How To Make Burlap "Micarta"

Well, I put “Micarta” in quotes since that’s a brand name material, but that is what everyone seems to refer to any type of textile laminate in this niche. I’ve seen it called Mycarta which is kind of catchy. I am a big fan of burlap as a laminate material. It has an interesting texture and a more old fashioned look. Making up a batch for yourself is pretty easy, cheap, and painless.

1. Take the measurement of your knife and cut the burlap to length. Determine what width and thickness scales you want to end up with. I have found that 7 sheets of burlap make 1/4″ thick laminate.

2.  For mixing the fiberglass, I use a little 3oz cup. I tick off the oz lines to aid in measuring the mix.

3. Once you have your stack of burlap, you’ll need to prepare the fiberglass. You can also use epoxy in place of fiberglass if you’d rather. The Extra Time variety of epoxy can be more forgiving time-wise if you are worried about being quick enough. The fiberglass works for me because it sets faster and I can get to work sanding on it. The stuff in the picture has a 15 minute set time and a 2 hour cure time, though it really seems more like 12 hours before it is completely hard and not tacky. I lay out a plastic bag on a flat surface, don the gloves, mix the fiberglass, then on to step 4.

4. Lay down a bottom layer of fiberglass mixture on the plastic bag underneath where you are going to put your first layer of burlap. Then layer down the burlap and apply fiberglass to the surface until it is soaked. Add another layer of burlap and repeat until you’re either out of fiberglass mix or you have achieved the thickness you are after. Remember, the burlap is going to be compressed as it dries, so err on the side of thicker.

5. Fold the plastic bag over the top of the burlap so it doesn’t stick to whatever flat, heavy object you are going to set on top of it. This pushes out any air bubbles and ensures that each layer adheres to the ones above and below it.

6. Finished product – 2 hours later. It is still tacky at this point.

7. Finished burlap laminate ready to use as knife scales. It works and cuts like any hardwood.