Micarta? Huh? And a torture test.

I no longer make or work with micarta style materials.
Yep – Micarta.  Or at least a laminated fabric material.

From April 2012.
Okay – so I made some laminated denim with fiber glass resin from O’Reilly’s. It was about $50 for the resin, $6 for the denim (should have gone to the thrift store and bought big pants), and a maybe $45 for rubber gloves, plastic, squeegee, and some groceries, which don’t really count.
So not that big of an investment really, and I could have done it cheaper if I had thrift shopped.  It is time CONSUMING.

And the torture test.  🙂  (from last May 2012)

Here’s a bit of a quick torture test. No student had picked it, and the year is up, so I’ll have it until August at least. So while I have it, and to easily answer questions, I figured I’d be mean to it. Worst that happens is I mess something up and make a new part. No big deal.

I added more threads to the barrel and changed the shape of the section. I prefer a pinch.  Why’d I add more threads?  Because the cap didn’t engage with the barrel properly at all.  Now it’s perfect.

First test was to throw it across my tiled kitchen floor. Cap on of course. I don’t want to ruin the nib. No damage.

Second test was to flick the cap off my table across the dining room onto the hardwood floor. No damage.

Third test is to ink it. Stained like crazy, but I think that’s kind of cool. Note that this pen isn’t sealed. I don’t think it would stain if sealed with several coats of CA glue.  Just a note – all the Micarta pens I’ll make from now on will have either an acrylic or ebonite section.  So staining won’t be an issue.

I showed one of my students this pen, and as he was handing it back to me I slapped it out of his hand and across the lobby. He was shocked – but then I told him why I did it and he laughed. The converter shook loose.
Still no damage.

Pen in the freezer, on top of the ice. Was in there all night.
Didn’t hurt it. Though I’m not sure what was supposed to happen.
A little frost on the clip and nib. Ink thick – but still wrote.

Well – I finally did it. I cracked the cap.
I tossed the pen again yesterday, about 8 foot up in the air, demonstrating how tough this stuff is to my pen turner buddies, and the cap fell off when it hit the ground. THey all gasped and I just laughed. “FINALLY” I said. It wasn’t so much of a crack in the resin, but a separation of the material at the seam. So where the denim was layered up is where it split. It’s still scuff and scratch free surprisingly – now it needs a little super glue to hold things together. No big deal.  Note – and it did hold together beautifully.  It’s back in my pen case waiting for a student to grab it up.

Note of caution: don’t repeatedly throw, smack out of hands across a room, or toss your denim pens. Eventually it will split or crack.

A review