# Ivory Micarta Grips



## HomeBody (Sep 26, 2013)

I made these back in the 80's from material called Ivory Micarta. Micarta is paper based resin of phenolic. It was made by Westinghouse and came in 4 X 8 sheets in different thicknesses. Off white that turns yellow like ivory over time. Not sure what the original purpose was but it made great grips. It was also used by pool que makers. Just behind the blue tip where the chalk goes is a white section of micarta. I bought a bunch from a plastics supplier in Houston while visiting my brother in '80 or '81.
We were having fun with micarta (came in different colors I think) when word came out that it contains asbestos. Oops! Westinghouse never told us that! No more Ivory Micarta anymore...at least not the old recipe. Luckily, I still have a stash...and a good respirator! Gary

My .45
[attachment=31672]
[attachment=31673]


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## barry richardson (Sep 26, 2013)

HomeBody said:


> I made these back in the 80's from material called Ivory Micarta. Micarta is paper based resin of phenolic. It was made by Westinghouse and came in 4 X 8 sheets in different thicknesses. Off white that turns yellow like ivory over time. Not sure what the original purpose was but it made great grips. It was also used by pool que makers. Just behind the blue tip where the chalk goes is a white section of micarta. I bought a bunch from a plastics supplier in Houston while visiting my brother in '80 or '81.
> We were having fun with micarta (came in different colors I think) when word came out that it contains asbestos. Oops! Westinghouse never told us that! No more Ivory Micarta anymore...at least not the old recipe. Luckily, I still have a stash...and a good respirator! Gary
> 
> My .45


Those are cool! I have a Martin guitar made around y2k that has a micarta finger board. Super stable and virtually indestructible, they stopped using it in production for some reason though, perhaps because of the asbestos thing, I heard it was cause it was too expensive.....


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## healeydays (Sep 26, 2013)

Damn, I started reading this and was just about to do a search for Micarta and then that asbestos word came up. Scary thing is on Ebay there are 3,855 results for Micarta.

Too bad, I like the look...


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## healeydays (Sep 26, 2013)

Just read up on it:

Asbestos Micarta
Micarta is a common laminate material which is composed of linen or paper impregnated with plastics or resins, and which has a vast number of uses in residential and commercial construction, as well as in the automotive and heavy equipment industries. Micarta is also used to achieve specific decorative effects in the construction of knife handles, guitar fret boards, and pool cues. It’s also frequently sued in the manufacture of circuit boards, found commonly in most electronic equipment today. But it is as an insulating material that micarta is most useful in the construction and automotive industries. By impregnating fibers with heat-resistant resins or other liquid or semi-liquid materials, micarta can be formed into an insulating material which has long been used in wiring and other electrical applications, to prevent heat transfer and reduce or prevent fire hazards.

Asbestos and micarta

Like many materials which at one time relied heavily on asbestos for their manufacture, micarta benefitted for many years by the material’s highly insulative properties. Asbestos is a mineral which is, in structure, a fiber itself. By impregnating existing fibers with the additional fibers of asbestos, manufacturers developed “asbestos micarta.” With high heat resistance and flexibility, asbestos soon became an integral part of micarta, and asbestos micarta was used extensively in residential and commercial electrical installations, as well as in the heavy equipment and automotive industries, which also employ electrical components.

After finally heeding numerous health and safety warnings, the United States banned the manufacture of asbestos-based construction materials in 1977. However, existing supplies were allowed to be used, persisting until well into the next decade. As a result, any building constructed prior to the mid-1980s may contain asbestos micarta in its electrical system.

As in many products which used asbestos, asbestos micarta is not dangerous in its initial, pliable form. But over time, as the material ages and begins to degrade, or if disturbed during renovation or other construction processes, as in the upgrading of electrical service, the asbestos fibers which were once safely embedded within the material can break away and form a fine dust which, when inhaled, can pose serious, life-threatening health risks, including mesothelioma and other cancers.


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## HomeBody (Sep 26, 2013)

I made several sets of grips and some other stuff so I breathed some I'm sure. I've had an MRI recently and my lungs are fine. I made a couple of belt buckles out of it and scrimshawed them. Here's one of my first of only a few attempts at scrimshaw on a belt buckle I did in '83. The micarta was nice to scrim as you could polish it slick like ivory so the ink wouldn't absorb except on the cuts. Gary
[attachment=31701]


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## robert flynt (Sep 26, 2013)

HomeBody said:


> I made several sets of grips and some other stuff so I breathed some I'm sure. I've had an MRI recently and my lungs are fine. I made a couple of belt buckles out of it and scrimshawed them. Here's one of my first of only a few attempts at scrimshaw on a belt buckle I did in '83. The micarta was nice to scrim as you could polish it slick like ivory so the ink wouldn't absorb except on the cuts. Gary


Gary, To my knowledge the new phonolic material (macarta is registered trade mark owned by westenhouse) do not contain asbestos. I was admiring your scrimshaw work, do you do it any more?


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## HomeBody (Sep 27, 2013)

Thanks Robert. No, I just wanted to try it back then and only did 2 pieces on the micarta. Never did anymore and never did any ivory. 

Maybe the new phenolic micarta would be worth trying. The stuff is indestructible and it's fairly easy to work. Gary


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