Rexburg business turns carbon fiber scraps into wedding rings

A new start up company in Rexburg is taking the term “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” to a whole new level. The business, Carbon 6, takes leftover carbon fiber scraps, which are expensive and unusable for big manufacturers, and turns them into polished rings.

It’s called the forged carbon process. It’s “very strong and is only done by maybe half-a-dozen other companies around the world,” said John Easley, one of the founding partners of Carbon 6.

The process is fairly strait forward, but it did require lots of ingenuity and creativity to get started. “Carbon fiber is a two dimensional thing, you notice the weave on it, it looks like a burlap sack,” said Easley. “Because of the way forged carbon fiber is processed, it allows you to make things that are solid, strong, and three dimensional.”

The process Carbon 6 uses involves taking shredded carbon fiber leftovers, compacting it into a rod with a hole down the middle, and then heating, cutting, and refining the individual pieces to create one-of-a-kind carbon fiber rings.

“Originally we didn’t think it was going to be as big of success as it is,” said Jason McGowen, the head of marketing for Carbon 6. “It’s just taken off and been enormously successful.”

Carbon 6 has several product lines, including ones that glow in the dark. A link to Carbon 6’s website can be found here.