Bow Drill Divot in Knife Handle

[hike500]

I have a BHK Bushcrafter with micarta scales, do you think the micarta could handle a bow drill divot or will I eventually burn through the micarta?
Thanks.

[Bax 40]

I think youy will melt it.

Larry

[Trail~Hawk]

Found the below info at: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...utting-micarta

"You're not going to melt micarta, phenolic is a thermoset. Once polymerized it can not be made to melt any more than a piece of wood can melt. It can burn or char, when it does it releases formaldehyde. In small doses it will make you not feel well and give you a sore throat. If you actually breath in real smoke it is pretty bad for you. I suggest keeping it cool by keeping it wet and it wont give you any trouble unless you work with it a lot.

I love the stuff and use it for a lot of stuff. Stiff, dimensionally stable, high temperature, similar coefficient of thermal expansion as aluminum (about .000013 in/in per deg F, about 1/10th the amount of most polymers) and inexpensive. Truly an excellent material. I even occasionally use it for knife scales. "

Hope this helps!!!

[SampleName]

I think youy will melt it.

Larry

These are my thoughts as well.

Edit : Just saw the post above mine.

[WanderingFool]

I don't think there is any way you could melt it. The ESSE 5 comes with a divot and the scales are Micarta if I'm not mistaken. I remember a thread about this I believe on this forum, might do a search. Let us know what you decide to do.

[Howie]

My tops BOB feildcraft hasnt melted yet, has lots of bow drills in the micarta handle

[nerdcraft]

One of the tracker folk I saw doing a bowdrill demo at a local faire (Maker Faire) was using soap on the divot to help it with friction.

I am guessing the same would work on the knives. I am still itching to try out my BOB, but sadly not a lot of places to start fires here.

[VtBlackDog]

I put one in my Bark River Gunny......I didn't just put in a divot, I kept drilling until I hit the tang, so the bow drill runs on A2. Works great......just make sure your knife tang isn't skeletonized!

[Hiwa]

Just my opinion , but if the knife doesn't come with it , I wouldn't do it on the chance you'll mess up the divet or regret it later. I'd much rather hold on to a dedicated block than a knife handle with an exposed knife blade during the bowdrill process.

[hike500]

Maybe I have to much time on my hands, it seems like when I get this way I want to mod something. thanks for all the opinions, I will look into a little more. For now I am leaning toward leaving it alone.