Acra glass

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flatgrind8

Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
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For you guys that use acra glass epoxy.How many knives can you glue up with the regular bedding kit that you can buy at most gun stores.
 
This is our first kit..So far we have done about 6-7 knives and are just now making a dent..Now thats for full tang knives with scales..
 
If you don't mind I'll add a question to this. What is the shelf live of acra glass epoxy? I have a box I bought from Brownells about 3 years ago and never used it. Is it still any good?
 
How many knives you can glue depends on how much waste you create. If you're doing batches of knives, there's very little waste and you can get more done. If you do things the way I do, one at a time, there's a good deal more waste. I'm on my third boxed kit now, and I do hidden tang knives (which arguably take more epoxy to complete... or less depending on your view of the argument). I tend to get about 5 or 6 knives done before some part of the kit is used up or goes bad.

As to the shelf life, the last kits I had lasted about two years after being opened and used several times. I don't know how long it might have lasted unopened.
 
We use syringes to mix and Im thinking something like 2cc's of filler to 1/2 cc of hardener does three full tang knives easily..
 
melsdad said:
If you don't mind I'll add a question to this. What is the shelf live of acra glass epoxy? I have a box I bought from Brownells about 3 years ago and never used it. Is it still any good?
Click to expand...

Brian, Acra-Glass has an outrageous shelf life. Something like 99 years or so. So it is still good. If the resin ever starts to thicken or get small crystals in it microwave the whole bottle (loosen the lid first) until it gets thinned out again and shake it up real good. This does no harm and so far I've only had to do the quart size bottle only once. If you can afford the original expense buying the large gunsmith containers works out to less than a dollar per knife. Also when buying anything from Brownell's tell them you're a custom knifemaker and it is for professional use and you get a BIG discount.
 
It does have a long shelf life, I bought the big bottles, and I mix up 5/8 of an ounce in a little cup. Its the smallest amount I feel comfortable mixing. I think my order was $70 with the mixing cups I use, and with the amount I mix I will have enough for 56 batches. I can do 3 full tang knives or 2 narrow tang knives with that amount easily, and since I maostly do full tang knives I will be getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 168 knives for my $70. I really don't know why people say this stuff is expensive, I bought mine over a year ago and still have over half of it left. This is running me less than $.50 a knife and it is argubly the best stuff out there. I know marine epoxy is popular too, but I like this stuff. The devcon stuff in the double syringe can somtimes go for $5 for about the same amount as I use in one batch.
Del
 
I just tried my first batch with the Arca Glass. I bought the little kit too. I made up 5 tsp worth (4 parts resin, 1 part hardener) in the little graduated cup provided in the kit. This did 9 full tang knives in the 6.5" to 7" range OAL. Did this yesterday. They're on the bench curing as we type. I've read good things about this stuff and wanted to give er a try.
 
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