Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Brightest/whitest handle material?...pics?

There are so many variations of white handle materials out there (G10 & Micarta). Is there one that is the brightest and whitest and won't fade or change color? Any pics of an example would be great. I've seen pics on here of many but if anyone wants to post on this thread it would be nice to have them on one thread.

Thanks,

JCM

white paper micarta.

some of the lightest bone on a pioneer farmer great eastern.--cranky72

In my experience, for the whitest that "won't fade or change color" you would need to look at some form of poly resin, or epoxy, molded material. Any "natural" material will change over time...IMO.

For instance, borrowed from another site.

Brightest white I have seen is Corian.

+1.

I like white paper micarta myself. It's inexpensive, tough, and can be finished to a high polish.

I was thinking micarta or G10, syntetic all the way, but the Corian didn't cross my mind. Most of the antiqued versions could be thrown out due to the duller finish/color.

Mink, do you know what the material used in that one is? It has the more "pure" white look I'm hoping for.

Thanks,

JCM

...btw, I've also seen knife scales made from white linen micarta and they looked darn good too!

you guys are certainly correct--i've seen bone grab color from some oils & even pigmented textiles. wonder how a white colored acrylic would look.--cranky72

I think Mike and Mink are right, the whitest synthetic I know of that's typically used on a knife is corian. It looks a little plasticy to me, but will definitely be durable. Bleached bone and interior ivory and so forth are icy white done right, but won't stay that way, so corian is probably the best bet you can find if you want that really white look.

Ivory micarta, marcus lin rendition of the 4 inch loveless dropped hunter. not the brightest of whites but a nice natural looking white.

Read up a little on Corian and it sounds like it will crack/chip if dropped, is cold, and generally not well liked as a knife handle.....but it looks good.

I'm thinking ivory micarta is the way I'll go. Below is a pic from jwill350 (I think)...the left is Ivory and the right is Antiqued Ivory:

Yep, that's ivory paper micarta on the left and antique linen on the right.

The ivory paper looks like my best bet so far. Has it stained or changed color any?

Nope. It will get nice and dirty while using it, but it has always washed right off.

Excellent. Thanks!

The new and Old Westing house paper micarta to me is nothing alike. The Westinghouse would age and turn mellow yellow similar to ivory but the present daay ivory micarta is just a dull white and never changes color not matter how long it ages.
The new white can have problems because of air bubles that are in the phenolic and is bad about picking up buffing compound in the small holes.

They make a linen micarta thats alot brighter than the ivory paper.Had some on a fillet knife for bout 7 years and is still as white as the day I put it on and its seen plenty of use.

It is an epoxy mold done by a forum member on Blade Forums. Of course being a synthetic "plastic-like" material, I would be concerned it would get very slick when used in the field. Looks good though.