Another epoxy question/problem

brokenspearpoint

brokenspearpoint

Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
209
Well, I'm quite frustrated. I epoxied the scales onto a blade on Saturday morning (24 hour epoxy) and then on Sunday evening I took the clamps off and the epoxy is still tacky/sticky. I did everything just like a hundred times before. Either I had a bad batch of epoxy or maybe it had gone past it's shelf life. Do I have any repair options other than grinding it all off and starting again?. I would really not have to resort to that, but also don't want to risk a poorly constructed knife. Any suggestions?
 
If it is still tacky soaking it in acetone should cause it to release and the acetone can be used to clean-up with. Epoxy can go bad if open for a while! I like to use fresh when ever possible! I have chuncked epoxy if it has been open a while because I had results like yours!!!:D
 
Devcon is the worst about this if left open for any lenght of time.I buy West System 3 from Wood Crafter.It has a 3 year shelf life and I have never had a problem with it setting up on handles.Kind of expensive up front but not as expensive as a set of scales.
As Dixie said acetone should loosen the bond if still tacky.
Stan
 
Other than being old, a couple other things that have caused epoxy problems for me are:
Not mixing the 2 parts well enough or too much of one part.
Humidity. On a rainy day it seems to pull the moisture out of the air.
 
Thanks guys for the input. I'll try soaking it in acetone and hope it releases. If it works it'll save a bunch of grind time. This one was suppossed to be ready by this weekend for the completion of a birthday order, so time is short.
 
I have used K&G's 24 hour hour epoxy quite a bit and it often takes closer to 48 hours to fully harden. I always mix extra and let it dry on a bit of scrap or something so I can examine it later if there is any question about the batch. In spite of the extended set up time I have never had a batch fail to harden up or show any hint of poor adhesion.
 
Thats why I dont use the usual 2 part epoxy on scales anymore. Loctite 326 I think is what I use but is sets like super glue a greaat deal faster than epoxy.
 
Consider yourself lucky. It failed in an obvious way. At least it didn't fool you into thinking it was good, only to fail later.

I suggest everyone here should glue a liner to some wood with their epoxy, let it sit a couple days, and then peal the liner off. I'll bet half of you are surprised by the results. And end up finding better or fresher glue and a more diligent layup process.

And just because an epoxy sets up doesn't mean the adhesion will be very good. Old or poor epoxy can set up hard, but fail to bond well.

Someone should start a "don't use old epoxy" thread...
 
Yup, sounds like you didn't mix enough hardener or added too much resin into the mix. Try squeezing out 2 lines of equal length of the resin and hardener if you're using 2 part epoxy.
 
BChou-E29 said:
Yup, sounds like you didn't mix enough hardener or added too much resin into the mix. Try squeezing out 2 lines of equal length of the resin and hardener if you're using 2 part epoxy.
Click to expand...

The amounts for the 2 part epoxy were equal, so I am suspicious of the "age" of the epoxy. I used this set of epoxy two weeks earlier on some oak scales and it set up perfectly, however, as Nathan mentions above, maybe it just appeared to set up and possibly even that knife will have problems later. Also the bottles were open (although capped) for two weeks so maybe that was (is) my problem. Dang it, I think I should have taken 10 extra minutes and bought some new. Tough lesson learned.
 
you can also steam epoxy loose. i had a knife i made sent back for repair after the guys daughter put the knife in the dish washer by mistake and set the temperature to high. when she took out the dishes, the scales were in the bottom of the basket.
 
Oh yes. Very true. If the steel will tolerate the dishwasher, it would not be unusual to loosen the scales.
 
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