Carbon Fibre on (in?) Hands

[Arida]

Was crewing for the sailing cub safety boat yesterday. Quite blowy and heavy seas, so it was a busy session. One boat which needed help was an RS600 with carbon fibre mast. He had capsized several times and was obviously exhausted.

We had to turn the boat into the wind and then walk the mast up. Given the heavy seas, this was not an easy task and the mast slipped through my fingers several times. But eventually we righted the boat and got it and its crew back to shore safely.

Unfortunately I had not been wearing gloves (I know, I know) and I noticed that my hands were covered with what looked like a black oil stain. This would not come off in sea water, nor later when scrubbing with detergent. In fact scrubbing had no effect at all except to make my hands sore.

I am assuming that the black on my hands is small carbon fibre particles. Looking on the web, it seems these are so small that they find their way through the skin rather than staying on the surface.

Should I be concerned? Anyone else had experience with this? Any ideas how I can remove? I can probably live with the embarrassment of going to work tomorrow with black hands, but am a little concerned that it may cause infection etc., plus I do need to get rid of it at some point.

Please no suggestions of sandpaper or wire wool!!

Regards,

Rob

 

[Jamesuk]

Hi,

I handled a cRbon fibre spinnaker pole for much of the Atlantic ARC crossing last year and although annoying when not using gloves the carbon dust soon was repelled by the body.

The reason your getting carbon off the mast is because the owner of the boat does not know that he needs to have it re-varnished from my understanding of the newly varnished pole we have. Actually when it is revarnished it will look like a brand new mast. Every 3-5 years it will need to be done. Your experience suggests it needs to be done now.

As for health no worries, itchy for a day or two then its fine. Im no Doctor so unaware of long term problems.

 

[rbcoomer]

Was crewing for the sailing cub safety boat yesterday. Quite blowy and heavy seas, so it was a busy session. One boat which needed help was an RS600 with carbon fibre mast. He had capsized several times and was obviously exhausted.

We had to turn the boat into the wind and then walk the mast up. Given the heavy seas, this was not an easy task and the mast slipped through my fingers several times. But eventually we righted the boat and got it and its crew back to shore safely.

Unfortunately I had not been wearing gloves (I know, I know) and I noticed that my hands were covered with what looked like a black oil stain. This would not come off in sea water, nor later when scrubbing with detergent. In fact scrubbing had no effect at all except to make my hands sore.

I am assuming that the black on my hands is small carbon fibre particles. Looking on the web, it seems these are so small that they find their way through the skin rather than staying on the surface.

Should I be concerned? Anyone else had experience with this? Any ideas how I can remove? I can probably live with the embarrassment of going to work tomorrow with black hands, but am a little concerned that it may cause infection etc., plus I do need to get rid of it at some point.

Please no suggestions of sandpaper or wire wool!!

Regards,

Rob

Sorry, but no idea with carbon fibre, although done similar with glass fibre a number of times with insulation and boat structure - it gets everywhere! Are you sure it's fibres and not some kind of staining/paint/treatment etc? I wouldn't expect carbon fibre to delaminate that easily myself as I understood it had very strong/tight bonds between strands? If it is fibres, I suspect it will 'grow out' in a few days unless deep in the skin and I certainly wouldn't worry too much about infection unless it gets increasingly red/sore. We're basically made of carbon ourselves, so also unlikely to be toxic, although will probably irritate as any foreign body will. The only issue I can see with hands, is pushing in further with day-to-day contact between hands and everyday things.

 

[nigelmercier]

I can probably live with the embarrassment of going to work tomorrow with black hands...

I think you should take a few days off work

 

[YELLOW BOAT]

The problem may be that a carbon fibre mast or other cf products are laminated with epoxy. Epoxy isnt UV resistant and will degrade on the surface if not covered with a good UV repellant e.g. 2comp Pu varnish.
A ( dark) coloured PU paint would even be better.
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[NickTrevethan]

I make chopsticks out of carbon fibre t
Hat I turn Dow and polish on a metal lathe. Not had the black you describe but have had fibres embed in my skin, after brushing my arms off rather than sluicing off the dust with water. Itches like hell and gets red, brushing off only makes it worse. ( eye and respirator protection essential).

If it itches for longer I'd be more worried, perhaps allergic to resin component? but I find after a soak, it gets better and after a day or two it's fine.

 

[YELLOW BOAT]

Like glass fibre also carbon fibre itches on the skin.
Epoxy resin as such only can cause allergy when its not hardened yet or when the components are not mixed in the right ratio. Also both components , especially the hardener can cause severe allergy! Hardened epoxy doesn't cause allergies normally .( solvent free) Epoxy is even used for coating drinking water tanks! However using breath protection is always recommended when grinding or polishing .
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