Help identifying electrical panel material.

[Fixall]

An electrician buddy of mine knows that I (try to) make knives and gave me some old electrical panel material. I don't expect anyone to necessarily be able to identify it (unless one of you is an electrician, lol), but if I could rule out what it's not, that would be helpful.

First the good stuff, lol. A big ol' block of brown canvas Micarta. This came out of a Westinghouse branded circuit panel with an inspection date from the 80's. It's 1" x 2.5" x 30".

And now the stuff I'm trying to figure out.

This came from that same circuit panel. It's really heavy and looks like chocolate. Seems like a phenolic to me. Idk.

More material from that panel. I'm fairly positive this is just going in the trash bin.

This came from a panel with a manufacturer date of 1996. My buddy thought it might be a paper phenolic, but I'm unsure.

I think this is more of the same material, just thinner.

Any ideas?

 

[seanj]

No ideas. But I'm curious, so I'll follow along.

 

[Pinoy Knife]

Please contact me and i will help you by arraigning the proper disposal of all of that for you for free !!!
even better is you are a "West Coaster" like me so if needed i could probably drive to wherever this is to help you dispose of it all properly !!!
See im a real good "Helper" ill get rid of 30-50 pounds of it for ya !!!!(he-he)
it is either "Bakelite"/ "Garolite " about the same thing .. i industrial not conductive "Phenolic material " just like Micarta
some is "Fiberglass based " Like G10, others are paper ,linen/canvas.. very well worth keeping from the Dumpster...

 

[Fixall]

Please contact me and i will help you by arraigning the proper disposal of all of that for you for free !!!
even better is you are a "West Coaster" like me so if needed i could probably drive to wherever this is to help you dispose of it all properly !!!
See im a real good "Helper" ill get rid of 30-50 pounds of it for ya !!!!(he-he)
it is either "Bakelite"/ "Garolite " about the same thing .. i industrial not conductive "Phenolic material " just like Micarta
some is "Fiberglass based " Like G10, others are paper ,linen/canvas.. very well worth keeping from the Dumpster...

Ahhh... Bakelite! Didn't even cross my mind. I thought it might be something similar to the GPO-3 he brought me once, lol.

So the first two rectangular pieces (not counting the canvas Micarta) are Bakelite. Got it. I'm wondering if the black stuff is linen phenolic. It looks like it has a layered look.

He had a few more pieces of the rectangular Bakelite, but I only took one since I had no clue what it was. I'd be happy to snag a piece or two to send you if you'd like. Or if you're not in a hurry, my dad lives near you and I'll be making a trip that way in the next month or so.

 

[Pinoy Knife]

i would welcome any/all you are willing to loose/give....
if you contact me ill gladly even pay for shipping....

 

[J Lensmire]

I'm sure some where within the Westinghouse MFG information posted, you could probably find exactly what it is. My guess, they have to list it for the proper disposal under EPA guidelines.

 

[Fixall]

i would welcome any/all you are willing to loose/give....
if you contact me ill gladly even pay for shipping....

Sure thing! My buddy is gearing up to go deer hunting for a couple of weeks starting this weekend. When he gets back, I'll go snag whatever he has (he just tosses it otherwise). I think I'll keep a piece or two for myself, but I'll probably never use it. I don't really like using G10 in my shop, so I'm not super interested in grinding something with asbestos in it, lol.

 

[Fixall]

I'm sure some where within the Westinghouse MFG information posted, you could probably find exactly what it is. My guess, they have to list it for the proper disposal under EPA guidelines.

I did try doing a little searching but couldn't find anything. Only the canvas Micarta and the Bakelite looking stuff came from the Westinghouse panel though. The black stuff is from an unknown lineage. It's dated 1996, so definitely not Westinghouse since they were purchased by International Paper the year before. I did a double take on the manufacturer sticker because I thought it said "West", but I think it was a plant worker named "Wesl" lol.

 

[Fixall]

Some better pics of the material after polishing a bit (didn't bother taking out the deeper scratches 'cause I'm lazy).


This stuff is interesting looking. I think I've settled on some sort of layered paper phenolic? I don't really have a clue here. Whatever it is, I like it and it works well.

This pic didn't turn out as well as I'd like. It takes a really nice polish. Maybe a black paper phenolic?

I wetted these next two for the pics.

First the darker Bakelite looking stuff. That look like asbestos flecks to anyone else, lol?

And the lighter stuff.

 

[eric brinkerhoff]

Whatever it is it looks great!