I have been asked on more than one occasion why I make my own linen phenolic.

Well the simple answer is I want to save money and that when you add the shipping charges to the commercial stuff then it is just too expensive and you are limited to the colors they have, usually red, black and white.

Now phenolic can be used in a wide variety of applications from riser accent strips, re-enforcing limb tips, limb butt overlays and knife handle scales to name a few.

The big plus is you can make it any color you want you can use any cloth fabric including denim, which by the way looks absolutely awesome on a knife handle.

Now if your wife is like mine and makes patch work quilts then all you have to do is sneak some material out of her supply.

Of course she will already have a rubberized cutting board and rotary knife for her quilting if not then just a measuring tape and a pair of scissors will get the job done.



If your wife or girl friend does not have any fabric then just head down to the local sewing, craft or any store that sells fabric and pick some up in the color that you want. If you decide on demin then head to the local second hand clothing store and pick up a pair of used jeans for a couple of dollars.

Ok first step is to cut your material into strips for this exercise I have elected to cut my strips 3 inches wide and about 20 inches long.

Seeing the length is longer than the board I keep the material folded in half and cut the strips.



You will have to play around a bit to get the thickness you want I am aiming for about 1/16"

Once I have the strips cut in this case 12 it's time to prepare my very expensive press form.



My press is just 2 pieces of ¾" ply that I have run through the drum sander to get smooth and perfectly flat.

First I give both inside sections a good coat of paste wax or floor wax it don't matter which, what this does is stops the 2 pieces being glued together if any epoxy escapes during the pressing.



Then I lay some saran wrap over one of the boards.





Now it's time to mix up some epoxy, I use Aero/Marine 400 the same epoxy I use to glue up my bows.



Lay 2 pieces of fabric on the saran wrap and cover with the epoxy; spread the epoxy out so it is roughly covering all the cloth.

Then all I do is keep layering the cloth 2 at a time and adding the epoxy till all the strips are used.

I do not put epoxy on the top of the last 2 strips of cloth, as the pressing will force the epoxy through the cloth.

Now I fold the saran wrap back over the cloth from both sides and both ends, place the other board on top and then with 4 G clamps clamp them together as tight as I can get the clamps.





Then place it in the heat box for a few hours to cure, if you don't have a heat box then just leave the form clamped for a couple of days.

Once the epoxy has cured remove the clamps take the form apart, remove the saran wrap trim the edges, I use the band saw.








There you have your home made linen phenolic ready to use for what ever reason you want to use it.

This place never ceases to amaze me.  What little trick will I learn next?  
Thanks for putting this up for us to learn from.
I wonder:  can phenolic be made from gluing up sheets of paper?

That's fantastic ! The really good things are always the simple ones.  I wonder how denim accent stripes in a zebrano riser looks...

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Andy

Excellent!..Thanks for sharing!

Now that is down right cool.  Now I can make some pink riser accents for my grand daughters future bow.

Thanks for the info- I'll have to look into the epoxy- I've been makeing it the same way but using fiberglass resin.

This is cool!thanks for sharing!

works well, doesn't it?     Use paper, fabrics, glass, whatever.  denim makes some interesting knife scales.

What you're making isn't phenolic though - it's an epoxy micarta.  Phenolic uses some very specific phenolic resins.

Cool!!! Thanks.  

Thanks for sharing.  I'll be trying this one out very soon.

Thanks for the post it was very informative

Can we see some in action?  

Cobbow

QuoteCan we see some in action?

Here ya go

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=002696

how about a list of suitable epoxies??  west system, smooth on, ????

Very nice how to.  I'm a sucker for making my own stuff, so this is great.

How about the 3D Micarta that they sell for knive scales these days?  Any idea on how to make that?

West System Epoxy works great:) Try to mix colored fabric linnen...or mixed colored twist.

Very nice.  I was thinking of making phenolic for a takedown riser.  West System and System 3 both confirmed that their marine grade Epoxy can withstand the temperature of the typical heatbox.  The heat actually make Epoxy soft first but then cause Expoxy to be even harder than without heating up (post cure harden).

One thing good about making our own phenolic is the ability to mix various color and fabric to create unique design. One of the knife maker out there called this "Mycarta".