Fod. I would suggest before you get alot of stuff to try making anything with carbon fiber you first make a small piece and then send it to someone who has done a lot of work with carbon fiber for handles. I say this for a couple of reasons. One is cost. I priced carbon fiber to make handle material and it isn't cheap. Now that doesn't matter if a maker is willing to pay for it. That said the epoxy that is used in commercial grade carbon fiber much less the some of the military stuff is a world away from most epoxy that you run across. Of course I do not know what you use, but I know it is several steps up from what I am using and I did not use low end epoxy by any means. Th point I am making is that if a maker is used to using super F22 Raptor carbon fiber and expect something very close to that as a finished product then it may be very very hard to make something that will live up to that. More so when they consider the price. Just some thoughts and wish you luck if you do go for it. I now a lot of makers look for a steady good source of carbon fiber.
Thanks Mark.
I have made up some in the past on a sporadic basis. It usually does not go past the quoting step, as the price tends to cool people to the material fast. Of course, being handmade in the United States does not help with the costs
. In my experience, the CF (and the basalt fiber) are some of the easiest materials to work with. It cuts easily and wets out nicely. I make most everything to order, especially with CF, I do not keep it in inventory due to the cost, but my supplier ships pretty quick.
In laid up form, as mentioned, it grinds very nicely, but acts kinda brittle when there is a machining process is attempted (drill, mill, etc.) It is death to cheap saw blades.
I do have a few pieces out to knife makers just now, hopefully I will get some feedback from them soon. I know my stuff will not be used for anything structural or the like, it just needs to be consistent and finish nicely. As you know, this is primarily a resin issue...use quality stuff and don't press it all out.
Most of my experience with CF (and kevlar) has been with relatively thin somewhat complex parts for ATVs and motorcycles. These are only ground on the edges to shape and need to be finished to a high gloss. We use various coating to achieve this. We do some flat laid stuff that comes off the plates as a high gloss that requires nothing further. That is all in the prep, though.
I do have some .150" thick carbon fiber/basalt fiber hybrid for sale just now, as well as a tanto I made up using some silk and cf laminate (talk about $$$!!!) pic attached. The material on the bottom is the basalt fiber/carbon fiber hybrid (3/5 the cost of pure CF). The only problem I see is that it is a twill. Some folk prefer the plain weave. The tanto is carbon fiber with copper colored silk (I wish I had done something with more contrast), sanded to 800 grit. This is what I can offer at this time, and comparable to what I would make up for an order just now. It is hard to get a good pic without a light tent, but this shows what my material looks like. I cannot speak to how this compares to the super F22 Raptor carbon fiber.
Thanks for the input and interest.
