The More You Know: Micarta

catalystman80

catalystman80

Joined
May 1, 2013
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Lot of you likely already knew this but I thought I'd share this.

I was browsing the web last night in an effort to find out when knifemakers started using micarta as a handle material and found this interesting article from 1913 introducing micarta as a new material developed by Westinghouse. Didn't get the answers to the original question I had, but I didn't know about the origins of micarta, so still ended up learning something new. Though it's often under appreciated in the custom knife circles (I myself being a guilty party at times), I love the robustness and the versatility of micarta.

http://reference.insulators.info/publications/view/?id=12982

Wikipedia of course has a more comprehensive overview of the product.

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Pretty interesting. I've always preferred micarta handles for knives. I buy knives with the intention of using them and have always thought micartas were the best handle material for user knives.
 
Woah, it's been around that long :eek:

I didn't discover it until 2010 myself & just assumed it had only been around a few years since then, thanks for sharing!
 
My dad said they use micarta at the tool and die shop he works at. If I remember correctly they use it to set the dies on.
 
I had no idea micarta was developed that long ago. I figured it was probably developed in the last couple decades or so. It's interesting that micarta is still in wide use in the knife world!

Fancy wood burls for knife scales were the only thing that I ever considered before getting a few Fiddlebacks. I love the character of wood and micarta always seemed a little plain. Every one of my wood handled knives have shrunk due to temperature extremes during The course of a year (-35c/-37f to 35c/95f), so I'm interested to see how the micarta holds up!
 
Yes, thanks for sharing. Bob Loveless spoke of micarta as being a first rate handle material, and everything else (bone, wood, etc) being second rate. From a strength and durability perspective I would agree. Too bad it isn't as pretty as those burls though!
 
Yeah to each his own I guess, I personally love both, it's just that the unique characters of each wood scales do tend to tug at my heartstrings a bit more. Though....something like this would definitely call my name ;) speaking of which, those who love micarta on their Fiddies, let's see some pictures! :D

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I'll go out on a limb; I prefer the look of micarta to the look of the straight-grains and the burls. To me it's a combination of factors but I really prefer the way the layers reveal themselves with handle shaping and the way it colors over time with use. The wood handles often remind me of fantasy knives and hold little interest for me. I'm trying to warm up to them, Andy's work certainly makes them appealing, but still haven't pulled the trigger on any and none have risen to the "someday soon" list.

Thanks for sharing the link, the material certainly has an interesting history. The name itself even has a backstory, I'll see if I can find it.
 
Here's some info from Andy a while back on getting it from McMaster Carr:

Fiddleback said:
I had a question by PM about the way McMaster-Carr clalssifies their garolite and thought I'd translate their page here too. Again, Garolite is the industrial generic terminology for phenolics. This includes micarta and g10's. The page below has descriptions of what they stock, and below that I've translated it for you.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#garolite-rods/=l7wb21

Here is what that means in knifemaker language:

Garolite XX is paper micarta
Garolite CE is canvas micarta
Garolite LE is linen micarta
All of the ones with G-# nomenclature are g10 with different heat properties, and FR4 is just flame retardant g10.

FR4 is usually jade color. If you get it clad with copper on both sides, then remove the waste copper with a very small cnc mill, or etchant, you get a circuit board. Thats what I used to do when I was an engineer.
Click to expand...
 
I was going to save these for the two for tuesday thread, but I think they fit in fine here.

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