Does Micarta insulate?

Not sure, although I worked as an apprentice of electricity for some time, years ago. To find out, do the following.

Hold knife firmly in hand, then stick the tip in an electrical socket. Make sure no part of you is touching any part of the blade, pins ect ect........

If it hurts then I would assume it is.

If it dosen't then I would assume its not.
 
I always turned the power off ! I learned that by watching my father screw up a knife [arced and vaporized some of the blade !!] .Micarta will insulate but I don't know how much.
 
Hi Alan,

Micarta was originally invented for use in making electrical insulators for high voltage applications like generating plants. Phenolic resins were impregnated into paper or linen. Micarta is just a trade name invented by George Westinghouse since his previous product had mica in it.

Steve
 
Steve has it. The insulators of the early 1900's were brittle.(My grandfather worked on inventing better insulators for Bell Labs) The best man made one was Bakelite,hard,but brittle. The best natural one was mica,flexible but soft. Westinghouse develops a mica layered material that they used (don't know what it was called) that was good, but delaminated with heat. It also tended to absorb water. Then they came up with making a phenolic laminate with paper and/or material substrates (Similar products had glass fibers in it).It was named Micarta. It was waterproof,hard,tough, high insulating (millions of megs), heat resistant,and CHEAP.Add fiberglass cloth and you now have G-10.
Stacy
 
Steve hit the nail on the head. About G-10 I can't tell you how many times someone has called me to ask if I use the new g-10. They find it hard to believe when I tell them it has been around forever, and that rather than being a high class handle material, it is only fine weave fiberglass. I have no reason to grind fiber glass in my shop. Micarta does just fine. Mike
 
That kinda makes you wonder why the folks making tactical knives dont use micarta more often (so it seems). Just thinking about grinding glass without a fan makes me itch!
 
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