Micarta as a tomahawk handle material?

T

tatalley10

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Nov 29, 2015
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So what say those who know about a solid micarta tomahawk handle?
Think cold steel hawk handle replacement... not why, but possible? Would it hold up to use?
 
give it a shot, micarta is some tough stuff. Maybe drill a hole down the center and epoxy a brass or steel rod for some heft and strength? It's pretty easy to shape with a belt sander and inexpensive. I think it would be a cool project. If you orient the layers in line with the edge I think you would have a hard time breaking it. I'm not sure how it does with hard impacts like wood, the brass rod may soak up some vibrations.
 
It's something I considered and decided against in the early days of my own prototyping of tactical 'hawks, before shifting direction and going full tang. Micarta can only handle so much flex before it breaks. You might get by ok, but I'd look instead at either nylon (used by American Tomahawk Company, the 6/6 variety), or ABS, which is what I build my trainers from. At some point when I'm caught up with everything else I want to try, I might play around with an ABS-handled 'hawk with a punched eye.

There may be some other appropriate plastics out there like acetal, but I have no personal experience with them.
 
So any good wood replacement? With the price of wood one might as well coat wood with epoxy and carbon/Kevlar weave after a friction fit layout right?
 
Pretty much. The biggest issue with handles is in a combination of weight and rigidity. Most plastics are too flexible and heavy. Micarta is heavy and can crack in that kind of application. The best synthetic handles out there are either a hollow rigid fiber-reinforced plastic or a polymer jacket over a fiberglass core.
 
The nylon 6/6 used by ATC has a rigidity similar to hickory when chopping, but will flex more if prying with the head. The ABS is a bit stiffer, I think. The polypropylene that Cold Steel uses on their Trench Hawk is too flexible in my opinion.

Carbon fiber over a Dymondwood/Pakkawood core might be an interesting way to go. I don't have experience with either material to say for sure.

Equinox Coronado was doing a multi-layer composite handle on Cold Steel heads for years, but I'm not sure if they're still active. The website is functional and seems to have been updated since the last time I was there, and there's an e-mail address. Might give them a holler and see if they can fill what you're looking for.
 
Nothing has the same shock absorption and feel as a natural handle material. So I'd stick with that.;)
 
I'm figuring I would need 4"x8"x1.5" block, in order to minimize waste two could be cut from 1 block.
 
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