Is G10, Micarta? And is "Micarta" G10?

I think that most of the people that have that complaint are trying to cut it on a saw designed for wood. I use my metal cutting band saw to cut G-10 and most other handle materials.
 
Most certainly, if you want to ruin a good wood cutting bandsaw blade, just lay into it with some G10! The results are not all that different than taking a pocket knife and using it cut fiberglass insulation.....dead in seconds!

I did it...ONCE, and after toasting a $30 bandsaw blade in about 10 seconds, G10 only gets cut on my metal cutting saw.
 
BossDog said:
The others have defined the difference pretty well. G10 is a generic term for epoxy based fiberglass laminate. Micarta(tm) is a trademark of Norplex and they will take steps to defend their trademark. Last fall I received an email from Norplex asking me to stop using the term Micarta as a generic term for phenolic resin laminate. I made several changes to my web site. I don't blame them at all. It is their burden to take steps to protect their trademark. I talked to them on the phone. They even apologized for the trouble. They were good about it and I respect how they handled it.

In knife making circles, G10 and Micarta are often used interchangeably as a generic term for one or the other. We sure could use a generic, easy off the tongue term for Micarta other than 'phenolic resin laminate'. Until that happens we will continue to have misunderstandings.
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Why not simply "PRL"
 
Yeah... I didn't even try cutting G10 on my cheapy bandsaw. I did cut one set of scales with a hacksaw,that was a LONG day and good gravy, my elbow hurt for two days. I went to using a cut-off wheel in a rotary tool which worked, but you have to be careful about scorching and stinking up the place. Haven't worked with it in a while and likely won't very much until I get a proper saw.

One thing I didn't know until recently, you can get G10 in really thin pieces to use as liners and spacers. That sounds great, since the colors are nice and bright and it shouldn't shrink like fiber material sometimes does. I've had fiber spacer material curl and warp just sitting in the shop, humidity I guess... that makes me nervous.
 
Bruce Barnett said:
Gday fella's,
Ive noticed during this discussion on numerous occaisons people complaining about how hard G10 is to cut, even with a bandsaw.
I use a bi-metal blade and it chews through G10 like butter and i get over 12 months out of one whether it be cutting steel or G10.

Cheers Bruce
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james terrio said:
Yeah... I didn't even try cutting G10 on my cheapy bandsaw. I did cut one set of scales with a hacksaw,that was a LONG day and good gravy, my elbow hurt for two days. I went to using a cut-off wheel in a rotary tool which worked, but you have to be careful about scorching and stinking up the place. Haven't worked with it in a while and likely won't very much until I get a proper saw.

One thing I didn't know until recently, you can get G10 in really thin pieces to use as liners and spacers. That sounds great, since the colors are nice and bright and it shouldn't shrink like fiber material sometimes does. I've had fiber spacer material curl and warp just sitting in the shop, humidity I guess... that makes me nervous.
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Really good point about the metal/wood bandsaw difference.

The nice thing about a wet tile saw if you find one cheap used- it's wet. I hate fiberglass flying around.

James-

The spacer material is a fiber of some sort and will warp a lot in any sort of humidity. I buy sheets and do some rough cutting of them, then clamp them together for storage.

For handles, I've found that regardless fo the glue, if I'm using a cloth/paper/wood handle and/or the spacers, curing the glue in a dehydrator for 8-10 hours really makes a difference in gettign the moisture out. The spacer seals up nicely with cyanoacrylate or linseed oil afterwards
 
Thanks for the tips, christof. It hasn't happened to me yet but I've seen lots of threads where fiber liners shrunk up within a couple days after gluing, just enough to really irritate the maker. I've been leaving plenty of spacer material around the tang/handle, and letting the whole mess cure slowly before grinding to final shape, in hopes of it being more stable that way. I can see your point about using a dehydrator to help eliminate that.

Regardless, I think I will use up my meager assortment of vulcanized fiber spacer and go with the G10 stuff in the future when possible. color is almost as big a reason as the shrinkage worries. The hunter-orange and bright blue G10 I've used so far seems to stay true to color and just plain "brighter".
 
The stuff Josh mentioned from Sheffield looks very much like the old ivory Micarta. Unlike the old stuff, it's already "yellowed" and won't yellow more with age. I use a lot of it, because I really like the way it looks.
 
Lowes sells a big assortment of diamond wheel saw blades for tile cutting. You can even get one for a 4.5 inch grinder. I bet they would cut G10 easily.

Ernie
 
hey guys. I thought i throw something out there for you to chew on for a minute. Micarta or G10, what are they really? they are both laminated materials. they just use different materials in the manufacturing. Are they the same? No, of course not, but all the different micartas aren't the same either, so i would think g10 could or rather should be another type of micarta.

I think though for the purposes concerning Ebay the seller was either being misleading or ignorant to the materials he has.

just my 2 cents
 
bootstrap said:
hey guys. I thought i throw something out there for you to chew on for a minute. Micarta or G10, what are they really? they are both laminated materials. they just use different materials in the manufacturing. Are they the same? No, of course not, but all the different micartas aren't the same either, so i would think g10 could or rather should be another type of micarta.

I think though for the purposes concerning Ebay the seller was either being misleading or ignorant to the materials he has.

just my 2 cents
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Some of the differences are pointed out in this thread. There are some differences in working the materials as well, the fiberglass in G10 makes it very hard on cutting tools, micarta can be worked more or less like a hard wood and is easier on saw blades, files, rasps, etc.

Visually it is not difficult to identify each material by the fabric/mesh that is exposed on the surface, so there are cosmetic differences as well, although you may have to look close to see them, depending on how they are finished.

G10 is pretty non-porous, while micarta (or phenolic for those who want to use the correct term) has the ability to absorb oil, sweat, etc, much like wood can. G10 is also a good deal heavier than the micarta I have worked with, for most purposes this is probably negligible but it can affect the balance of a knife so I think it is worth mentioning.

G10 tends to run about 2x the price of micarta by volume. For some this may be the biggest difference...it is near the top of the list for me:eek:
 
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