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Checkering

A recently posted project .."T29 Electricians Knife Projects".. by Derek Wells where he re-purposed an already checkered section of wood from a gunstock to form scales got me interested in checkering.

My first thought was .. wonder if I could do that to linen or paper micarta. The initial research stated NO. A feathering resulted along the edges ..instead of.. nice crisp edges as seen in wood. I've never been one to be discouraged by the failure of others ..so.. gave it a shot myself.

Not only is feathering a problem .. actual delamination occurs. I suspect that a very coarse checkering could be obtained ... with a sharp cutter .. a high rotational speed ..&.. a slow feed rate. BUT.
.

I did a piece of desert ironwood @ the same settings .. for comparison. Results were no better .. far from desirable.

NOTE: The equipment & settings used in this exercise were ............ A Grizzly Mini Mill Model G8689 .. OEM drive system upgraded with LittleMachineShop's belt drive conversion .. a 30 deg conical diamond coated cutting tool .. depth of cut = 0.023" .. dist between parallel cuts = 0.0625" .. angle between intersecting cuts was 60 degrees .. feed rate = manual @ ~ 0.031"/second.

The result was a good learning experience.

I then milled a flat surface on a rough cut slab of mahogany.

Based on results of the initial attempt .. I changed a few settings. The same cutting tool was used. The angle of intersection remained the same @ 60 degrees. The depth was increased from 0.023" to 0.0625" & the distance between parallel cuts was increased from 0.0625" to 0.125".

The initial rough finish shows resulting burrs & belies it's final appearance. I then milled 0.003" off the top surface. i.e. removed the burrs.

This .. I can live with.

Note: I consider this effort a "proof of concept" exercise.

As such .. I keep it cheap. I used scrap material where possible. I used an inexpensive cutter sourced from Harbor Freight.

......... What I learned .........

A). Its doable !!

B). As such .. it merits the investment in higher grade & more expensive tooling .. carbide cutter.

C). Never be daunted by the appearance of initial failure.

One more skill set added to the bucket.

2 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Bamford on January 2, 2016 at 16:47

Well done Dale !

Permalink Reply by Derek Wells on January 2, 2016 at 20:57

Well worth the effort to prove the method will work. Looks fine to me and one other benefit is it is repeatable.

It reminds me of the finish on some of those traditional "Green River" style Knives

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on January 2, 2016 at 21:03

WOW! I could live with that also. Great test and results Dale thanks for sharing

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Jeremy B. Buchanan on January 2, 2016 at 21:09

Great job Dale. Looks like your persistency paid off. Good tooling almost always improves results and longevity of tooling.

Permalink Reply by Bryan OShaughnessy on January 3, 2016 at 0:58

Derek: The first result would have caused me to quit it, but the flat-milling indeed proves the process works admirably. I'd be curious how the micarta would hold up to the same treatment. Is there enough surface to mill-down to a "good" checkered layer? Also, I'm curious what did you use to cut the gunstock checkered-wood to shape? Jig-saw? Bandsaw?

Permalink Reply by Derek Wells on January 3, 2016 at 3:25

Bryan, I used a bandsaw to cut it to roughly 3/8 thickness then the bandsaw again around the outside of the pattern over-size, then a disc sander to work down to the required thickness before using the sander again to take it down close to the handle/pattern shape ... before finishing it all "slowly" by hand sanding filing.

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on January 3, 2016 at 7:56

Thanks , Derek

Both for the initial motivation (your projects turned out .. enviably wonderful) & for the repeatable comment. i.e. I post this schtuff here as much for the benefit of others as anything. 'taint the same as a youtube video ..but.. shows enough of the process that another could repeat while substantially lessening the learning curve.

My initial research showed much checkering is done by hand .. files & small chisels. Especially on curved surfaces. BUT .. a simple drill press & an X-Y table could easily reproduce what I've shown here.

Again .. wonderful result you obtained w/ your projects !!

Derek Wells said:

Well worth the effort to prove the method will work. Looks fine to me and one other benefit is it is repeatable.

It reminds me of the finish on some of those traditional "Green River" style Knives

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on January 3, 2016 at 8:11

Bryan .. when I do try this again .. I believe I'll go with a 45 ~ 60 degree angled conical cutting tool & a coarse pattern. That would bring the resulting diamonds to more of a point while perhaps reducing the delamination I encountered with the micarta. The delamination occurred almost instantly when I began making the intersecting cuts i.e. the intersecting parallel cuts @ 60 degrees to the fist series of parallel cuts.

What resulted were NOT the desired diamonds .. they simply came off .. the micarta delaminated @ or near the layer present @ the bottom of the cuts. Probably .. a better sharper carbide cutting tool would improve the results. BUT ...

The actual process was quite tedious .. I doubt I'll repeat anytime soon.

Bryan OShaughnessy said: