How do I bring back black color to my G10 handle?

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PashkaTLT

Joined
Feb 12, 2023
Messages
2
Hello everyone,

This is my first time working with G10, I have it in black, but after grinding it immediately becomes gray. So people say it's G10 dust, other people say I just to polish it with high grit & buff it. People also suggest soaking it in WD-40.

I tried doing 400 grid and then soaking it in WD-40 for several minutes

I also tried sanding it with 800 grit on a belt sander, and then sand it manually with 1000 grit and then 3000 grit and then polish it with an angle grinder with a cotton wheel & 3.5 micron diamond paste. But it doesn't become black and polished, this is how it looks after:

WIWJqomRs1qQ.png


The right part is after grinding and polishing, the left side has not been ground.

Please advise on how can I bring back its original black color.
 
Google foo:
“I was told by a really decent guy […] who used to work in the Spyderco Factory Outlet about a product called Ballistol. Now Ballistol is a very unique petroleum product that cleans, lubricates and protects metals, polymers and many other materials.

I took a fine bristle toothbrush and very carefully cleaned the beat up G-10 handle on the old/used blue Dodo and I was absolutely astounded the great results I obtained with the Ballistol. It literally rejuvenated the handle to where it looked virtually new. Since then I treat, clean and condition all of my G-10 handles with Ballistol on a regular basis and I've had excellent luck with it. It's even great for treating G-10 and Micarta handles for long term storage.
 
Do a general image search for Spyderco Bushcraft G10. That handle had been heavily shaped, and as polished as it is possible to get a handle. You can still see the glass weave. If you want a handle that is absolutely dead flat black without a gray weave, you are using the wrong material. The really polished black handles without weave tend to be paper Micarta, not G10. The glass in G10 is clear, not dyed. So you have black epoxy and clear glass, and you will always see the glass to some extent.

WD40 is a daft thing to use. Its like saying you want a polished wet look on a handle (or car) so you are going to keep splashing water on it! It is not changing the material, just how it looks, and it is not remotely permanent.
 
C_Claycomb said:
Do a general image search for Spyderco Bushcraft G10. That handle had been heavily shaped, and as polished as it is possible to get a handle. You can still see the glass weave. If you want a handle that is absolutely dead flat black without a gray weave, you are using the wrong material. The really polished black handles without weave tend to be paper Micarta, not G10. The glass in G10 is clear, not dyed. So you have black epoxy and clear glass, and you will always see the glass to some extent.

WD40 is a daft thing to use. Its like saying you want a polished wet look on a handle (or car) so you are going to keep splashing water on it! It is not changing the material, just how it looks, and it is not remotely permanent.
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So the initial pure black color of the G10 sheet is just a layer of black epoxy?
 
PashkaTLT said:
So the initial pure black color of the G10 sheet is just a layer of black epoxy?
Click to expand...
Pretty much.

G10 is layers of glass fabric embedded/encapsulated in epoxy resin. If it's black G10, then some sort of pigmentation has been added to the resin. (Typically lamp black or carbon black.)
When the G10 is in sheet form, there is a layer of the blackened epoxy on the surface. If you grind G10 into a shape, you will expose the fabric, or at least you will thin the epoxy layer such that the glass becomes visible.
 
navman said:
Wiping g10 down with wd40 has a purpose...to remove embedded dust particles. It does not brighten g10, but it will remove the dullness after grinding/sanding.
Click to expand...
In my experience, washing and scrubbing with water, soap and a brush also removes dust. It does not make the surface look darker, the way that wiping with an oily material does.

I might be a bit anti about this matter after an experience in my early years of making. I was at a show, there were some old boys selling nice looking working knives with lovely looking polished wood handles. I asked how they finished their handles to that kind of shine. I thought it would be fine sandpaper, London gunsmith style oil finish…no not a bit! They were wiping them down periodically with silicone gun oil! Total cheat. A shine that wasn’t even skin deep.
 
I have seen some double black G10, where the fiberglass itself is black as well as the blackened epoxy?
 
This is double black G10 in the guard at 800 grit and Tung Oil:

PXL_20250320_172024278.jpg

This is black AmeriGrip, G10 and rubber. The lighter grey is the rubber layer and the darker black is the G10, at 400 grit and Tung Oil. You can see the weave in the fiberglass, but it looks black and not the greyish that your's shows. The guard is carbon fiber, which is why it has the wavy look to it.
399644516_10102182114746750_4164570008543772010_n.jpg

Look for some double black G10 or double black Micarta? Black paper micarta gets glossier the more you polish it.
 
Oils etc is not absorbed. Using them on g10 is pointless, the effect wont last.
Sand to 600 and buff with brown tripoli. For even more shine and darker black go to a gloss compound from there.
 
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Taz said:
I have seen some double black G10, where the fiberglass itself is black as well as the blackened epoxy?
Click to expand...

I have never heard of double black G10. I have used double black micarta, and that gets really black and nice. Can you share more info on the double black G10?

Double black micarta:

hmpSFeD.jpeg
 
Current Composite makes it, Masecraft supply just calls it black g10. It uses black fiberglass cloth and black epoxy. Current started doing colored g10 a long time ago, I think AKS was the first supplier to carry it? I think it was a contract over run or something in like a brown or coyote tan maybe?
 
Taz said:
Current Composite makes it, Masecraft supply just calls it black g10. It uses black fiberglass cloth and black epoxy. Current started doing colored g10 a long time ago, I think AKS was the first supplier to carry it? I think it was a contract over run or something in like a brown or coyote tan maybe?
Click to expand...

Nice, thanks I will have to check it out!
 
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