Lightweight Scale/Handle Material?

Ron Raducanu said:
This is what I took away from his comment, yes. If you put epoxy on first, it would either be a colossal mess to work with if wet, and if dry, there would be no way to manipulate the cord around the handle. I would imagine wrapping the handle first, then maybe making a very thin epoxy and painting it on the paracord lightly, so it soaks in and then hardens. Not sure how comfortable that would be to hold, though. I make paracord stuff, but have never tried that.
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Agree; plus there'd be no taking the cord off for secondary use; and unless the epoxy was put on thick, moisture could still get into the cord from beneath, and not dry quickly. I can see it working well for some knives, not sure it's my answer here.

A preference for a waterproof manufactured material. Maybe thin Terotuf is the lightest manufactured material I can obtain...I had imagined I could buy sheets of FRN but I guess not...maybe that is only molded into handles and not produced in sheets, because I sure can't find it anywhere.

EDIT: Unless THIS is it...but $245 for a sheet is a bit out of range...
https://www.eplastics.com/sheets/fiberglass/structural-frp
 
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Bolstermanic said:
Agree; plus there'd be no taking the cord off for secondary use; and unless the epoxy was put on thick, moisture could still get into the cord from beneath, and not dry quickly. I can see it working well for some knives, not sure it's my answer here.

A preference for a waterproof manufactured material. Maybe thin Terotuf is the lightest manufactured material I can obtain...I had imagined I could buy sheets of FRN but I guess not...maybe that is only molded into handles and not produced in sheets, because I sure can't find it anywhere.

EDIT: Unless THIS is it...but $245 for a sheet is a bit out of range...
https://www.eplastics.com/sheets/fiberglass/structural-frp
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A while ago a measured weight of a handful of wood samples, Micarta, and G10. G10 is heavy, Micarta is about medium high wood density, Terotuff is light.
 
Thanks, Gents.

I did find remarkably unattractive and unusably thin (.090 in) sheet Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic...at Lowe's. Don't they know that they need to sell something that rivals Spyderco's grippy handles for wall panels?

PS: Very cool Snody video. That takes cord wrap to the next level, doesnit?
 
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Bolstermanic said:
Not really looking forward to working with carbon fiber and it's not THAT lightweight, it's just super strong for its weight.
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Those qualities of carbon allow you to remove lot of material to make them light and still strong .You can remove lot of material from back sides of scale .
 
ChristoDart said:

Go to about minute 24 and Snody gives an excellent example of wrapping and epoxying a handle.
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Wow, that was really cool. Thanks for posting!

I wonder if you can use regular alumilite epoxy resin to do that...hmmmm....
 
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Of course! Snody’s a character. Luckily got to visit him at that shop before he moved to Colorado. I would bet any two part epoxy will work well but I’d make sure it’s not a super quick cure type. If it’s on the thicker side heat it up a little with a blow dryer/heat gun and it’ll penetrate better.
 
This is coming from a user, not a maker:

It's interesting: I was trying to look for densities of G10 vs. Micarta vs. Carbon Fiber yesterday, and it turns out it's difficult to make a simple statement, e.g., one being heavier than the other one: there is a huge spectrum of materials available, with overlapping density spectrums.

Then I was thinking about my own knives:
- I have smooth, peel-ply (as in Spyderco) and textured (as in Hinderer) CF knives that feel dramatically different in use
- I have Aramis "CF" scales, that feel and look like CF, but are actually G10
- I have Spyderco and Hinderer Micarta scales that soak up grease and water like paper. Then I have Bark River Micarta that is completely water-proof and can be wiped off like nothing happened.
- No experience as a user with TeroTuf.

In summary for the OP, it's very difficult to make a statement of one material vs. the other, IMO. I suggest to get a couple of materials that you like the look off online (small quantities don't seem expensive), and just pick what feels best. Or just go with wood, if you like that idea. I do love the feel of wood on a knife handle, and some hardwoods (Cocobolo or Desert Ironwood on my knives) are very impact/scratch/moisture resistant if treated right.

Roland.
 
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I'd save the weight on the tang by either tapering as was already suggested or drilling holes. Saves a lot of weight:

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Then use micarta. Its proven for your application.
 
Thanks for the help and advice, folks. For the record, these knives have fully skeletonized tangs to begin with, and are in the .125 range for thickness. I should have said that up front. They are 3-3.5" blades, in the 2.2 to 2.6 ounce range, without scales. Would love to keep them as light as possible.

Those are some good-lookin blanks there, Horsewright!
 
Given your criteria, I'd definitely taper the tangs as dramatically as you can get away with and then apply normal (if thin) scales with a lighter weight material, wood being my preference.
 
Bolstermanic said:
Thanks for the help and advice, folks. For the record, these knives have fully skeletonized tangs to begin with, and are in the .125 range for thickness. I should have said that up front. They are 3-3.5" blades, in the 2.2 to 2.6 ounce range, without scales. Would love to keep them as light as possible.

Those are some good-lookin blanks there, Horsewright!
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For future versions you could shave off an ounce or more just using thinner stock. I made mine out of 1/16". Backpacking uses aren't particularly hard-use. Maybe cut some pepperoni and cheese, spread some PB, cut some cord, e.t.c. The backpacking crowd probably cares more about weight than batoning logs since half the time you can't even have a campfire where you backpack.
 
Been looking around, haven't gotten a recommendation for a lighter manufactured scale material than TeroTuf or possibly Carbon Fiber if I run it thin enough.

Just checking...anything readily available that's lighter than the above?
 
Hi folks, I did a deep dive into this question, here's what I came up with:

Titanium...........2.61 oz/cu in
Aluminum.........1.57 oz/cu in
G-10................1.05 to 1.14 oz/cu in (aka Phenolic G-10)
Magnesium.......1.02 oz/cu in
Delrin...............0.82 oz/cu in
Carbon Fiber.....0.79 oz/cu in
Kydex..............0.78 oz/cu in
Micarta............0.72 oz/cu in
Lignum Vitae....0.72 oz/cu in
TeroTuf.............0.69 oz/cu in
Polycarbonate...0.69 oz/cu in
Ebony..............0.69 oz/cu in
Nylon 6/6.........0.66 oz/cu in (aka Zytel, FRN)
Phenolic LE.......0.66 oz/cu in
ABS Plastic........0.63 oz/cu in
Styrene............0.61 oz/cu in
Polyethelene LD.0.55 oz/cu in
UHMW..............0.55 oz/cu in
Rubber..............0.53 oz/cu in
PolyPro Copolymer.....0.52 oz
Cherry..............0.45 oz/cu in
Teak.................0.45 oz/cu in
Zebrawood........0.45 oz/cu in
Oak..................0.43 oz/cu in
Fruit Woods.......0.4 oz/cu in range
Mahogany.........0.40 oz/cu in
Walnut..............0.38 oz/cu in
Walnut, Am Blk..0.37 oz/cu in
Walnut, Euro......0.32 oz/cu in
(Nobody uses the following, but good reference:)
Basswood.........0.27 oz/cu in
Poplar..............0.26 oz/cu in
Redwood..........0.26 oz/cu in
White Pine........0.24-0.26 oz/cu in
Bamboo............0.19 oz/cu in
Balsa Wood.......0.08 oz/cu in

...and figure a typical medium handle might take around 3 cu in for 1/4" scales.
 
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