I have rarely felt that a knife's grip is "too smooth"; am I in the minority here? I've been armpit deep in a deer more than a few times with smooth micarta, smooth spalted maple, etc and have never felt like I was in danger of losing my knife. Even covered in blood and without the lanyard on I felt in control. I like a very sharp knife and am more of a deliberate slicer than a hack and slasher too I guess. I also prefer knives without guards for the most part.
I don't mean to imply I have any special talents with a knife either, I can't even count the number of times I have managed to cut myself (some rather badly). It never had to do with losing my grip though, usually it was making a poor decision or forcing a knife that had lost its edge.
Now cleaning Northerns is another story...I'm not sure they make a handle with enough grip for messing with those.
