

Micarta is a genericized trademark referring to a composite material made from layers of paper or fabric impregnated with thermosetting resin. It is rigid, tough, and electrically insulating, and has many applications ranging from power distribution equipment to countertops. It is also commonly used in knife, gun, and tool handles, where its laminated construction offers built-in decorative opportunities ranging from subtle wood-grain-like patterns to out-and-out gaudy riots of color.
In this video, YouTuber CrashbladeKnives shows off his process for making small batches of custom-colored micarta using construction paper and fiberglass resin. If you’re interested in micarta, don’t miss his channel, linked below, which includes dozens of videos showing off various types of micarta and methods for making them.
6 thoughts on “How-To: Paper Micarta”
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The German Democratic Republic (that was the socialistic east) use “Pertinax” which where Multiple kinds of Paper doused in Phenolic resin for (FR1 and 2) circuit-boards. The higher FR-echelons used Epoxy and exchanged the paper for glass-fiber.
In the 1970s here in the UK, the electronics magazines referred to “SRBP” boards. These were stripboards like Veroboard and plain insulating perforated boards. We didn’t have very many different types and layouts then, of course! Anyway, SRBP stood for Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper, which sounds like it’s the same stuff as mentioned above. It was darker in colour than the modern fibreglass PCB base materials, quite a deep brown shade.