in the dishwasher, no matter what type of handle is on it.
Dale
 
Thanks for all the responses. I think I've got a plan that will work for this project. While the acrylic and polyester stuff is interesting, I don't think it's a good fit for these knives. I might give it a try in the future though.

Mike - I have been gathering some wood for an eventual shipment to WSSI, but I'll probably wait until spring. I need to get these wrapped up ASAP so I can focus on a few for customers before the end of the year. I have the ghost jade G10 on hand, so I won't have to wait on anything being shipped.

Randy and Dale- I have used corian and hi-macs before, and you are right about chipping with acrylic based composites. I'm not sure that I want to experiment this close to the holidays. My mom has a few of my knives already, and she knows that they are hand wash only, so I'm not concerned about them ending up in the washer.

As a side note, I did find some lavender canvas phenolic on ebay, but it's not quite what I'm looking for... hopefully it will become more available in the future.

I really do appreciate all the help guys! Sometimes I just need to talk things through to find the answer.

Thanks again,
-Mark
 
If you like purple and want to try the recon stone, Russian lavender does looks really good. I have done several knives with it.

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Jantz has some stone. I put some lapis on a letter opener for the wife. She really liked it. But then she likes all the things I make.
 
Hi Mark

I had the same problem as you did with the handles for kitchen knives.
Here's another possibility, these handles are in Agate.

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