Would this micarta-like material be of any interest for scale material?

fnordmorph

fnordmorph

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This is a somewhat polished small slice off the end of some material that I have access to a moderate amount of. the piece is about .75 to 1" thick (perpendicular to the layers). It has the feel, density, and appearance I would expect from resin impregnated plywood, it cuts like micarta. It came from a surplussed lab bench. There is no label or apparent manufacturer's mark. I initially had the delusion that it was actual Westinghouse micarta, but the more I learn about that material the more skeptical I am of that supposition. Based on where it came from, this stuff could have been made anywhere from 1940 to the 1980's. I am curious whether this material would be of interest to anyone for use as knife scales, or if anyone has a more solid guess on manufacturer?
 

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It's quite a bit denser than wood. I'll see if I can get an approximate density on that piece.

Had thought of trying to make some Ruger birdshead grips out of it, but finding the time to do so is a challenge.
 
Density ~1.35

Reasonable call on the asbestos. Does not appear physically consistent with asbestos composite, though. Should be able to tell with microscope.
 
Kinda looks like marine grade laminate they used to use for boat decking. Some that I’ve seen was about an inch thick and the layers were thicker like regular lumberyard plywood only more saturated with resin. I don’t think its as dense as the dymawood or packawood thinner layers you see on knife handles though.

edit, the auto correct flub.
 
Looks like it started life as plywood, but it's fully impregnated with resin, so it's basically micarta... Plywood micarta rather than burlap, paper, linen, or canvas.
 
Density is within the range reported for various types of micarta, denser than any plywood I've used, about the same as black ironwood. Layers are fully resin impregnated, not plys of wood with glue between, but do look to be laid out like plywood. Sands and cuts and polishes like micarta, not like plywood. If the fibers are wood (which appears likely), probably not the same process as micarta, but a similar result. More like resin stabilized, like is done with burl, or my stabilized hickory suburito...
 
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fnordmorph said:
Haven't had much experience with Marine plywood... Does it have that much resin in it?
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Yes marine plywood is made to be water and fuel resistant or impermeable and rot resistant. I just didn‘t know if it’s as saturated and dense as micarta but I could tell it was more dense than plywood.
 
Industrial grade pakawood/dymondwood. Used this material many times around thirty years ago. Much heavier and denser than pakawood, super tough and will last a lifetime. Used it all different ways as the off cuts I would get were up to 2 inches thick. Stacking up washers made of material was a neat way of getting a stacked leather look without having to deal with compressing and sealing leather.
 
from that photo it looks like FinnForm plywood used for concrete forming and molds. It is resin impregnanted plywood. it typically has a chocolate/vanilla alternating color layers. It became popular with modern custom furniture makers when supplier used a variety of outer layer color.
 
I have an old lab tabletop in the forge. It is made of similar looking material with a hard black top layer. As far as I can tell it is just tough plywood with a resin layer (phenolic?) on top.
 
stubbornforge said:
from that photo it looks like FinnForm plywood used for concrete forming and molds. It is resin impregnanted plywood. it typically has a chocolate/vanilla alternating color layers. It became popular with modern custom furniture makers when supplier used a variety of outer layer color.
Click to expand...
Reported density of current manufacture FinnForm is 80 pounds for a 4'x8'x3/4" sheet, which works out to about 0.64 gm/ml if I did the math right. The stuff in the pic has a density over twice that high. Doesn't fit.

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I have an old lab tabletop in the forge. It is made of similar looking material with a hard black top layer. As far as I can tell it is just tough plywood with a resin layer (phenolic?) on top.
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That sounds like melamine over plywood maybe? Lots of office furniture made with that stuff. Again, this stuff I have has the appearance of plywood, just as micarta looks like paper, linen, canvas, burlap, rag, or whatever was used as a fibrous substrate. My stuff does not cut or work like plywood, but like micarta, and the density is within the range of micartas, much denser than any wood but black ironwood, and much denser than any plywood I've dealt with. If a block of whatever you have will float, this ain't the same stuff. This is much denser than water.

Some variant of dymondwood seems the closest that has been suggested. I'm going with baconwood for now
 
Phenolic (Resorcinol) impregnated plywood. Generally Birch veneers. Can be very dense due to high pressure clamping and heat curing. Rutland used to make it with the grain of the veneers all running the same direction, the layers having been dyed with color prior to the impregnating. Some bearing blocks for machinery were done similarly, except with lubricants added.
 
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