KIRINITE MATL

[diver dan]

I just ran across this matl called kirinite, its from EAGLE GRIPS I believe , does anybody have any experience with this stuff , or where to get it at a good price point? Thinking of making a set of pistol grips for revolver.This is going to be my first attempt at making a set of grips.Any info would be helpfull , thanks.

 

[shootersix]

Kirinite™ is an exotic knife handle material that is made in the USA. It is highly suited for making custom knife handles and gun grips with. It mills like butter, offers incredible visual contrasts and can be sanded and buffed to a fine polished finish. It is very similar to paper Micarta™ in texture and works/machines like polyester composites or phenolic sheeting.

Copied from knifekits.com they have green (puke green) in stock at 17 a slab (1 slab looks long enough to make a front and back knife handle). I’ve seen a few custom knives with different color handles they look pretty cool, but the few I’ve handled were a little slick, so on a knife with a finger guard I don’t think it’d be a big deal, but on a pistol, I’d think it’d be too slick to get a grip on without a lot of checkering (now as a inset on a set of ruger gp100 grips might work!)

But I don’t make knives or gun grips!, but if i were thinking of making grips, I’d pick up a slab, fiddle around on a pocket knife (flea market knife!) and see how that works and holds up to filing, fitting and drilling before I try gun grips.

I had a cool knife made by crkt it was a Allen Elishewitz licensed copy (I think it was called a scarab) that had a blue plastic type material grip, they said it was the same material as bowling balls, the assist spring went out, they asked me to send it back so they could replace it, then contacted me and said “we’ll give you store credit on another knife!”…turns out bowling balls are great at absorbing the stress of hitting bowling pins, but horrible at the stress of screws, so they dropped the knife from production!

 

[Rookie]

I just watched an episode of forged in fire where one of the smiths used kirinite. It shaped easily, but it was more brittle than other materials. Tapping it on the drill press caused it to chip on the corners.

 

[Lpherr]

I haven't personally used Kirinite, but it is widely used for many products.
It's a modified acrylic, similar to acrylic acetate. I've used lots and lots of AA over the years, but due to the manufacturing process, the iridescence/chatoyance is only visible on the face and back.
I began pouring my own composites and the iridescence/chatoyance is optically favorable 360*, and it
allows custom mixes. I haven't used commercial "plastics" since I began pouring. I have somewhere near 2,000 rods I've poured and haven't got around to using, and that doesn't include the thousands I've sent around the world.

Kirinite used to be available from many retailers, but a lot of them show out of stock.