Micarta - a bit of history

Read the entire thing, very informative. Man I wish I could get some real Westinghouse micarta now!

Favorite image from link:
Westinghouse+Micarta+Lathe
 
Too bad more things went made out of it, instead of cheap plastic used in many things that breaks,like the crappy plastic bracket on my toro snowblower that holds the starter, for example....
 
Thanks for sharing this. I wish we had some of the wood grain, pebbled and marbled pattern micarta around today. Some of those would be sweet in a knife handle!
 
Thanks for the link! Being a big fan of micarta, that made my day. That was a good read.
 
Very cool! I love micarta, huge fan! Thanks for posting this!
 
The pictures all the way toward the bottom have some really nice weave patterns.

Wiki: "...Micarta is an early composite insulating plate that used Bakelite as a binding agent. It was developed in 1910 by Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg Co...."

"...The earliest commercial use of Bakelite in the electrical industry was the molding of tiny insulating bushings, made in 1908 for the Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation by Richard W. Seabury of the Boonton Rubber Company..." Seabury went on to found Radio Frequency Laboratories (RFL). I worked for RFL 1985-92. There were still a couple of the Seaburys in management. There were probably bits of old Micarta around. The plant dated from the 1920's.

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I want some of that wood grain stuff... I am picturing some nice handle material.

Thanks for the link.
 
Westinghouse did some great stuff back in the day. Then GE and the other robber barons came out. End of game. Nickola Tesla sided with George Westinghouse and he didn't fare too well.
 
Fun looking at the older black and white photos, "An asbestos factory at work".
Better be wearing a full face mask respirator if/when grinding/cutting/sanding Micarta... the dust is toxic and the fumes from the resins are too (Formaldehyde and Phenol).
 
Many years ago, I had several knives with Ivory Micarta,,,,, wonderful color, wish they were not sold off.

Regards,
FK
 
I new it was made by Westinghouse , but I found the link vary informative and thank you for posting.
 
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