Jerry Busse
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- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
- Messages
- 11,954
This post started as a response to our new friend Mell's inquiry regarding the handle material on his new Mean Street. As I responded it started to turn into the "War and Peace" of general Micarta info. So. . . .I decided to post it separately in order that it might be used as a quick reference.
Micarta was developed by Westinghouse earlier in the last century. It has a higher tensile strength than steel, it is impervious to changes in temperature and it will not swell, warp, or crack, even under adverse conditions, once it is on the knife.
There are three types of micarta and several grades of these three types. They all consist of layers of either paper, linen, or canvas. Paper is the most decorative of the three. I have seen paper micarta handles that are 20-30 years old that continue to look great and perform like the day the were made. Linen micarta is the middle grade when it comes to toughness and durability. I used linen exclusively throughout the 80's and very early 90's. It is very attractive when smoothed out and very strong. Canvas is the toughest of the three grades. It surpasses linen micarta by a large margin for strength and durability. Canvas also offers the best overall texture for slip resistance. It is probably the least attractive looking of the three grades unless you suffer from Busse Combat Nuclear Syndrome. In that case you can only find "beauty in the performance". Cosmetics be damned!
It would be difficult to go wrong with any of these three grades.
MICARTA TRIVIA BUSTER: I've come across some interesting history on Micarta through one of our legal resources. While doing research on Westinghouse he discovered that the inventors of Formica had borrowed so heavily from Micarta technology that the name "Formica" is short for the term "Formerly Micarta". Think of that the next time you drop a skillet on the kitchen counter. . . .
Oh yeah, I'm loaded with useless information like that. . . . Would you like to hear where the names "Steel Heart" and "Battle Mistress" came from. .. . .?
Yours in layered phenolics (Micarta),
Jerry Busse
[This message has been edited by Jerry Busse (edited 02-09-2001).]
Micarta was developed by Westinghouse earlier in the last century. It has a higher tensile strength than steel, it is impervious to changes in temperature and it will not swell, warp, or crack, even under adverse conditions, once it is on the knife.
There are three types of micarta and several grades of these three types. They all consist of layers of either paper, linen, or canvas. Paper is the most decorative of the three. I have seen paper micarta handles that are 20-30 years old that continue to look great and perform like the day the were made. Linen micarta is the middle grade when it comes to toughness and durability. I used linen exclusively throughout the 80's and very early 90's. It is very attractive when smoothed out and very strong. Canvas is the toughest of the three grades. It surpasses linen micarta by a large margin for strength and durability. Canvas also offers the best overall texture for slip resistance. It is probably the least attractive looking of the three grades unless you suffer from Busse Combat Nuclear Syndrome. In that case you can only find "beauty in the performance". Cosmetics be damned!
It would be difficult to go wrong with any of these three grades.
MICARTA TRIVIA BUSTER: I've come across some interesting history on Micarta through one of our legal resources. While doing research on Westinghouse he discovered that the inventors of Formica had borrowed so heavily from Micarta technology that the name "Formica" is short for the term "Formerly Micarta". Think of that the next time you drop a skillet on the kitchen counter. . . .
Oh yeah, I'm loaded with useless information like that. . . . Would you like to hear where the names "Steel Heart" and "Battle Mistress" came from. .. . .?
Yours in layered phenolics (Micarta),
Jerry Busse
[This message has been edited by Jerry Busse (edited 02-09-2001).]
