Thoughts on new micarta handle spydies?

[Supacede]

Hi,

Is there much interest in new/sprint/flash batch models with micarta handles?

Does it make financial sense for Spyderco?

The old calypsos, goddards, etc are forever stuck in my head lol.

Appreciate it.

Thomas

[Evil D]

I'm in as long as they're polished and contoured. To be honest though G10 is super nice polished too. I guess there's a shrinkage issue or something that makes micarta kind of a nightmare to work with in production.

[steelcity16]

I'm in as long as they're polished and contoured. To be honest though G10 is super nice polished too. I guess there's a shrinkage issue or something that makes micarta kind of a nightmare to work with in production.

See, i'm the opposite. I prefer the matte finished Micarta. I feel like the polished Micarta, or any polished scale for that matter is too slippery, and slippery is dangerous. I had and sold the smooth G10 Native and passed on the smooth G10 Cruwear PM2. I like texture.

[Evil D]

I'm in as long as they're polished and contoured. To be honest though G10 is super nice polished too. I guess there's a shrinkage issue or something that makes micarta kind of a nightmare to work with in production.

See, i'm the opposite. I prefer the matte finished Micarta. I feel like the polished Micarta, or any polished scale for that matter is too slippery, and slippery is dangerous. I had and sold the smooth G10 Native and passed on the smooth G10 Cruwear PM2. I like texture.

Oh I definitely like rough micarta too, but I also prefer to rely on ergonomics for grip over grip texture. The Street Beat is a good example, the deep choil locks your hand in place.

[abbazaba]

Micarta does seem over due. I'm hoping for a light color that is oil/dye friendly. Maybe the K390 Chaparral will have micarta?

[Supacede]

What type of micarta/finish were the old, previous generation calypso, goddards, etc? I'm talking the 90's models, I think they're awesome.

Thanks, peeps, and thanks Sal n crew.

[bearfacedkiller]

I feel like when smooth I cannot really tell much of a difference between g10 and micarta. My Street Beat is Micarta and my Bradley Bowie is G10. I don’t have a preference between the two. The Des Horn is polished G10 and looks great.

As far as polished vs coarser finishes? I like smoother finishes. First of all they look better to me. Second,with good ergonomics I will take a smoother grip as it usually gives me less hot spots. I just don’t need texture on a knife with a choil, finger guard or palm swell. Well, I don’t even need texture on a Puukko but that is probably because I like to use them for carving and a smooth handle is less apt to give me a blister.

[Supacede]

Yeah, that'd be cool, abbazaba.

[juggler]

Micarta might be my favourite handle material whether it's polished or not. I think I'd rather have polished for folders and rough for fixed blades... but maybe this is because of what I am used to (Persian and ESEE 3, respectively).

G10 is super nice polished too

Very true. I know I prefer it to CF, for example. I wonder why polished G10 isn't more common: is it simply much more expensive than regular G10, or are there other reasons?

[mb1]

More. Micarta. Please. I prefer bead blasted but I’ll take any way it’s offered.

[Tucson Tom]

I like Micarta a lot. I had no idea there were production problems involving shrinkage and such -- maybe that explains why we don't see more of it.
I bought some Micarta to try to teach myself how to make scales for some of my Mules. I was thinking/hoping that the dust from working it would
be less of a hazard that the dust from G10 -- and that is probably true, it won't have glass fibers in the dust.

I have the big Temperance 2 fixed blade, and that is my poster child for Micarta that I like. It isn't polished, but is quite smooth, sort of a satin finish.

I have warmed up some to smoother knives -- the Cruwear PM2 with smooth G10 helped me adjust my thinking. At first I was not happy at all about how smooth it is -- but it actually is just fine. And think about grandpa's slip joint knife -- they were always polished smooth and nobody thought twice about it.

So it is another case of "give me variety". I am carrying the CF/Ti military a lot recently -- and the titanium side is plenty smooth, and it is just fine.

In general though, I like my tools to supply some friction with the gripping surface.

[DutchBlades]

I pick up Micarta models whenever I can, so it's a definite yes from me! :D

[ZrowsN1s]

I'm in as long as they're polished and contoured. To be honest though G10 is super nice polished too. I guess there's a shrinkage issue or something that makes micarta kind of a nightmare to work with in production.

See, i'm the opposite. I prefer the matte finished Micarta. I feel like the polished Micarta, or any polished scale for that matter is too slippery, and slippery is dangerous. I had and sold the smooth G10 Native and passed on the smooth G10 Cruwear PM2. I like texture.

So there is talk of Micarta handles on a Shaman Sprint. Would you consider those handles to be Smooth or Matte? I was thinking they were smooth compared to the standard g-10 spyderco uses. But then I was handling a friends knife that had polished G-10 on it and I realized the Shaman had a bit of grip to it in comparison.

[Supacede]

Maybe time to see another caly family member dressed in micarta?

[Cscottsss]

For sure, I'm all in on some Micarta.

[tvenuto]

I like micarta. As others have said it’s mainly the smooth contoured handles I like, G10 and micarta are equivalent as far as that goes.

[Evil D]

I'm sure there's a world of difference between manufacturing slab scales vs scales that have nested liners. If they're going to attempt the Shaman it'll be impressive to see. By comparison it would be much easier to do a Manix 2 or GB1 where the liners aren't nested.

[curlyhairedboy]

I'm a big fan of canvas or denim micarta. I feel the visual appeal is pretty great.

Sprints would be great, but I'm not sure I'd give up G10 for normal production use. It's just so reliable.

[Calicoast]

Is there a reason why we don't see many knives in micarta from Spyderco?

Seems like that's what alot of us would like to see.
C

[napalmfriday]

Thumbs up for micarta here as well. My micarta experience is more or less limited to the ones that Esee uses on many of their models (aside from the Street Beat), but I absolutely love the feel.