What's wrong with me?

[Bastler]

Micarta or G10 may be practical and durable, but if I wanted practical, I'd just carry an SAK. Save a lot of money that way, too. For me, I'll take wood or bone.

 

[Arathol]

Oh, I don't know if its all that bad, is it?

 

[A.L.]

I'm fine with micarta but screws, oh man the screws!

 

[Will Power]

Nothing wrong with you, it's just your lack of aesthetic perception

Rewarding to hear about others' likes&dislikes or 'blindspots' the negative can be positive too.

Amusing the analogy with plastic flooring, but it could be flawed- a lot of very cheap nasty parquet is not very durable, looks shoddy and makes a lot of noise- so certain vinyls not only look better, perform better, ARE better. Solid parquet is quite another matter though......

Some posts ago it was rightly pointed out that micarta doesn't develop pin cracks like delrin (usually yellow) with depressing frequency. Nor does it warp or shrink, cheap badly prepared wood scales can be basically useless too. And it's grippy and it's pretty You telling me this CASE G-10 is an eyesore???? Never in a 1000 years. Note the pin finish GEC...no sink-holes here either!

This Bark River shows better Red than dead.....

And for the scales I don't rate?? Anything covered in MOP or MOT useless flaky fragile shrinking violet stuff that looks vulgar Worse still that pimpy Abalone or whatever the sea-snail acid trip is called

 

[bbfish]

Give GEC enough time and they’ll produce a vinyl floor-covered 77 that will sell like hotcakes. When that happens we can revisit this.

Well that begs the question that if the vinyl flooring has to be stacked and resined together for the right thickness, does it stay vinyl or become just another micarta?

 

[EngrSorenson]

Well that begs the question that if the vinyl flooring has to be stacked and resined together for the right thickness, does it stay vinyl or become just another micarta?

Vinyl plank flooring comes in thicknesses already up to 8 mm (0.315 in freedom units), so there would be no need to laminate the vinyl.

when they finally make it, I hope they make some with cedar shingles so I can weigh my siding options.

 

[hornetguy]

I don't have a problem with micarta or G10 as handle material. My personal feelings are that I want a tool, whether knife, gun, hammer, whatever, to be able to "age" gracefully... to show signs that it has been used and appreciated. I don't really want tools that look like they are brand new 15 years later.
Micarta will age, and darken... I'm not sure about G10, as I haven't had any for that length of time. For the most part, I prefer wood, bone and stag, but I don't get heartburn over synthetics.

 

[bbfish]

Vinyl plank flooring comes in thicknesses already up to 8 mm (0.315 in freedom units), so there would be no need to laminate the vinyl.

when they finally make it, I hope they make some with cedar shingles so I can weigh my siding options.

Thank you for the freedom unit conversion

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I tend to associate 'Traditional' knives more with the handle patterns themselves (stockman, congress, cigar/equal-end, etc.) and blade profiles or combinations (clip + spey + sheepfoot = 'stockman', for example). Beyond that, I think exotic or unconventional handle materials have always been the one variable allowed more creative leeway in traditional knives, while still allowing them to be called 'traditional'. Were it not for such materials pushing the boundaries a little bit, a lot of traditional knives would've been a lot less interesting to buyers & users. At one time, anything synthetic like rubber, celluloid, 'composition' (whatever that meant) or Delrin were new enough and unknown enough, they couldn't possibly have been considered 'traditional' either. But that perception has changed over time.

By definition, 'traditional' comes about in something that's been steadily around for quite awhile, like generations. Something that has the staying power and the appeal factor to persist in use in traditional knives. So, if a relatively recent material like G10 continues to persist in use for this purpose, it'll eventually be recognized or accepted as another optional enhancement in traditional knives, like so many other materials over decades' time. I personally don't know if I can call G10 'Traditional' yet. But give it some time and we'll see.

 

[Peregrin]

I don't know exactly when Micarta was first used for knife handles. From what I've read it looks like the 1950s or 1960s. Bob Loveless was one of the early makers who used it.
Personally I have no problem with it. When done right it is tough and attractive. Here's a couple of mine.

I don't have any experience with G10, so I'll stay out of that.

 

[JohnDF]

Of course, everybody is going to have their own likes and dislikes... that's what makes it personal and fun.
I put Micarta and G10 in the same category as Acrylic and Delrin. In fact, I find Micarta's fiber to be more "natural" than the others.
As far as wether or not it's "traditional"... I find all of them to be way more traditional than adjustable pivot screws.

 

[rhino]

When it comes to traditional folders, I just cannot abide micarta or G-10 for scales. On a fixed blade, I can and do like micarta, though it's a bit of a stretch for me to call such a knife traditional.

Troglodyte I guess.

I'm the same way. I love Micarta on a fixed blade, but on a traditional slip-joint . . . not so much. That's what bone, wood, and a variety of old polymers are for!

 

[cbach8tw]

I like micart, mostly canvas micarta or something with a little more texture. I like G10 but again with texture.

 

[rhino]

Vinyl plank flooring comes in thicknesses already up to 8 mm (0.315 in freedom units), so there would be no need to laminate the vinyl.

when they finally make it, I hope they make some with cedar shingles so I can weigh my siding options.

Freedom Units! You remind of days of yore with understanding the difference between lb-f and lb-m! And slugs!

 

[black mamba]

I have no problem with micarta being considered traditional, but like the OP, I don't really care for it on folders. I have working fixed blades with micarta, although I prefer G-10 as I like the feel of it more. Synthetics I do like for traditional folders are Delrin when sawcut, and Staglon and other faux stag synthetics.

Bark ram's horn, gnarly stag and deeply jigged bone are my favorites.

 

[EngrSorenson]

Freedom Units! You remind of days of yore with understanding the difference between lb-f and lb-m! And slugs!

Off topic but… yes, and those days are still with us. People “weigh” themselves and the answer is in “pounds”, but not lbf like the term “weigh” would imply, but lbm.

And then lbm isn’t the English standard unit for mass, slugs are. Screws me up to this day.

Metric is the micarta scales of the math world: durable and dependable but doesn’t have “unique” features that make things “interesting”.

 

[Blues]

When it comes to traditional folders, I just cannot abide micarta or G-10 for scales. On a fixed blade, I can and do like micarta, though it's a bit of a stretch for me to call such a knife traditional.

Troglodyte I guess.

For what it's worth, polished black G-10 looks an awful lot like ebony when done right. This one is from Jared Oeser. I had a couple others by Richard Rogers that were beautifully done, but I no longer have the images handy since I sold them a couple of years back.

 

[rhino]

Off topic but… yes, and those days are still with us. People “weigh” themselves and the answer is in “pounds”, but not lbf like the term “weigh” would imply, but lbm.

And then lbm isn’t the English standard unit for mass, slugs are. Screws me up to this day.

Metric is the micarta scales of the math world: durable and dependable but doesn’t have “unique” features that make things “interesting”.

Agreed! Oh, man! I'm having flashbacks to thermodynamics I!

Micarta is my favorite handle material because of its performance, especially when it's wet. Given that, for a "traditional" slip joint, I prefer something that looks more old timey, even if it's a manmade material like Delrin.

 

[JohnDF]

One of these is Delrin, the other is Miacarta.
You tell me why you like one better than the other?
To me, they look and feel almost identical, very hard to tell a difference in-hand.

 

[EngrSorenson]

One of these is Delrin, the other is Miacarta.
You tell me why you like one better than the other?
To me, they look and feel almost identical, very hard to tell a difference in-hand.

I’ve been looking at this picture like a dope for 5 minutes and I can’t tell what I’m looking at…