Very nice John. You really have a way with hunters. I am really liking the g10 guards. How well does it hold up compared to 416? Nice work.

Brion

John that's very nice! Wondering about the guard material as well. Interesting mix of materials.

Thanks guys. Sorry I'm just getting around to responding.

I feel that g-10 makes an excellent guard, especially in certain situations.

I started using it when I was looking for something that was pure black in color and dimensionally stable. I've fought and fought with cold bluing mild steel. I tried the directions on the bottle, tried some backyard home recipes for bluing, I've tried it cold, hot and everything else. I can get a dark black on steel, but it never stayed on. Even oiling it with gun oil just wiped the finish off in spots.

So I finally tried g-10 and the thing that sold me on it was it will always be black. You can scuff it, scratch it, gouge it, rub it with oils or cleaning solvents, whatever and it will still be black. When the color is the main aspect I'm going for, it's a no brainer.

It makes even more sense on a knife like a hunter that's going to be used. It hardly shows any wear whatsoever and is totally stain proof. It cleans up and looks brand new after every hunt. In addition to all of the above, it is also very light and makes a hunter sized knife just absolutely disappear in your hand. You can hardly even feel that you're holding a knife. It makes my hunters balance perfectly.

Strength wise, strand for strand, it's nearly as strong as steel. I have done a lot of testing on the strenght and durability of it and it passes. Take a piece of g-10, even quite thin, and try to break it. It's very difficult and with a piece even 1/8" thick, I'd say it's impossible to break by hand. Or at least I wouldn't want to tangle with the guy that could break it by hand. It is also very impact resistant and highly resistant to chipping.

I did, one time, make a guard of black paper micarta and had the actual 'lug' part of the guard very thin and snapped the tip off it trying to put it in a very tight sheath. But micarta, especially the paper variety, does not come even remotely close to the shear strength of g-10.

Using it as a guard is not a short cut or a lazy way around fitting a guard. It has no give to it so fitting it must be done with the same care as 416 or a piece of damascus.

When I first started making g-10 guards, I caught a little flak from some people. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> I don't think it will ever be desirable by the vast majority of serious collectors, especially on higher end pieces. I don't think it will ever shake the 'it's just cheap plastic' stigma that;s attached to it. But I think because of the above points I made, it's gained a lot of acceptance and many have realized, like anything, that it has its place and its advantages.

Thanks John, that answered my questions. It would be perfect for an everyday using knife. Probably going to add that to my guard options.

Brion