Why I love TeroTuf for my handles

You said it's easier to work with.

How's the finish with higher grits?

What kind of grit progression do you use?

Is it easier to achieve a more polished finished than micarta/g10?

Finally, is it much more expensive than micarta/g10?
 
Remember that Micarta and G10 are very different substances. G10 is typically going to be much stronger than Micarta or Tero Tuf because the resin is stronger. The phenolic resins used to make Micarta are the oldest of the thermoset plastics. Their most desirable feature in modern usage is their resistance to heat.
JG Custom Metal Works said:
You said it's easier to work with.

How's the finish with higher grits?

What kind of grit progression do you use?

Is it easier to achieve a more polished finished than micarta/g10?

Finally, is it much more expensive than micarta/g10?
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G10 is the most stable and stiffest. It's also the heaviest. It is the most abrasive to work with, but surprisingly it has poor abrasive wear resistance. It looks good on a knife, but I don't like it on my own because it's unnecessarily heavy and other materials offer a better grip.

Micarta is significantly lighter than G10, and a little more flexible. It's still much stiffer, stronger and more dimensionally stable than wood (the material that's been used successfully in this application for millennia). It offers a good grip even when wet or goopy and it wears better in a gritty kydex sheath. It has poor impact resistance compared to other synthetics (not much better than wood) and can crack or chip if used on a throwing knife or similar. Phenolic is not inferior to epoxy, it's just different.

Tero Tuf is the most flexible (least stiff, not a good thing). It's durable and apparently it has the best grip when your hands are sweaty. It's on the knife that won the last two world cutting championships. It's attractive from a manufacturing point of view because it's nontoxic and non abrasive. To me, the biggest problem is poor dimensional stability. It can shrink away and allow a full tang to stand proud more than the others which requires some special thought on how and where it is used.

They're all quite good and we're fortunate to have them, but there are relative pros and cons to all of them.
 
Nate, the interesting part is that of all of the commonly used composite materials, the one that is near the top as far as combination of strength, stiffness, flexibility, toughness, light weight and dimensional stability is the wood/epoxy composite made by the cold molding process. Wood has the benefit of being "prestressed" by Mother Nature so, unlike other "filler" materials, it does not weaken significantly under bending until such time as it actually starts to mechanically fail.
 
LVA carbon fiber has higher stiffness than micarta, G10 or TeroTuf.

What type of micarta was used in the test? Was it made offshore or in the US? I've seen some really bad offshore micarta that does not compare to US made material with regards to quality. The same is true for G10.

Chuck
 
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From a noncraftsman perspective; I don't understand how bending a strip of micarta until it breaks shows it to be an inferior material for scales...or how being able to bend teroturf until the ends meet make it superior in that application. Scales are secured to slabs of steel - it would seem that flexibility in that situation becomes a non issue (unless one is bending the snot out of the handle)
Tell me something is lighter, nontoxic, has greater impact resistance, or more dimensional stability, and I'm onboard - those things make sense.
(yes, I know I mixed and matched features - it doesn't affect the point I was making)
 
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Excellent points as always, sir. Even in the case of homemade epoxy and cloth based "mycarta" the strength of the material can vary greatly not only with the lamination process but also the type of epoxy chosen. Even within the West System family of products, on their own, the standard resin/hardener mixes like 105 resin and the 200 series hardeners have almost TWICE the tensile strength of the G-Flex product. Home Depot sourced 1 to 1 ratio epoxy will be no better than the G Flex. Of course, in addition to proper materials, the other big advantage of the high quality CF composites like you carry is that they are actually laminated and cured as they are supposed to be and not treated like simple glass based composites and just laid up and allowed to cure at ambient temp like what some folks like kayak makers do when using CF as lightweight reinforcement.
Alpha Knife Supply said:
LVA carbon fiber has higher stiffness than micarta, G10 or TeroTuf.

What type of micarta was used in the test? Was it made offshore or in the US? I've seen some really bad offshore micarta that does not compare to US made material with regards to quality. The same is true for G10.

Chuck
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Posting the video has raised some good questions and comments around the forum. :)

Let me clarify that what I like *most* about the TeroTuf is the feel and light weight, with less toxicity and greater toughness as secondary factors (although those were what led me to trying it out in the first place). It is not a pretty material, but it is a darn good utility knife handle material.

JG - Most of the handle shaping I do is with router bits with bearings that ride against either the tang (for one-offs) or handle-shaping jigs (for mid-techs). Final finish is hand sanding to round corners for comfort, which is done with a piece of 100 grit sandpaper. If you want a material that takes a high, smooth polish, TeroTuf will probably not fit that. But I haven't tried it. I like the grippiness it has at the 100 grit finish. I believe that handle shape is far more important to retention than texture, but this has just enough texture without starting to wear on the hand.

I would *not* recommend it for fine-finished pieces. But for hard use utility and grip, it's the best I've found so far for slab handles.

By way of reference, this is my typical work:



As for price, I just checked the cost of 1/4" black canvas Micarta from the supplier I had been buying from and figured price per square inch in their largest available sheet, then figured the cost of 1/4" black TeroTuf in the size I've been buying. The Micarta worked out to about $6.20 per square inch, and the TeroTuf at $5.30. Not counting shipping in either case.

Nathan - The comment about dimensional stability of the TeroTuf piqued my interest. I haven't heard of that or encountered it happening myself. What conditions cause changes? I know Dan Keffler makes sayas/scabbards out of it, as well as handles, so I would think the stability would be pretty good. But I'm curious to hear otherwise.

Chuck - I have run into some of the off-shore "Micarta", and it is indeed nasty, not to mention had a massive bow in it. This always seemed to be good stuff to me, bought in relatively large sheets from a respected supplier of handle materials of different kinds. It's canvas, in this case natural tan. I know I've seen you comment on the cheap crap before, and I respect you providing quality stuff on the market.

HHMoore - I hear you, and commented in the video that the tang shouldn't ever flex to the point that the TeroTuf snaps. But I have had Micarta handles chip out when they impacted something hard, which was one of several reasons I wanted to try something with more flex to it. Seeing makers like Ben Tendick and Dan Keffler using it led to my trying it myself, and found that I liked the other characteristics over Micarta as well.

Which is why I love TeroTuf for *my* handles. :) It's relatively new in the knifemaking world, and I would like to see it in wider usage where appropriate.
 
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