| 摘要 |
<p>A hand tool (10), a handle (16) of a hand tool and associated methods for fabricating the handle of a hand tool are provided in order to reduce the weight and thickness of the resulting hand tool. The handle generally includes a composite portion (42) fabricated of fibers embedded in a matrix material in such a manner such that the composite portion meaningfully contributes to the strength of the handle and, in turn, the hand tool. In this regard, the composite portion may include a relatively high percentage of fibers, relatively long fibers and/or fibers that are generally aligned with respect to the longitudinal axis of the handle. For example, the composite portion may include fibers that constitute at least 50% by volume, fibers that are at least 30 mm in length on average and/or fibers that are within 15° of being parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle.</p> |
