DJ asked me to change out the handle scales on one of his shiny new 710-801's with Carbon Fiber. Since this is my first time working with CF it is definitely a learning experience, but as the other handles I've made has taught.. be patient, take your take, measure twice cut once, and take your time.

Here are the first pics in this series.



These are just the rough cuts from the sheet that I have.


Now I just need to thin these bad boys from 1/4" to 1/8" which is easier said than done. From reading others advice on CF they said it shapes like wood, but it sure as hell doesn't cut like wood. I tried a tungsten carbide blade(medium grit), 36 tpi bi-metal blade and a 16 tpi hardwood blade all on my recip saw and none of them would cut for long before wanting to bind up. I finally tried my fiber reinforced cut off wheel and it cut through the CF like butter. So I guess friction is the key to cutting, not material removal. This will be interesting and fun to say the least.

Your off to a good start. Just make sure your wearing gloves and long sleeves that stuff is itchy. It is pretty easy to thin down if you have a belt sander. But cutting it is a bear. I use 1 1/2 inch diamond cut off wheels they work the best and last a good amount of time plus you don't have to worry about the disc breaking and chipping.

quote:

Originally posted by Anchorblew:
DJ asked me to change out the handle scales on one of his shiny new 710-801's with Carbon Fiber. Since this is my first time working with CF it is definitely a learning experience,

Your first time Just Kidding , I have all the faith in the world in you. Ive seen your wooden ones and they look good ....dj

quote:

Originally posted by fastlt1nos:
Your off to a good start. Just make sure your wearing gloves and long sleeves that stuff is itchy.

Yeah I'm wearing my old army cold weather pt shirt (long sleeve turtle neck) and some padded leather mechanic gloves. The fine CF dust was actually going through my shirt wherever the cutoff wheel was spraying the dust (through my sleeve and through the front of my shirt.. lol). I ended up just taking a shower right afterwards, so no itchiness. I'm going to get better filter elements for the respirator though... the ones I'm using I am still getting CF particles through it. I ended up setting up my shopvac next to the cutting to suck up the cutting and that help keep down the amount of CF in the air.

But to be safe I'll change the filter elements. Knife_Junky was kind enough to give me the respirator and that was definitely a huge motivating factor for working on other materials aside from wood.

Mike, If you need better filters I can get you some those are what is recommended for CF though..

Good for you Mike.
I am looking forward to watch the progression on these. This is something I really want to try myself. When your done, if you think about it, I would really like to see a list/photo of all the tools you used in the production.
I read somewhere where some guys do the hand sanding/shaping in a bucket of water, no dust. Also can't you wet the belt on a belt sander? That should also keep the dust down to near zero.

Sweet! Look forward to seeing the next steps.

OK here's the next set of pics.

All suited up to work with the nasty CF

Thinned and ready to be shaped and drilled





The Omega spring slot is a nasty bitch


Epoxying the threaded inserts in place, then I'll grind them down.. if they don't stay in place when I grind on them, then I'll just grind them down and then re-epoxy them.

Looks good i dig carbon fiber,it must be a bugger to work with you seldom see knives in cb,then they are $300 bux.........

WOW! Looking real good. I might need to look into these myself.