Winona, Minn., USA – October 2, 2008 – When Garant, a Saint-François, Quebec, Canada manufacturer of snow, lawn, and garden tools, wanted to develop an innovative line of axes and hatchets that could withstand the rigors of hard use when felling, trimming or pruning trees, splitting wood, or driving stakes, they turned to custom compounder RTP Company for assistance.

According to Garant Product Manager Stephanie Bisier-Lessard, "Over the years there has been little innovation in the basic design of traditional wooden tool handles, furthering familiar problems such as broken handles and loose axe heads. We decided to bring some innovation to the market with ergonomically designed axes and hatchets that were stronger and more colorful."

Customer focus groups embraced a proposed color scheme -- red plastic handles covered with black thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) grips. However, when Garant discussed their material requirements for the handles with engineers at RTP Company, a potential problem arose. The red plastic handles covered with black TPE grips were not going to deliver the required strength.

RTP Company recommended changing the color scheme to a black long fiber handle with a red TPE for the overmold. According to Simon Lamarre, New Products Engineer at Garant, "Our tests made it clear that the properties of the recommended materials were far superior. The revised color scheme worked much better than trying to custom color the long fiber material."

Long Fiber and TPE Combine to Create Stylish Handles for Ergonomic Line of Axes and Hatchets.

With the color scheme changes, Garant not only created tools with more consumer appeal, but much stronger 'overstrike-proof' tools with excellent impact strength and tensile properties.

"We wanted a comfortable soft grip, but not too soft," Lamarre said. "We had to make sure the user's hand could slide along the elastomer while swinging." The bondability of the TPE to the substrate was also very important. "RTP Company's material was easy for us to overmold and the adhesion was very good," added Lamarre.

Garant's manufacturing process molds the handle directly to the axe head. "Our axe heads have a tail that has five slots," explained Bisier-Lessard. "When the plastic handle is molded over these slots, a mechanical connection between the steel head and the handle is formed, ensuring it will never separate or come loose during normal use."

Garant was very impressed with the support provided by RTP Company. "We were running late delivering our products to the U.S.," said Bisier-Lessard. "The time frame was extremely tight and RTP Company was very helpful in finding a solution that allowed us to deliver to our customers on time. With RTP Company, we found the best solution and the best quality at the best price."

About RTP Company
RTP Company, headquartered in Winona, Minnesota, is a global leader in specialty thermoplastic compounding. The company has eight manufacturing plants on three continents, plus sales representatives throughout North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. RTP Company’s engineers develop custom compounds in over 60 different engineering resin systems for applications requiring color, conductive, elastomeric, flame retardant, high temperature, shielding, structural, and wear resistant properties.