Grippiest/Toughest Handle Material - Micarta?

G10 is one of the only handle materials that does not absorb and is unaffected by gas, DEET, Lighter fluid, and other solvents. It also doesn't wear as fast as Micarta does and can be brought back to basically new by wiping it down with a little WD40 and water. Really excellent stuff for a hard use knife handle.
 
I have a lot of handle materials on my knives, but one I like is a japanese cord wrap, such as knives by RJ Martin or Wally Hayes. Exceptionaly grippy and pretty tough.
 
I wouldn't consider any of these handle materials very grippy. What I would consider grippy is shark skin such as is used on sword handles. This can be so rough that you partially wrap it with cord to moderate the abrasion to your skin. With swords you would often wear a leather glove. Somewhat less grippy is ray skin. Both of these are waterproof.

Another grippy handle is my 1968-vintage Gerber Mark II Dagger. This handle is cast aluminum with fine droplets of stainless steel misted onto it. It has a texture a little like a diamond hone.
 
Kraton is a lot like rubber. As I have seen it basically as inserts in knives anyway it is on the thin side and with a diamond pattern in it. Sure it will give plenty of grip, put I don't really like the look, or 100% trust it to keep in place and not get ripped.

I think that micarta and G10 are pretty much tied. The only thing that I feel might give G10 a little bit of an edge is that I have seen it with a very aggressive texture such as what Strider uses. That stuff is really grippy, it will rip your hand apart before you lose your grip on it. It also depends a great deal on the finish of the material, a bead blast will have a much better grip than a highly polished type.

I haven't read anything about the actual design of the knife handle here, and I think that has as much, if not more, impact on the overall gripability of the knife. I have a TNT that is a frame lock, so it is just a titanium handle, but it is very secure. Why? Because of the design, it is made in such a way so that your hand doesn't have much place to slip to. Same goes for the Combat Elite RRF, except it adds a raised texture panel to aid gripping it.
 
Micarta is my favorite material. It has an excellent feel to it and it gets even grippier when moist or wet. I don't know what you'd have to do to destroy it. I think micarta is more commonly used by custom knifemakers than G10 is, and that tells me its better suited for knife handles. Alot of heavy duty knife companies use it, busse, reeve, fehrman, tops, etc.. and offer lifetime guarantee. Micarta rules!
 
I am not a phenolic resin expert. But G- 10 has a very high psi/ yield strength and is extremely dense. All more so than micarta of any variety. It is also much less likely, if at all to absorb any type of moisture. Accelarated tests may show that both materials may absorb some moisture to a degree. But that is not applicable to real life use. Short of abuse, both G- 10 and micarta makes for an extremely durable handle.

Hasn' t anyone here have any experience with the relatively new "grip guard" G- 10 flat panels? The top most thin layer is literally peeled of (with great force) to result in an extremely rough surface that is equal to that of extra coarse skateboard type tape. Most of these were used on knives for life threatening situations where ones life and well being may depend on an absolute sure grip. But for utility applications, your skin will become raw very quickly. There are several makers who have used this type G-10, Bob Dozier, Bud Nealy, RJ Martin to name just a few.

N.
 
I find that the 'skateboard tape' used for inserts on the Microtech Scarab to be THE grippiest. I also know people who use the same stuff on their gun grip for the same reason.

Overlord in Colorado
 
Micarta will soak up gasoline if left in contact (think about this when you go fishing, perhaps?) My current Randall 1 is a Micarta handle and while very pleasant to the touch, I cannot say it is sticky in the hand. Busse Micarta is really well textured and as such seems to hold well in a slick wet palm.

The Mad Dog composite (similar to G10) actually gets sticky when my hands are wet/ oily/ bloody, though having doggy drool all over the hand compromises anything!

I like a leather handle but have not used one in a while, I had a Randall 1 with the cement impregnated leather handles and it was a really sticky little handle. I have an Al Mar Grunt at the house which is a KaBar dressed for the prom and the handle on that is promising.

Nakano mentioned the grip guard panels to me a while back and while it will stick to the hands, I wonder how practical it is to carry this around against your clothing, IWB, etc - it sounds to me as if the G10 will be very abrasive to your clothing?
 
AlonzoMosely said:
Rustoleum Grip and Guard textured rubber coating dip. I dipped the handle of my Cuda Arclite in this as an experiment. Although it took forever to dry, this is the best handle of any knife I own - better than G10, FRN, Noryl, micarta, paracord wrap, aluminum, titanium, or steel. I'll post a picture later today if I can figure out how to.
Click to expand...
Do you use the rustoleum first and finish with the guard textured rubber grip after the ladder has dried? If so, why the double dip?
 
Uncured expanding foam. That crap is worse than super glue.

Serious answer? The knife with the most grip I've had is a Cold Steel Recon 1. G10.
 
Kraton is very durable as well as grippy; Cold Steel on several models (Master Hunter, SRK, tanto) and Benchmade (Puukko 200 and Leuko 220) have Kraton grips. Falkniven's Thermorun (F1) is similar but slightly harder and not quite so grippy. I've never worn a knife handle out but generally I'd think most would last as long as the blade, whatever the matrial. An advantage to Kraton is that it stays grippy even in extreme cold and when bloody or greasy. A buddy and I field dressed four caribou up in the Yukon's Tombstone Valley one November at -30 or so and the Kraton grip on my Master Hunter worked great in those conditions.
 
Regarding differences between G10 vs. Micarta vs. Carbon Fiber: as an engineer, it's actually hard to say, generally. When you look at material providers, the only difference between G10 and Micarta is that G10 layers are adhered to using epoxy resins, whereas, with Micarta, the layers are glued using phenolic resins. Mostly, G10 has glass fibers, and Micarta linen, paper or fabric. But you can buy Micarta with glass or even carbon fibers. What's called "Carbon Fiber" is usually epoxy with Carbon Fibers, but, some "Carbon Fibers" have glass in them. Also density-wise, there are overlapping spectra for the two materials.

As a user, besides looks, the main difference is what texture is applied. My favorite is textured Carbon Fiber, like the peel-ply as it comes from Spyderco, or textured Hinderer scales (a bumpy rough pattern). Easy to wash, and stays as new forever.
 
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I would think that heavily knurled/checkered titaniumn would be among the toughest and grippiest handle material? I don’t know anyone who does that but I do not claim to know it all either so maybe there is someone out there who does it?
 
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Maybe not the toughest but the grippiest I know is buffalo horn. Especially so when you have a cut, your hand is bloody, but you have to hold on to your knife/sword for dear life. Experiment: dip your finger tips into animal blood and then grip an ox horn handle. in a few seconds, it'll feel like the knife handle is glued to your hand.
 
Textured FRN like on the Spyderco Jumpmaster. Nothing really "grippier" than that regardless of the conditions.
 
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"Toughest" are metal , by far . Steel , titanium , aluminum , etc .

But "grippiness" is mostly determined by the surface finish / texture / jimping etc , rather than the material per se .
 
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