Best Material for Scales?

R

Rengland55

Joined
Sep 7, 2016
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Hello All,

I am pretty new to the knife community and have been looking into purchasing my first fixed blade survival/bushcraft knife. I have heard from some that Micarta scales are the only way to go. Is this true, or are there other materials that are better/comparable? Thank you for the feedback!
 
Micarta can be pretty grippy, definitely not a bad choice! It's all up to preference. Pretty much all handle material you see on knives are specialty material, either treated to be more durable and solid, or created to give idea properties for handles (grip, strength, etc). Lots of people (I think most actually) have wooden handles on their bushcraft knife, so don't think that you have to stick to micarta. Get whatever you think looks and would work best for you. Side note - Micarta comes in different forms. The two most common are canvas micarta (more grip, less/no polish, rougher and grippier), and linen (polishes, is smoother, still would give decent grip though)


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Micarta is an awesome material. Very awesome texture if done right. My only gripe with it, is if exposed to liquids (sweat, water, blood) the scales discolor rapidly, usually getting much darker in color.

If I had to choose "best", g10 no doubt. It can be smooth, super rough, or anywhere in between. Colors and textures available are nearly only limited to your imagination.

I personally love the rubber/grivory (I believe this is the name?) handles, but they can cause some serious hotspots, and they're not very attractive IMO.

FRN is also a worthy mention when on a budget.
 
Micarta is great. G10 is stronger.

If by "Best" you mean strongest/lightest. Then I'd probably vote for G10

For me "Best" means best looking/strong enough combination which would fall to well stabilised wood burls.
With Micarta coming in second, specifically white linnen micarta.
 
Rengland55 said:
...... are there other materials that are better/comparable?
Click to expand...
Quite an open question:)

Better for what?

The homemade scales on some of my knives are not really comparable, no.

Ive got homemade micarta, carbon fiber and last but certainly not least one of my favorites: Twill-weave 200g/m2 Carbon/Twaron mixed-fibre bonded with Nanocyl enhanced Bisphenol-A epoxy matrix.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ade-handle-for-my-PINGO-knife?highlight=Pingo

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1030297-Pingo-MOD-Added-new-pics?highlight=pingo
 
LX_Emergency said:
Micarta is great. G10 is stronger.

If by "Best" you mean strongest/lightest. Then I'd probably vote for G10

For me "Best" means best looking/strong enough combination which would fall to well stabilised wood burls.
With Micarta coming in second, specifically white linnen micarta.
Click to expand...

best looking goes to most burl woods. absolutely gorgeous. I have a custom kwaiken in madrone burl and it is freaking beautiful.

Its so beautiful I'm scared to put it through heavy use :D
 
stonproject said:
best looking goes to most burl woods. absolutely gorgeous. I have a custom kwaiken in madrone burl and it is freaking beautiful.

Its so beautiful I'm scared to put it through heavy use :D
Click to expand...

They can actually take quite a bit if well stabilised. And can be restored quite easily if scratched/damaged. All it takes for the stabilised stuff is some sandpaper/polishing.
 
Micarta is awesome, especially with a rough finish, gets nice and grippy in wet conditions. Micarta is nice, on my machetes after a long day, you can just take soap and a sponge, and clean the entire knife.
I do have one slimline machete with a very smooth G10 handle. I did not like it, I ended up dipping it is a rubberizer solution for tool handles, now it is one of my favortie handles to cut with.
 
If you mean best as far as grip goes, rough canvas micarta is your best bet. However, any handle material can be textured to give good grip.

Hell, I've had plenty of stag handled knives that had great grip naturally.
 
stonproject said:
Micarta is an awesome material. Very awesome texture if done right. My only gripe with it, is if exposed to liquids (sweat, water, blood) the scales discolor rapidly, usually getting much darker in color.
Click to expand...

This is one reason I like it so much. Each one gains character from use.
 
The good news is micarta discolors and gains character, but if you don't like it you can always scrub it down with dawn dish soap and start all over good as new.

I've never had any micarta that didn't spruce up good as new with that method.

Certain colors of micarta will age, but it takes a long, loooong time.

Other than that, it discolors temporarily from oil from your hand, or blood, or sweat, etc., but that all washes off pretty much. (In my experience anyway. And I've been using it a long while.)
 
AntDog said:
The good news is micarta discolors and gains character, but if you don't like it you can always scrub it down with dawn dish soap and start all over good as new.

I've never had any micarta that didn't spruce up good as new with that method.

Certain colors of micarta will age, but it takes a long, loooong time.

Other than that, it discolors temporarily from oil from your hand, or blood, or sweat, etc., but that all washes off pretty much. (In my experience anyway. And I've been using it a long while.)
Click to expand...

I thought that this is because the epoxy over time turn yellow?
 
I'm a big fan of desert ironwood and cocobolo. I also enjoy the circuit board scales on my Bailey Model 2 flipper. Pics of my Manix 2 with ironwood scales, and the Bailey:



 
You heard right then.
For what you describe(and for anything else) it's by far the best way to go IMO.
G10 is also tough, but Micarta isn't cold feeling, slick, and heavy like G10.
Even plain smooth Micarta will grip decent when bloody or wet. Smooth G10 won't.
 
Thank you for all the recommendations folks! I will definitely look into G10 and the wood options. I like what I am hearing about Micarta though. Anyone have any opinions on the TOPS Fieldcraft Brothers of Bushcraft knife?
 
I will put my vote in for Micarta.

Grip is a good thing, grip and comfort are even better, and in my opinion, Micarta does that the best....
 
I'm a pretty big fan of mixing wood and micarta. Something like this:

 
"Best" is a function of your taste, intended use, and price range. For me I would be happy with nothing but micarta (well duh, check my user name!). Virtually all of my folders are some form of G10 and it works well. I have fixed blades with various forms of micarta and with various nice woods, and I think I still have a few with rubber.
 
AntDog said:
The good news is micarta discolors and gains character, but if you don't like it you can always scrub it down with dawn dish soap and start all over good as new.

I've never had any micarta that didn't spruce up good as new with that method.

Certain colors of micarta will age, but it takes a long, loooong time.

Other than that, it discolors temporarily from oil from your hand, or blood, or sweat, etc., but that all washes off pretty much. (In my experience anyway. And I've been using it a long while.)
Click to expand...

I had a shadowtech wolf bowie (my gf abducted it!) and the micarta was beautiful, it was a light tan linen micarta, after cleaning a few fish with it, the scales could not be restored to their original shade even with thorough scrubbing. It wasn't a big deal, by no means did it look bad, but I was super disappointed because the out of box shade looked so great to me.

But armadew is right, used micarta shows, and there's just something sexy about a well used knife ;)

On a side note, I had some custom knives made in polished micarta that never stained.

I'm guessing the staining happens because the fabric used in micarta is slightly porous, and depending on the texture of the final product determines whether liquid stains the finish. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.
 
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