Battle of the composite handle materials!

B

Blastermaster

Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
73
Today as I fondled my Spyderco Sage 1 in one hand and my friends jarbenza in another, something dawned on me. Not all composites are created equal. So what are your guys' favorite composites, mine are in this order: Carbon Fiber, G10, and Glass Fiber.
 
For aesthetics I like polished paper micarta or polished linen micarta, or even polished G10. For a user knife I like normal textured G10 best. I don't see that CF scales add much to a knife.
 
My favorite is injection molded carbon fiber/nylon composite. This material shows zero wear and does not flex, chip or scratch.


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Depends.

For asthetics it's hard to beat CF, but like metal handles most CF slabs are smooth and worthless for tactile grip. There's also a lot of flex in the knives with CF handles where there's no full metal liner.

For a knife I use, rough finished cloth Micarta is my favorite, but almost no one uses, peel ply G10 or peel ply CF is acceptable.

I can't get past the injection plastics, they just feel cheap and many of them have a lot of flex as well because they typically don't have metal liners.
 
Thus far, G-10 is my favorite handle material.

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like how carbon fiber looks. It just doesn't set with me.
 
I enjoy the look of a nice polished micarta, but as a user I would buy, since I live in a climate which can get very humid, warping is just something I can not chance. G-10 is pretty nice if done well, I am even saving up for a Kiwi 4 as I type this. FRN just does not agree with me, it just screams "Flea Market" but maybe an especially good flea market outing can convert me.
 
Micarta or G10 level in my book, the choice would depend on the blade finish, then C-Tec, Kirinite, and carbon fibre would be down at the bottom but unidirectional one step up because I like the contour line patterns it has when shaped.
 
Blastermaster said:
Today as I fondled my Spyderco Sage 1 in one hand and my friends jarbenza in another, something dawned on me. Not all composites are created equal. So what are your guys' favorite composites, mine are in this order: Carbon Fiber, G10, and Glass Fiber.
Click to expand...

1. Textured Micarta
2. Textured g10
3. lightning strik cf
 
I'm a big fan of FRN, the way it's textured on the UKPK and the Spy-DK, I think, is absolute perfection. Light and extremely grippy without being abrasive
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G10 is nice but there is a fine line between grippy and fingerprint removing, and this is a line that most manufacturers skirt. Carbon fiber is nice but is damaged pretty easily and the splinters from it are like hair of the devil. My favorite composite is FRN. Steel liners can give it a decent weight and make the handles all but invincible, and they are extremely tough and almost chemically non-reactive. Cheap, light, tough, infinite coloring options, and able to be made into any texture? Who couldn't love FRN?
 
1. Canvas Micarta - Always feels warm and very grippy without being abrasive, a hard combination to achieve.
2. FRN/Grivory/GRN - Keeps weight and cost down, can be grippy or smooth depending on the purpose of the knife, doesn't transmit heat or cold much.
3. G10 - Good stuff but, other than Spyderco, companies rarely seem to hit the sweet spot between traction and abrasion in the texturing.
4. Carbon Fiber - Offers little advantage other than looks as far as I can tell. Not bad, I just don't care to pay a premium for aesthetics.
 
Performance:
1. G-10
2. FRN
3. Micarta

Looks:
1. Real wood
2. Horn
3. Ivory
4. Stabilized wood

Both?

I'd probably say canvas micarta, simple color like olive, black, etc.
 
Canvas micarta on fixed blades and large folders. G10 on medium and small folders. I made up some Tero Tuf scales for a small fixed bade (Black Jack 155), and I like them.
 
1. Tie between G-10 and Carbon Fiber depending on wether it's a knife I use at work (carpenter) or my "Sunday Best" knife.

2. I REALLY like the Dymondwood on my Benchmade Hidden Canyon Hunter.

3. Canvas Micarta

4. That junk on my Mini Griptilian. It's effective, I'm just not crazy about the "feel".
 
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