Carbon Fiber Myths

As with many things, I have slowly learned that Bob Loveless is, when it comes to knives, generally right about everything. This is another piece of evidence to support that contention. Here it has to do with the correct material for knife handles. It is, in case you missed the reference, micarta. Myth #1: Carbon Fiber is New.Joseph Swan invented carbon fiber in 1860. The process to extract aluminum from alumina ore using electricity, the thing that converted aluminum from a precious metal to a commodity, was discovered in 1886. It seems weird to think that carbon fiber is older than mass produced aluminum, but it is. That is a bit misleading though because the use of carbon fiber that most often springs to mind wasn’t possible until much later. High density structural carbon fiber wasn’t produced until 1958 and the ability to shape large quantities of carbon fiber wasn’t perfected until 1981 when McLaren developed a car frame or monocoque in an autoclave. All that is to say that…