Unorthodox katana handle

[Shabaam]

I got this crazy idea the other day. What if one were to purchase a katana, say a ronin dojo pro or something like that, and then exchange the traditional hardwood tsuka with one made entirely out of micarta. Im not talking about handle scales here, I mean a tsuka carved out of a chunk of homemade micarta using the same methods as with a regular wooden one, and then glued together with epoxy.

Would this work? I mean, is micarta as a material capable of handling this task? Is there any possible complications to watch out for? I am purely curious of wether this would work or not as I am fascinated with the idea of such a tsuka. I do nat have either a katana or a chunk of micarta yet, so this is just pure speculation on my part.

I might want to try this out in the future though, so any feedback would be appreciated :thumbup:

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Lots of katana and wakizashi are handled in Micarta. It is far tougher than Ho wood. As to home made MyCarta, it can vary depending on how well it is made, but should work fine.
Wally Hays uses Micarta on his Tactical Katana, IIRC.

I have seen it cross-carved to look a bit like tsukamaki, and give more grip. Tanto are often done like that.

I would suggest you make a wak from a lower price generic blade and do the Micarta handle. If you like it, do a matching katana for the daisho.

 

[Lycosa]

Fiber-glass would be lighter. Get ahold of William Nease. William uses different materials.

 

[Shabaam]

Thank you for the fast feedback guys! Good suggestions too, will most definately try out the wak tip ilmarinen. Lycosa, good idea about fiberglass, I'll check out William Nease for shure