I need help finding this knife

I thought carbon fiber was conductive. Not as conductive as copper or steel, but enough to cause issues in race cars if you end up with a bare spot in a circuit.
 
I've had cardboard so sharp it could slice paper and skin, doesn't mean it's going to make a great knife

Not to forget there is this dude on Youtube who makes knives out of all sorts of stuff, plastic, tinfoil, jello, pasta etcpp and they all cut, but pretty much none would be useable after a short while.
 
Not to forget there is this dude on Youtube who makes knives out of all sorts of stuff, plastic, tinfoil, jello, pasta etcpp and they all cut, but pretty much none would be useable after a short while.
A jello knife would come in handy. Aftwr it dulls you could eat it and well lets gope it doesnt come out whole.
 
Carbon fiber is also non-conductive, so it won’t accidentally short exposed wires.
Carbon fiber does conduct electricity. It is not as good of a conductor as most metals, but if you build a structure with it, you will find that its electrical conduction can easily contribute to galvanic corrosion, by electrically connecting dissimilar metals.
 
I thought carbon fiber was conductive. Not as conductive as copper or steel, but enough to cause issues in race cars if you end up with a bare spot in a circuit.

The carbon fibers themselves are conductive, but the resin/epoxy is usually an insulator. The result is that a product like CFRP is conductive, but so much less than steel that they’re not really comparable (stainless steel conductivity is around 1.4 million siemens per meter, while raw carbon fibers is 60,000 S/m, three orders of magnitude difference; the epoxy lowers that number even more). Of course, if you use a metallic honeycomb between sheets of carbon (a very common application for motorsports monocoque chassis), your conductivity will go way up.

So yes, it’s technically a conductor, but for purposes of digging around under an explosive device, a non-metallic knife is so much less conductive than steel that it’s basically “safe” (the conductivity is closer to limestone’s than steel’s).
 
The carbon fibers themselves are conductive, but the resin/epoxy is usually an insulator. The result is that a product like CFRP is conductive, but so much less than steel that they’re not really comparable (stainless steel conductivity is around 1.4 million siemens per meter, while raw carbon fibers is 60,000 S/m, three orders of magnitude difference; the epoxy lowers that number even more). Of course, if you use a metallic honeycomb between sheets of carbon (a very common application for motorsports monocoque chassis), your conductivity will go way up.

So yes, it’s technically a conductor, but for purposes of digging around under an explosive device, a non-metallic knife is so much less conductive than steel that it’s basically “safe” (the conductivity is closer to limestone’s than steel’s).

Gotcha. Thanks. It had been mentioned as a potential issue in some stuff I was reading about composites so I was wondering about the manufacturer's info and whether it was actually a safe tool for its job.
 
Gotcha. Thanks. It had been mentioned as a potential issue in some stuff I was reading about composites so I was wondering about the manufacturer's info and whether it was actually a safe tool for its job.
If you're probing you were probably looking for an AT mine. They're not too sensitive. A lot of that stuff was made to fight the last war. AP mines don't get buried that deep since they might not go off. The way IEDs have become the new problem is a different thing. I'm not sure how happy most folks would be having to probe for something like that.
 
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Take heart, Daniel ( the OP ) - not everyone here is as critical as some here have shown.

(Remember what his Mother told Peter Rabbit: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".)

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Gotcha. Thanks. It had been mentioned as a potential issue in some stuff I was reading about composites so I was wondering about the manufacturer's info and whether it was actually a safe tool for its job.

I mean, when talking about defusing bombs, safety is relative, right? I think the blade being something markedly less conductive and magnetic than metallic blades is the big thing.

Carbon fiber does conduct electricity. It is not as good of a conductor as most metals, but if you build a structure with it, you will find that its electrical conduction can easily contribute to galvanic corrosion, by electrically connecting dissimilar metals.

Concrete also supports galvanic corrosion, which only requires something to be minimally conductive. Galvanic corrosion in large structures is made possible by the size of the otherwise minimally-conductive medium (like concrete). A carbon fiber boat or car is large enough to have the overall conductive capacity to support galvanic corrosion, but a knife is so much smaller that the effect is negligible.
 
Given the similarities and differences I personally would prefer a G10 blade over a carbon fiber one for mine probing.
 
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Take heart, Daniel ( the OP ) - not everyone here is as critical as some here have shown.

(Remember what his Mother told Peter Rabbit: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".)

.
I thought she told him not to go into the garden so he wouldn't get hurt or be turned into rabbit stew.
 
I have an eod friend. He showed me a knife that was all carbon fiber. It was sharp as my benchmade, and held an edge. The only markings on it were

ARL-P4 below is a picture.


Daniel, unless it shows up in a surplus lot, I doubt that you will find that knife. I'm fairly certain that it was made for, and issued to, only specific military units and not sold.

IMG-1766.jpg



Also, for the record, I believe your friend was misinformed (and the online descriptions were wrong) about the knife's composition. I'm pretty sure it was made of G-10, as carbon fiber is slightly conductive and not as strong for this intended application. G-10 is also significantly less expensive. Here's a photo of the same model in the greenish hue of natural (undyed) G-10.

IMG-1196.jpg



I don't know who the original manufacturer was. If you'd like to purchase something similar, I'd suggest this model from custom maker Ryan Stratis (Stratis Knives).

IMG-4724.png



If you ever discover who manufactured the issued ARL-P4 model, please let us know.


-Steve
 
I have one I received from Assymetric Warfare Group back in OEF 10-11. Pretty sure it's made out of epoxy. It's had plenty of use.
 
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