Thoughts on the new 'tan' canvas micarta

[evltcat]

Congrats on your scores ozgooner!!!! :thumbup:

I'd have to say I like the variations in the same color micarta.
Makes them all a little bit different!

 

[TheMtnMan]

I did a thread on this very thing many many years ago.

Like most have said the batches vary and it adds to the uniqueness of your knife.

Very cool looking blades

Wow, thats a huge difference, the one on the very Left, id Love to have, while the one on the right, not so much...

 

[Brummie]

The Rodent Solution is showing what happens to tan canvas as it ages. The other two knives are showing that even when factory fresh, there is a lot of variation in the redness of the color of Busse's tan canvas. I don't think I own enough tan canvas from other manufacturers to know if this is generally true.

 

[AZTimT]

You can also have the handles soda/sand blasted to lighten/whiten them up a bit if it really bothers you. I've seen several guys that have had this done and I have had a couple blades with handles that came like that, usually on a dcbb blade with a more textured feel on the handles. You wouldn't think it would make much difference, but it can, I suspect mostly by visibly exposing via microscopic fraying of the ends of the fibers without any negative side effects. Something to ponder anyhow.

 

[Valeniiman]

Thanks everyone for the info and great comparison photos.

 

[AZTimT]

I just found these before & after pics of the same set of tan canvas handles that I swapped from an NMFSH to an FSH & handsanded back in December. Yes, they are the same scales and yes sanding exposes what the core of the material looks like rather than just the surface which may have been affected by exposure to heat or some other variable we have no way of knowing about.
I was not thrilled with the third tube fastener appearance factory oops where it was short on one side and long on the other (hey, people make mistakes, oh well, no worries), so that helped make taking off the handles easier.

Before & after project pics. I wanted to keep my old standard thickness bruiser scales for a thicker blade.

Same tan canvas handles mineral oiled.

 

[PeteyTwoPointOne]

The tan can on my SARsquatch reminds me of those Brach's carmel cubes...

While we're talking varieties of canvas colors within the same color family-- the black canvas on my Saw is my favorite variety of that color... the rings/contrast around the tubes remind me of 3 pebbles dropping in a deep pool of still water....good stuff :thumbup:

 

[inkynate]

Glad to have some of the current tan,

but then again I like it all really.

There is a lot of talk about the steels, rightfully so, but who else does handles this??? Totally badass :thumbup:

 

[kdstrick]

I did a thread on this very thing many many years ago.

Like most have said the batches vary and it adds to the uniqueness of your knife.

Very cool looking blades

Some of the stuff almost has an orange tint to it...

.

 

[W.E.S.T]

I really like the orange looking tan canvas and If I I could I'd request it.

 

[FloridaBlade]

Very interesting thanks for all the photos.
Good cross reference thread on micarta here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1383670-Official-Micarta-Thread-Rats-and-Hogs!

 

[hhmoore]

I'm not really a fan of the new tan canvas, and stopped ordering it. Actually, I can go that one further, as I have sold or traded most of what I ordered in tan canvas. I still have a MMD and Ratweiler; but there isn't much keeping them here. (I'm hoping they'll darken up)

 

[messer454]

I remember the first black canvass I got, and I was like, "WTH is this green stuff?!?" But a little sweat and a little dirt and it worked out fine.

I prefer green canvas so have usually ordered Busse "black" which looks green

 

[Bill Siegle]

Natural micarta varies a lot batch to batch. Just the nature of the beast with an industrial material that was never built with knifemaking in mind. Personally I like that it varies in shades and even ages with use. Gives it character that most other man made handle materials never get

 

[ozgooner]

I'm not really a fan of the new tan canvas, and stopped ordering it. Actually, I can go that one further, as I have sold or traded most of what I ordered in tan canvas. I still have a MMD and Ratweiler; but there isn't much keeping them here. (I'm hoping they'll darken up)

Yeah I'm much the same. Until it goes back to the lighter colour I'll probably order black on any future purchases.

 

[TommyGun56]

Green canvas will turn a brownish color with use, the Black Canvas will turn deep black with use

I prefer green canvas so have usually ordered Busse "black" which looks green

 

[G19G26]

I just received my new Jackmandu and Custom Shop Rodent 6, along with a 'new to me' Rodent Solution, all with tan canvas micarta handles. I ordered that colour on the JMD and R6 based on previous purchases of tan canvas on my TGLB, SOB and RMD which pretty much matches what's on the Rodent Solution.

Clearly they are nothing even close to what I was expecting. I get that there's going to be subtle variations between batches of micarta, or even if it has to be sourced from a new supplier, but this is such a drastic difference that I'm not sure it even qualifies as 'tan' anymore. There's even a significant difference between the R6 and JMD, which would have rolled off the production line within a week or so of each other.

What do folks think? Love it? Loathe it? Don't care? Just interested.

The older TAN is really awesome. I've got a few (dozen)

 

[kenash]

Well, they're all nice. Nice variety. Wood gives us that too. Nice differences in grain to appreciate. If it's consistency in color that you want, replace it with a plastic substance. That's good too.

Just my figurin'