Homemade Phenolic

[Innocente]

My first attempt at this:

the press: 3 pieces of pine clamped between 4 4" C Clamps.
the phenolic: 10 sheets of poor man's linen (75% cotton 25% poly) glued together with EA 40 smooth on at 160 degrees for 4 hours.

       

       

         

         

         

       

[Grey Taylor]

Good job.
I've seen some incredible knife handles made in this manner. It really gives a new utility to worn out blue jeans or BDU's.

Guy

[Moen]

Cool! I use vacuum for my homemade phenolic. Try old jeans, telephonebook, twist etc. Pics from after sanding?

[wmcclendon]

I've got a few ideas to use this sort of stuff.  I've seen some awesome knives that had the blue jean phenolic with copper hardware.  

Moen, can you tell us a bit more about your vacuum setup and also about the "twist".  How about some pictures of your stuff.

[Jeremy]

You're making an epoxy laminate (or micarta, but that's really made under high pressure).  Phenolic (aka phenolic micarta) uses some very specific phenolic resins instead of epoxy.  Makes a big difference in the properties of the final product.

It's great for overlays and knife handles!