Fiberglass splinters from knife handles?

K

kookery

Joined
Oct 11, 2012
Messages
337
I know Busse sells knives that have G10 fiberglass scales for their handles. My experience with prolonged skin-contact on fiberglass has always been itchy invisible splinters, especially when the fiberglass is worn or weathered. Is there some reason G10 might be different? Since Busse knives are made to endure being used and abused, I would expect wear on the handles to expose microscopic sharp glass fibers. Is that expectation wrong?

I would not expect to have a problem with any of the other composites, like canvas or paper micarta, since those materials are much safer on skin, and only get more safe when worn (I've never had a paper cut from a worn out dollar bill).

Thoughts?
 
I have used lots of G10 handles and never got the itch. I am not sure if its a different type of resin or manufacturing process but it has always remained safe to touch.
 
I've sanded and used G10 heavily and experienced nothing like I have in almost every other fiberglass material I have used. I know this may not help answer your question, but I will be interested in the replies it generates.
 
I also have never had a problem from G10 handles and would think they would be out of favor if they frequently caused problems. Perhaps it is an individual thing.
 
Fiberglass is often designed to be fluffy for insulation which involves making tiny tiny threads. Fiberglass that's designed for things like camper shells are layers of thin hairs that gets hardened into a solid mass with a smooth surface. You start to see the tiny slivers when it breaks down from u.v. exposure. Fiberglass filters are also ultra fine hair layers, thin enough that they break apart easily into smaller slivers. All of these are poorly bonded so that touching them strips away the material into your hand.

The fiberglass used in g10 is more like fiber-optic cables. They are much thicker, and laid in layers of square mesh (like wire fencing). When the handle surface is exposed - most of what your actually touching is epoxy, the bonding agent that keeps the 'fibers' from pulling away form the material. If it's exposed to abrasion you might get a bit of the glass to come away as a powder, but it's going to be a small percentage of the dust and it's going to be that, dust, as you would get if you sanded a larger piece of glass or ceramic. Because the wires of glass used in the mesh are thicker they don't break away like the fine hairs of the other fiberglass products.

This is the fiberglass your probably thinking of:
vy46bn.jpg


This is the fiberglass used in g10 (a BOSS jack with sandstorm g10 scales)
P1160814.jpg
 
If this was a problem, you would have thousands of complaints on this forum about this very non issue.
 
I have used and abused many G10 handles and the only cause for concern would be if you could manage to chip the handle then you MIGHT have to lightly sand that spot . Otherwise never a problem even with rough texture or poorly sanded G10.
 
I have never had a problem with G10.From my understanding G10-G11 is nothing like fiberglass except that both are a resin composite.I do know a piece of fiberglass left in the sun will get hot and G10 will not.
 
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