After sawing off the excess.
All that pressure did a good job of making a very solid and heavy chunk of resin impregnated cloth.
Here are the scales and spacers I cut for the knife.
I took a piece of scrap and rounded and polished it to see what the surface would look like without applying any kind of finish. I polished it on a flannel buffing wheel with Tripoli compound. It even looks a little like carbon fiber.
Since this is just an experiment , I am using one of the Chicago Cutlery factory 2nds I have on hand. I’m not sure what about them makes them 2nds but they sell them at a good price. This is just a basic kitchen knife and perfect for this sort of practice.
I used brass pins and my regular slow cure epoxy to attach the handle parts. I used a belt sander and palm sander to shape. I went from 50 grit to 400 grit sandpaper and then 000 steel wool and finally the flannel buffing wheel. Here is the finished handle made from a pair of pants and an old T-shirt.
Interesting patterns can be made by using different colored cloth layers. I plan to make another using blue jeans and some other colored fabric that my wife wont miss.
This method has applications beyond knife making and could be employed for making such things as side plate grips for your bow or hand gun, guitar fingerboards and bridges or any number of things.