Feel of Micarta vs Wood Inlay

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Looking @ picking up my first sebenza, and I'm torn between the micarta and african blackwood inlay....

How does the micarta feel? Is it rough? smooth? grippy? I would assume that the wood is smooth as silk, but just not sure?

What is micarta? lol some kind of wood?

I see they make leather inserts also...but not sure about that.
 
Micarta is basically like fiberglass or carbon fiber except that instead of using glass fiber or carbon fiber cloth as the substrate, they use (typically) paper or cloth (can be relatively coarse weave like canvas or finer weave like linen). You could treat the surface pretty much any way you wanted - jigged, bead-blasted, whatever, but usually it is smooth and sometimes polished. I would guess that CRK micarta inserts are about the same as the stabilized wood they use, but I've never personally handled a micarta inlay CRK.

Micarta is very stable and should last forever. However, the stabilized wood is going to be very durable also, since it's impregnated with acrylic or other synthetic materials.
 
Hi swmp4L,

The wood inlays are indeed smooth, unless you go for the current option of Jigged Rosewood.

Micarta used here is not smooth. You can feel the difference between it and wood very clearly. It's been designed with a deliberately roughened surface which feels textured and gives a superb grip.

It's not sharp, jaggy or catchy however - just grippy :D

Mark
 
I've handled all of 'em extensively... I like to use my knives, and a little ding in Titanium does not bother me... but a chip in wood does bother me. The Micarta is just plain fugly IMO. Personally, I could not be happier with a plain Ti Seb... even if they all cost the same it would be my choice... There's just less to damage/go wrong!
 
Thanks for the quick responses, glad to hear that the micarta is somewhat grippy...

If it were to become chipped i'm sure CRK warranty would cover replacement of the insert?

I do like the plain sebenza 21s....but there's just something about the micarta that is grabbing my attention...
 
I just got my large 21 with the micarta inlays last week and it is an impressive piece of work. Although my thumb is pretty sore from constantly working the action trying to break it in. :D

I think it would be pretty tough for your to actually "chip" a piece of the micarta off. The worse I've been able to do was round off a corner of micarta on one of my other folders. But even if you did, I'm sure CRK would take care of you with their great customer service.

I say go for the micarta, but that's just me. :)
 
I saw a post on a different forum where someone had ordred a sebenza micarta with dual thumbstuds and also got all the small pieces in anodized blue. Where could I look into getting something like that??
 
swmp4L said:
I saw a post on a different forum where someone had ordred a sebenza micarta with dual thumbstuds and also got all the small pieces in anodized blue. Where could I look into getting something like that??
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The spacer and thumb studs are blue as standard from CRK, if you want any other colour like gold or silver you have to ask.
 
Wanted to add that I like the micarta on my small regular. I never liked the feel of the all Ti handle personally. My inlays are fairly dark (probably from the oils from my skin) so it looks quite nice IMO.
 
I have had cocobolo and African blackwood Sebs, and I can say that they are very smooth. I've seen CRK mention that if you want a work knife with inserts, go with the micarta. I have large and small micarta Sebenzas, and the grippiness on the inserts is noticeable and appreciated.
 
the silver hardware is standard on the micarta sebbies. if you want the blue hardware just call up crk and order directly from them. they do not charge extra for the blue hardware. be ready to wait awhile though.

knives-003.jpg
 
biggerjon said:
the silver hardware is standard on the micarta sebbies. if you want the blue hardware just call up crk and order directly from them. they do not charge extra for the blue hardware. be ready to wait awhile though.

knives-003.jpg
Click to expand...

How long of a wait are we talking here??....more than a few weeks?
 
swmp4L said:
How long of a wait are we talking here??....more than a few weeks?
Click to expand...

your best bet would be to ask them. i could guess, but i am quite sure i will be wrong. i am pretty confident that it will be more than a few weeks though.

what i have done in the past is buy whatever is more common out there and then at some point send it in for a sharpening and have them replace whatever i want replaced. you will be surprised how little they actually charge. :)
 
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