here's a low-tech summary
Micarta is indeed a laminate. The main varieties of Micarta are paper, linen, and canvas. The linen variety isn't in fact linen, but it is some kind of cloth. You take a base layer (paper,cloth, wood, etch.), add some epoxy, add another layer, more epoxy, another layer, etc. Add heat and pressure, and BAM! Micarta!
paper micarta produces the smoothest finish, as it has the finest "grain" of the base material used. The canvas micarta, because of the coarseness of the base, produces a rougher finish that is great for harder use blades. Well, handles actually!
The holy grail of Micarta is rag micarta. The lay folk will tell you that rag micarta is a jumble of cloth all pressed in together, not so much in an alternatng layer but just all jumbled together, wpoxy and all, pressed and heated. But those of us in the know will tell you that Zeus has a rag micarta blank forged up on Mount Olympus. Cupid then flies around ral fast with the rag micarta blank to heat it up. When hot enough, Cupid drops the blank into Jesus' hands. Jesus then gets Mother Mary to kiss the blank, quenching the block. Buddha will then sit ont he blank for three days while meditating. This has two effects. First, the ehat and preessure of Buddha sitting on the blank tempers the rag micarta. Second, the Buddha's meditation infuses the mag micarta with mojo.
