# Knife handle made from a pair of pants and a shirt



## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

I decided to try my hand at a homemade resin knife handle. This is commonly done with carbon fiber and fiberglass but I've also seen it done with denim so I thought I would give it a try. I've seen others do this with some pretty interesting results. I want a black handle and red handle so I’m making it out of an old pair of black dress pant that had a busted zipper and an old red T-shirt. I cut squares that were 4 ½ by 4 ½ so that I can get a matched set of handle scales.










This was messy work and I wore rubber gloves that quickly were covered in resin so not many pics were taken during the actual assembly of layers. I got the resin and hardener from Walmart.










I used a plastic bin to coat each square and a squeegee to spread and saturate the cloth.










I would be clamping the stack between two wood slabs. I cut apart a large Ziploc bag and taped it to the blocks to keep them from sticking to the fabric squares.










16 layers thick. Notice how the Ziploc bag material is no longer smooth and tightly stretch over the block. This stuff gets really hot. I could not hold the mixing container due to the heat.










Then I clamped them together as tightly as I could. I also made a set of thinner pieces out of a red T-shirt. I will use them for spacers. They are only 2 layers thick.



















I let them set for 24 hours even though the container said it would be cured in 2 ½ .

After prying the blocks apart.










After sawing off the excess.










All that pressure did a good job of making a very solid and heavy chunk of resin impregnated cloth.


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## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

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.


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## jsextonosu (Feb 1, 2011)

wow that is sweet! thanks for sharing!


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## AR&BOW (May 24, 2009)

What a great idea. . . . . . . how cool is that.


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## letsgobowhuntin (Aug 4, 2009)

I think it has great potential. Just wandering what else could be made. Very unique.


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## sharpshooter359 (Jan 6, 2007)

very nice. Who knew an old worn out pair of pants and a shirt could look that nice.


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## swhipple (Feb 21, 2011)

That looks like a neat process. I might try it to make side grips for a bow. If the heat is a problem, a slower curing epoxy might not get so hot.


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## jrdrees (Jun 12, 2010)

Man that is cool!


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## YankeeRebel (Dec 30, 2005)

Awesome. That is thinking outside the box. :thumb:


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## nmubowyer (Feb 7, 2008)

Awesome


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## chachi (Jan 18, 2007)

That's a great idea. Thanks for posting it.


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## rcgerchow (Dec 20, 2006)

Very neat, talk about recycling.


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## jlnel (Dec 22, 2009)

nice


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## axeforce6 (Sep 15, 2010)

Thats great man. Now your thinking green. Lol


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## oldschoolcj5 (Jun 8, 2009)

thanks for the 'how to' ... great job!


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## NYBowNut (Feb 13, 2011)

geez... imagine the potential... :embara: lace bow grips, maybe? :mg:


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## ZGun4n6 (Jan 11, 2010)

Looks great. Makes me think of what could be done with all of my old CAMO stuff laying around....


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## fishinbuff (Sep 8, 2010)

is it fairly light weight?


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## bowman_77 (May 4, 2009)

Thats cool. nice job.


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## ParaShooter (May 28, 2007)

Pretty cool!.... Hrm.. Micarta, G-10, Fiberglas, Denim, Carbon Fiber, Kevlar... all pretty much the same thing!!!


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## kilerhamilton (Jul 19, 2010)

want to sell me one?


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## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

kilerhamilton said:


> want to sell me one?


I did one better, I showed you how to make it for free. I didn’t charge a dime. Gather up some old shirts and pants and make as many as you like. The joy is in the doing.


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## Stormforce (Jul 28, 2009)

...what a fantastic idea. I love the look of the handle. 

Like ZGun4n6 wrote, doing the same thing with old camo clothing would beat film dipping a knife handle, if one was after a a unique knife. Maybe even overlaying a set of hard grips or anything in a camo material and coating in fibreglass resin. 

Geez, the possibilities are endless...


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## K-Man (Jun 10, 2009)

Nice job, RC. The process has been used for a number of years on knife handles. We offered them as gun grips. If you use a variety of material colors, you can get a quite varied pattern. You're only limited by your imagination in that respect.


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## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

I thought I would give denim a try. And a few other colors of cloth as well as construction paper.










I used another Chicago Cutlery blade.




























10 layers of green construction paper. This stuff has some potential and comes in a wide variety of colors (and is cheap)


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## Ancient Archer (Sep 25, 2008)

What ingenuity! A wonderful idea!
I'd like to try this myself. I tried Googling "Chicago Cutlery factory 2nds", but couldn't find any seconds. Can you divulge your soucre for these CC seconds?
Thanks.


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## Lagrange (Dec 8, 2008)

Hey Rancid, could you tell me approximately how much resin and hardner you start with.
I dont want to pour out too much and create waste, on the other hand, I'd hate to not have enough to finish the job.


