What's wrong with me?

Micarta seems alright to me, it’s been around for quite a while now, and when it does get character marks it looks so nice! That being said, I’ve always had a soft spot for stag, even though it doesn’t offer the best handle material for most of what I need in a knife
 
Micarta and g10 are both better than celluloid that was used near and hundred years ago. I like micarta and sometimes g10 it just depends. G10 might be more modern but micarta has been around for many years so it’s still kinda traditional.
 
I am good with micarta, but g10 (with one exception I can think of-unicorn ivory) is usually a no for me. It is definitely a personal preference that brings out strong feelings!
 
Lesknife said:
Micarta and g10 are both better than celluloid that was used near and hundred years ago. I like micarta and sometimes g10 it just depends. G10 might be more modern but micarta has been around for many years so it’s still kinda traditional.
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Celluloid was never a good choice.

I'm a bone, wood, delrin or stag person when it comes to a traditional knife and it's covers.
 
I think it's fine to have personal preferences for these things - I love canvas micarta, but I'm usually not that excited about stag (I have seen some stag handles that were stunning, but most of them don't do much for me). If it helps, though, micarta is over a century old - it was invented in 1910. This isn't some kind of new-fangled thing (at least not as I would define 'new-fangled').

G-10 dates back to the 1950s, so approximately the same age as Delrin, but I don't believe it was used in knife handles until much later (not sure about when, though). There is basically one modern knife that I think looks good in G-10, but other than that, I'm not a huge fan, either.
 
It really depends on the knife, but I generally don’t like wood, but love bone, micarta and g10.
 
I’ve got a mix of bone, stag, elk, wood, dymalux, delrin, rubber, micarta, and g10. I do like the natural bone, wood, elk and stag but for practical purposes I prefer the micarta. It’s tough and it isn’t as cold feeling in the winter. Stabilized wood or dymawood would be my second choice.
 
bbfish said:
Micarta is the vinyl flooring of handle material. Change my mind.
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Well, I think Micarta is QUITE a step up from these ABS "handles" (THE vinyl flooring of handle material LOL)
Thing is though, the ABS is just right on this thrifty little German made Coal Miner and it pocket carries nice and lightly. I like it.
[Picture from this past Christmas]

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You like what you like, and it's nice to have choices. I like Micarta covers as they are really tough and stable. I think the first knives I had with Micarta covers were some Buck Dukes and 501's from the late 70's with 440C steel. They have held up very well over all those years. Personally, I have never seen a pin crack with Micarta, I can't say the same for Delrin.
 
I have had knives with wood, stabilized wood, metal, bone, horn, what I now know to be Delrin, and just whatever plastic handles, but have never handled or even seen Micarta or G10. I’m not sure when they became a ”thing”.

I did have a bayonet once which I believe had a Bakelite handle. I don’t know what drawbacks Bakelite may have, but I think it would be a cool handle material.
 
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Micarta may date back to early 1900s but as a knife handle material I think the common use didn’t begin until 1960s. G10 is really just an upgrade of Micarta, both take a material; paper, linen, denim, burlap etc for Micarta; fiberglass for G10, and soak stacked layers in a synthetic resin (plastic) and submit to heat and pressure to harden. Different from Delrin and other plastics because of the fabric layers but still a plastic. I like both for some applications but not on my carbon steel traditionals.
 
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