Different micarta patterns on same knife

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Gmrpnk21

Joined
Jan 15, 2013
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Hey guys, there's something I noticed on my small insingo with micarta inlays and I don't know if it bugs me or not. The micarta on the show side is like a dotted , almost leather looking pattern, while the micarta on the lock side has the wavy line pattern. I will take pictures tomorrow, but I wasn't sure if it is common for that to happen? I have a thing about symmetry lol.
 
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Micarta will have a different pattern depending on what "side" the piece it's cut from. It is totally normal to see those different patterns is any block of micarta, especially so with canvas, but I would say it is perhaps not quite so normal to see pieces unmatched for that pattern by CRK.
 
I would not have even noticed if you did not point it out, and I am pretty particular about my knives. Since the two on the presentation side match it looks good, I would only fret if the different patterns appeared on the same side.
 
Ernie1980 said:
I would not have even noticed if you did not point it out, and I am pretty particular about my knives. Since the two on the presentation side match it looks good, I would only fret if the different patterns appeared on the same side.
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Agree on your first sentence - can't get there on the second. :)
 
No, I'm saying I doubt I'd even notice it, and if I did, it wouldn't bother me. These little micarta inlays are in the same category for me as wood inlays - I wouldn't expect book-matched wood inlay pieces, either.
 
It looks like a piece got turned on its side. I believe the wavy inlays are what you would see in a side view on a sheet of Micarta (i'm pretty sure, I will look at a sheet this evening when I get home if someone else doesn't come by and confirm or refute that), and the other is one of many patterns you would get from looking straight on. It's easy to get material turned around when the pieces you need are small enough to be cut from all 4 axis of the sheet.

I doubt they even pay attention to it, or that one scale may have got rotated somewhere along the line.
 
Gmrpnk21 said:
Are you saying it would bug you a well? It seems like a weird oversight for a company with such awesome tolerances!
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I'm with you on being bugged by it, if you are infact particularly botherd by it. Micarta is synthetic material and has a uniform and deffinate "grain" that should be matched, it is not the same as a natural material like wood by any means. I'm a little surprised by it as that is indeed exactly the sort of little detail CRK usually take the time to address.

This is an example of the patterns one gets on the various sides of a block of micarta. This is canvas micarta and that is the same as CRK use.

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Keep it.
Makes the knife unique.
I once asked about micarta on Sebies matching the micarta on the GB and have been told it was from the same block only cut different.
So i find this a nice touch on a rugged knife.
hope this helps
red mag
 
That front scale is very cool. Almost checkerboard. I'd keep it, its special. Maybe CRK could swap out the back scale to match the front? :) Regardless, it the knife is destined for daily use, they just turn black anyways, so you'll notice it less and less.
 
Thanks for the replies guys! I called up CRK and spoke with Heather, and she told me it wasn't too unusual, and if I didn't like it to return it to the seller. I guess it isn't a defect, and part of me just tells me to it's "unique". The other part of me keeps saying "Must match!" I applied a bit of food safe mineral oil to darken it up some. I nitpick sometimes, and I don't want to act like a fussy person about such a nice knife...
 
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