Delrin or micarta?

S

surplusdealdude

Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
4
Hi. New here.

I'm trying to learn the preferences for knife handles from the people that actually make the knives. I would guess that's you guys.

For the past year, I've had a store on ebay selling Delrin and other plastic offcuts. I'm not going to spam the boards, so everybody relax. If you want to look up my store, my ebay ID is the same as this one. 'Nuff said.

I've seen knife handles made of Delrin and some made of micarta. The micarta seems to be a lot cheaper.

Given the choice, which material do you prefer for a knife handle and why?
 
I'm not totally sure about Delrin, but I think it's just another sort of plastic or cellulose. A cheap, plastic-like material, not to say that it isn't tough or useful. Micarta is layers of either canvas, linen or paper super compressed and sealed with a resin. It is extremely resilient to just about everything and is a top quality synthetic handle material. I'd say it is favored way above Delrin.
 
I know they use lots of delrin in paintball markers due to its self-lubricating and wear resistant properties, not sure how that would translate to knife-making though.
 
Micarta all the way!:thumbup:

It is indestructable and looks and feels great when finished well.
 
"Delrin" is a very tough plastic, like the Schrade Old Timers were made from. It's tough, but really seems to plastic-y for nice knives.

Micarta is at least as tough, perhaps more, and a nicer-looking material.

I prefer natural materials on a nice knife anyway. :)
 
I have knives with both.

Me, I favor Micarta.

Delrin on the other hand makes for a Great Guitar Pick material too.
 
Both have their uses. For most people with enough money, Micarta is probably the better option. Not as slippery as delrin, and looks nicer. But "plastic" of today are not like plastics 20, 30 years ago, and should in no way be used as a derogatory term. Delrin is a DuPont plastic, and have some very nice features. It is:

- Much cheaper than premium laminates like G-10 and Micarta, but still have most of their indestructibility.
-- No shrinkage, no cracking, high temperature resistance, high wear resistance (it is a aerospace bearing material, so you can imagine its wear resistance).

- A smooth, very-low-friction plastic. Nothing much can stick to it or impregnate it.
-- If you frequently use the knife to work with goopy stuff, sticky stuff, raw meat, and want absolutely no bacterial presence afterwards, delrin is the stuff for you. Not even most glues can stick to it. It is approved by FDA for use in food processing.
 
That is a surprising comparison.

Delrin is simple plastic with good maschinablity and very limited durability, it will age and does not hold up well to UV light, good chemical resistance but does not hold up to strong acids. It has good self-lubrication properties (excellent for a handle material where a good grip is essential :rolleyes:), good for low-duty gears and sprockets.

Mircarta is a high strength fiber composite with a proprotional tensile strength that is greater than that of steel, chemically resistant, good UV resistance, good tactile feel. Maschinablity is probably limited.

Say, is there even a comparison? The choice should be obvious.
 
Thanks for you opinions, gentlemen, although I am somewhat surprised at some of the things you say.

Delrin and micarta are actually about the same price.

Delrin is favoured by machinists because it can be machined to tolerances of .001".

It is slippery and it does resist most compounds (UHMW is better for that plus it's unbreakable, even when cold)

But, seeing that micarta is a favourite, are any of you having problems getting it?

While I'm asking questions, could any of you make use of Stainless Steel plate? I do have a source for that, probably 1/8 - 3/16 thickness, not sure of the specifics of it.
 
White delrin carved and polished has an inner translucence not unlike fine bone china. It really adds to the look of a carving.

It works like birch or maple hardwood, sands great and polishes well.

I enjoy working with it but seldom see it for sale at knife shows.
 
I thought I read that Delrin is not very petrochemical resistant.

I seem to remember something about Emerson changing from molded Delrin backspacers to G10 ones because of this, although it might also be possible that the cost of making the moulds was prohibitive compared to the machining required for G10.

-j
 
Micarta all the way. it just has a better feel to me. also the white paper micarta seems to darken a little with use and looks really good. It's also practically indestructible.
 
Any prices on that SS Plate? [pm me]

Delrin may not hold up well to UV Light but I have 30 year old pieces of delrin that look brand spanking new...some of them used hard and often, so what more do you need?
 
The frame sliders on motorcycles are made exclusivly fom Delrin.

I guess they decided it has the right amount of "slide" but also wears down an causes some friction to slow the bike in a slide. I bought some white sliders and dyed them to match my bike using RIT fabric dye, worked great and the dye penetrated DEEP into the material
 
Not so fast on the Stainless. Someone brought up in another forum that you actually don't want Stainless Steel, you want a High carbon stain-resistant steel.

I don't know what this stuff is yet and it takes some time to qualify it and see if its worth proceeding with.

I'd rather take longer and do it right than jump in and make a mess. Customers have loooong memories for mistakes :-)
 
You can also use UHMW for frame sliders and it comes in colours. Not quite as slippery as Delrin, but close and its a lot cheaper.
 
surplusdealdude said:
Someone brought up in another forum that you actually don't want Stainless Steel, you want a High carbon stain-resistant steel.
Click to expand...

The only thing I know that fits that description is D2, which is sort of... weird. Nothing "high carbon" is going to stay very stain-free for very long without constant supervision.

Of course, there's stainless and then there's stainless. Steels like 316L/904L aren't too bad if you don't want hardenability; if you're talking about 18/0 or 18/10 that's kind of lame.

On the other hand, some makers will make fittings and spacers out of 440A and then harden it (much less those that make integrals, so...)

-j
 
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