I Party Hard On Friday

Not really.
I just plug away in the shop like usual.

Hmmmmm....my newest micarta had a delamination problem on the top couple of layers. I will have to investigate. The rest of it is solid. I don't know if it was a resin failure (if maybe I didn't put enough on) or if the paper itself resisted the resin.

The rest of the block is solid and usable. A single black base layer, blue middle layer, and then gunmetal on the outside.

I finished this paring knife. The handle is hand knit micarta. A good friend of mine is a knitter...and this is what I do with stuff she knits.

I am seriously in love with these knit handles. They have depth and detail that you don't get with other styles of micarta (or most other handle materials for that matter). This one was especially tricky because of the resin I used. This comes from an early piece when I was trying to find the right resin. After a few pieces I found that West Systems was the right stuff. This resin is a bit softer than West Systems once cured, and therefore slightly more difficult to sand. With some care and patience, however, it came out purdy darned good!

I was asked by Ralph Boumenot about how the Loveless fasteners work. This is a cutaway view. Each scale and the blade are drilled through to fit the screw. The scales are counterbored part way through to seat the nuts. Once everything is assembled and glued, the screw and nuts are cut off and ground to be flush with the handle scales.