Grippy G10 Texture

[sailfish]

I'm in the process of having a custom scale designed and I'd like to get the non-milled parts of the side to have a similar texture to that of standard Spyderco G10 scales. How is that grippy G10 feel achieved? Is that sandblasting or something else that they do to get it to feel and look like that? If it's something else, can anyone vouch for how blasted G10 feels or have and pictures of what it looks like? Thanks.

 

[J. Doyle]

Bead blasted g-10 is pretty grippy.

There is also some factory textured g-10 with several varieties of patterns machined into it. But it's only on the very top so you have to order a thickness close to desired finished size and do minimal shaping or you'll grind it away. I think it's called peel-ply g-10.

 

[Tsujigiri]

I don't think the grippy G-10 from Spyderco and other makers is machined on the outside; pretty sure that's the texture of the mold and the inside of the scales get machined to the right thickness.

 

[killgar]

Peel and Ply G10 has a textured layer of material laid over it during production while the resin is still in liquid form. It's the layer that you peel off. When the resin hardens it retains the texture of that top layer.

Some textured G10 knife handles are individually milled to produce texture.

 

[sailfish]

Peel and Ply G10 has a textured layer of material laid over it during production while the resin is still in liquid form. It's the layer that you peel off. When the resin hardens it retains the texture of that top layer.

Some textured G10 knife handles are individually milled to produce texture.

This must be why the slabs almost look like they have a fabric-like texture.

 

[sailfish]

From my understanding, if the peel ply texture is formed when the G10 sheet is being made, then I assume the only way to get this texture on an already existing smooth sheet would be to mimic it with milling?

 

[19-3ben]

If you want a grippy G10, another option would be using Suretouch. It’s great stuff. But it definitely doesn’t have the same texture as the grippy G10 from Spyderco.

 

[J. Doyle]

From my understanding, if the peel ply texture is formed when the G10 sheet is being made, then I assume the only way to get this texture on an already existing smooth sheet would be to mimic it with milling?

Yeah. It can be stippled, checkered, jigged, machined.......any of that.

 

[jux t]

Peel and Ply G10 has a textured layer of material laid over it during production while the resin is still in liquid form. It's the layer that you peel off. When the resin hardens it retains the texture of that top layer.

Some textured G10 knife handles are individually milled to produce texture.

Learn something new everyday. I had been associating peel ply as g10 with carbon fiber overlayed. That’s often how that combo is advertised. So is most textured G10 considered peel ply?

 

[killgar]

Learn something new everyday. I had been associating peel ply as g10 with carbon fiber overlayed. That’s often how that combo is advertised. So is most textured G10 considered peel ply?

I don't know about most, but if the G10 is entirely flat with a uniformed texture over it's entire top surface, I would assume that it is Peel Ply. To my knowledge Peel Ply is only available in flat pieces or sheets. But if the handle is contoured/rounded over with a distinct uniformed texture, then that would be milled, or the result of some other external source of texturing.

Peel Ply G10 is one of my favorite handle materials. I've used it on several projects. One of the things I've learned working with Peel Ply is the importance of removing the peel away layer right away. Originally I would wait as long as possible so the peel away layer would protect the textured G10 surface from getting dinged up during production of the handle scale. But then one time I had a scale all finished, I peeled away the outer layer, and discovered there was a flaw going all the way across the piece of G10 that was concealed by the outer layer. This made the scale totally unacceptable to me, and I had to make a new one from scratch. After that I started removing the outer layer first to inspect the surface, then cover it with a few layers of painters masking tape to protect it during production.


A stock picture of a few Peel Ply scale slabs. You can see the texture of the top layer being peeled away.

And a few of my examples.

 

[jfk1110]

I don't know about most, but if the G10 is entirely flat with a uniformed texture over it's entire top surface, I would assume that it is Peel Ply. To my knowledge Peel Ply is only available in flat pieces or sheets. But if the handle is contoured/rounded over with a distinct uniformed texture, then that would be milled, or the result of some other external source of texturing.

Peel Ply G10 is one of my favorite handle materials. I've used it on several projects. One of the things I've learned working with Peel Ply is the importance of removing the peel away layer right away. Originally I would wait as long as possible so the peel away layer would protect the textured G10 surface from getting dinged up during production of the handle scale. But then one time I had a scale all finished, I peeled away the outer layer, and discovered there was a flaw going all the way across the piece of G10 that was concealed by the outer layer. This made the scale totally unacceptable to me, and I had to make a new one from scratch. After that I started removing the outer layer first to inspect the surface, then cover it with a few layers of painters masking tape to protect it during production.


A stock picture of a few Peel Ply scale slabs. You can see the texture of the top layer being peeled away.

And a few of my examples.

Always nice to see those!!!