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## Kurt Blanken (Apr 12, 2011)

I really like the way the denim works with the contours of the handle. That black one is just too plain for my taste. I'm thinking that layering different colors can create some cool effects.


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## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

Ancient Archer said:


> What ingenuity! A wonderful idea!
> I'd like to try this myself. I tried Googling "Chicago Cutlery factory 2nds", but couldn't find any seconds. Can you divulge your soucre for these CC seconds?
> Thanks.


My brother.


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## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

Lagrange said:


> Hey Rancid, could you tell me approximately how much resin and hardner you start with.
> I dont want to pour out too much and create waste, on the other hand, I'd hate to not have enough to finish the job.



I use 4 oz of resin and 48 drops of hardener at a time. You only have about 15 minutes to work with so mixing too much means it will set up before you exhaust the quantity.


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## Learn2turn (May 16, 2011)

You are inspirational, great job!


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## Ancient Archer (Sep 25, 2008)

Thanks, that was helpful. Guess I need to get a relative to get a job there to reap the "benefits".



Rancid Crabtree said:


> My brother.


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## Green River (May 13, 2006)

My dad said when he was a kid they bought their pants way to long on purpose so you could cut them off and use the extra for patches (true story!) I'll bet non of them thought of this. I can see me making side plates for my Hoyts with this method, great post!


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## amcardon (Mar 17, 2009)

I've done this a few times, especially with my Scouts when we made knives (wanted them to make as much of the final product as possible!). One of my favorite sets to turn out was a kid that had brought in a lot of different colored canvas scraps and some camo colored canvas scraps. We did the same thing but instead of laying them neat and flat he twisted, balled up and mangled the material trying to get the look of micarta "burl" (as some guys call it). Turned out really cool, especially the camo set he made! Wish I could find the pictures from that... That was what got me into knifemaking in the first place, now it's a full on obsession


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## Kurt Blanken (Apr 12, 2011)

What if you cut thin strips of different colors, wove them together, then layered it.


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## Grim76 (Feb 2, 2011)

ok , that is just cool !


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## super* (Jan 26, 2008)

Thats some good stuff


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## pbageant (May 18, 2011)

I've worked quite a bit with fiberglass and resin (built some motorcycle body parts from scratch, among other things) and I have to say: I'm impressed! When I saw this post my initial thought was that creating surfaces flat enough to lay atop each other would be tricky, but your clamp device seems to solve the problem. Well done!


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## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

Now in Burlap and green T-shirt.


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## Osceola 41 (Feb 20, 2009)

that burlap looks pretty cool


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## daltongang (Jul 29, 2009)

Awesome!! Now I know what I am going to do to my Grandfathers old Western!


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## jsextonosu (Feb 1, 2011)

wow the burlap one looks really cool!!! you just gave me a new hobby! thanks again for sharing!!


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## Jinxed4dub (May 24, 2011)

Thats awesome, my uncle has had a knife he made from an old leaf spring, I always wanted one. it was a tuff knife. now I know how to make a handle.


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## AppleOnMyHead (Nov 22, 2009)

Burlap is the best. IMHO. 

Maybe bleach the burlap then dye it red with food coloring. 

Use black by the steal.


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## reez (May 24, 2011)

thats a great idea.. may have to give it a try..


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## Squawsach (Apr 26, 2008)

That is some very nice work. Some of my homemade micarta turns out great and some has a few dry spots. I wondering why you make your spacers in a different stack instead of using it as a base for your micarta stack. I have always done it in one operation.


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## poorshooter (Mar 30, 2009)

Now i know what i will make my bow grips with! Thank you!!


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## Rancid Crabtree (Sep 12, 2007)

Squawsach said:


> That is some very nice work. Some of my homemade micarta turns out great and some has a few dry spots. I wondering why you make your spacers in a different stack instead of using it as a base for your micarta stack. I have always done it in one operation.


I have been making a stock of spacers so I have them at the ready for whatever material I plan to use as scales. Your right though, if I know in advance that I want a certain spacer, it makes sense to make it all at once.


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## Lagrange (Dec 8, 2008)

I was trying to figure out how I could make my scales and handles in one operation, you two just answered my question. I love this forum and the many useful things I've learned here. My thanks to all who contribute.


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## Ab_bow_hunter (May 16, 2008)

sorry for dredging this thread up from the dead but just had to ask about the construction paper. did the color not bleed out into the epoxy? Did it lighten / darken the original color any??


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## tjb50cal (Jul 5, 2010)

awesome diy thread, mods please make this one a sticky


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## EMC686 (Jun 24, 2007)

That is awesome. Thanks for sharing.


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