Vulcanized Fiber

Tom Lewis

Tom Lewis

Joined
Feb 24, 2000
Messages
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I have heard criticism concerning vulcanized fiber. The normal use is for it got go as a liner between the handle scale and blade handle on a full tang knife. Some say if it comes in contact with water it will swell up and cause the handle to separate.
Well, I have made well over 1000 knives with a fiber lining with never a problem. Instead of just giving opinions, I decided to run a test. I use thin fiber, I think it is .018 thick. I don't like or use thick fiber.
For the test I used G-Flex epoxy to glue a piece of fiber between two unstabilized walnut scales. I put no finish on .
The first picture is after the epoxy dried and the edge was ground flat.
The second picture was right after the piece came out of a full dishwasher cycle. . There is NO change. There is no swelling and the fiber is still level with the walnut scales.
Now I know if a flat piece of fiber is soaked it will absorb water. But on a knife handle only the edge of the fiber is exposed to water. The thin fiber I use does not soak up enough water to make any difference.
What would happen with a thicker piece? I don't know. I would suggest that those who use thicker pieces do the experiment I did. And I would suggest before someone just repeats what somebody else said they do some testing to see what the results are.
 
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well, this is crazy. I can't get the second picture to post. Each time I click on it, the first picture posts. I will keep trying. I think maybe this is the second picture.
This the second picture taken right after coming out of the dishwasher.
 
Tom, you did exactly what I was going to do, but beat me to it. I was going to run it through the dishwasher, then soak it in a jar of water overnight. That is more extreme than anything we throw at our handles.
 
if you take a firearm, or fine antique watch and soak it in water for a few days and it is ruined, does this mean it was not any good to begin with ? i have soaked a sheet of that stuff in water for a few days, and yes it did swell. i was surprised because if it was truly saturated, like stabilized wood, it should not soak up any water. bob loveless said antler adheres to fiber better than steel. also consider temperature changes, every material expands at a different rate. there might be some merit to having a softer material between two hard ones.
 
Tom, I have used fiber liners for many years and hundreds of knives and never had a problem either. I have a fine collection of various thicknesses of G10 material in black and red but I do not like the looks of the G10 red as much as the fiber liner materials I have bought from Texas Knife Supply and Jantz over the years. Some of the fiber is .028 thick which is a little thicker than I like but looks great on some knives of 9 or 10 inches in length. I like fiber material but I don't use it for kitchen knives which I rarely make or when the wood I'm using is what I consider to be "exhibition" grade...I do not want anything to detract from the fine figure of the wood. I will probably never stop using the yellow fiber I like to highlight my file work on camel bone handled knives or the thin red liner that looks so good on smaller hunting knives. Thank you for testing your liner material.. it makes me more confident than ever to use it when I think it will make a knife look better. When I see comments from a knife maker who calls vulcanized fiber "fish paper" and says it is horrible the first thing I do is try and find photos of his knives to see if makes a nice knife... sometimes nice and sometimes not. I am always proud of the knives I make that have fiber liners and am not afraid to show them. Well, we all have our opinions but your dishwasher test is good evidence of the worthiness of vulcanized fiber for high quality and beautiful knives. Larry
 
For what it's worth, Maker Material Supply has red G10 that's actually red and opaque, unlike the ugly translucent red that's been available from other suppliers for years.

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I did my own tests years back, and I never saw the problem of getting soaked. What I did see with the stuff I bought was slight shrinkage/swelling depending on the weather, similar to unstabilized wood. It wasn't as noticeable on full tang, but very noticeable on stacked handles between materials. It bothered me enough that I switched to G10. On the other hand, I have a knife made by someone else, used exclusively in the wet, kayak/canoe, with fiber liners that don't shrink/swell at all, so maybe people have different experiences based on the manufacturer?
 
I'm suspecting those that have problems might not have proper glue penetration or proper finishes on the handles all together.
 
My liners get the same coat of oil that the wood (stabilized or not) gets. I suspect that combined with such a small exposed area keeps them pretty stable.
 
Kuraki, Your G10 liners look good. I will order some of that and throw my old red G10 away because it doesn't look very good. Thanks, Larry
 
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