Are bolts or pins neccessary for handle slabs?

W

woodgood

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Sep 9, 2002
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I have plans to make an attempt at putting handle slabs onto a fixed blade blank. I have never done this kind of thing before and have a question that may seem very rudimentary.

If epoxy is used to attach a handle to a blade and clamps are used is it necessary to use pins or bolts in the handle? If so, why? :confused:
 
It would work with just epoxy but you don't want it to just work.

The pins provide some lateral shear strength and some fastening. Bolts will do both.
 
I agree with what KH wrote. For my first couple of knives I used coat hanger wire for pins and they still look good. The blank will probably have holes drilled for pins. You should be able to make it work with a hand drill, wire cutters and sandpaper. If you don't use pins you should probably drill some hidden, half holes for the epoxy to grab onto, or at least scar up the inner surface.
 
It will work without pins but they will give more piece of mind. My wedding knife to myself is red liners and Ironwood without pins and it is perfectly fine after 6 months of use, glued with Gorilla Glue. If you want the piece of mind without pins showing just use hidden pins, where you use shortened pins and do not drill through the handle material, just enough to get the pins to glue. With this you have to be careful not to sand to deeply when finishing the handles though.
 
If you peen the pins it adds additional holding power. With peened pins, the peening should be enough in itself to hold the slabs but the expoxy adds more strength and makes a waterproof seal between the tang and slab.

I also cut shallow spiral grooves into my pins with the edge of a belt to make a channel for the epoxy to bond the pins to the handle material.
 
i would absolutly say Y. E. S. I have had to many handles fail. And that is not alot but one knife that goes to a customer that has a handle fail is to many. I use bolts now and just use the glue to creat a seal between the tang and the handle and the bolts provide all the structural strength.
 
At a bare minimum you should at least drill some holes in the blank just incase the handles come off. Then you can put them back on with pins if need be, if nothing else this will make the epoxy stick better.
 
Properly peened pins will hold without epoxy. Knives were made this way for a couple hundred years before epoxy was invented.
 
The epoxy is there to seal the scales to the tang, not just to hold it on. In a sideways blow to the handle ,a scale can pop off unless there is something to prevent the scale from moving sideways. That is what the rivet does.

There is a problem that many (most?) new makers have when doing scales. They clamp them on real tight and let the resin cure. Clamping two smooth and flat surfaces together hard will squeeze out all the epoxy. After the handle is sanded and finished ,the scales may pop off with no real pressure. That is because there is nothing holding them together. Clamp with just enough pressure to leave a thin layer of epoxy. Also, do something to create a space with epoxy in it between the handle material and the steel tang. Drilling lots of holes through the tang is one good way.This allows the two scales to be bonded together with the "epoxy rivets" through the holes. Drilling lots of shallow holes, about 1/8" deep, on the inside of the scales (leave about 3/16-1/4" border undrilled around the edges) is another excellent way to do this. Doing both will make a bond that will work without pins or bolts, but you really should have them if the knife will ever be used.

Stacy
 
This has been a very interesting thread for a hobby guy like myself....contrasting responses and full of new ideas for me.
Thanks ya'll,
R
 
I would like to disagree with the idea that one can "get by" with just glue. Aside from the fact that it is just not as strong as a mechanical connection with pins or screws, almost every maker out there using epoxy is breaking specification. If you can't see a glue line between your scales and tang, your epoxy is most likely too thin. In addition, if you're drilling holes and using epoxy "pins" then you are thicker than specification.

So, not only is glue inferior to mechanical connections, but the very nature of our knives leads to a less than ideal epoxy bond. To me glue is a moisture barrier that happens to provide some additional stability. The only time I "rely" on glue is in a stub tang knife that will be poured into place.
 
Thank y'all for your advice.

I'll make an attempt at using pins or bolts on the handle. I will also have holes in the tang for the epoxy to form a bond between the slabs.
 
This has been posted a few times here...I learned from it as well.

For hidden pins, thread the tang for 10-24 or 10-32. Place a screw in the hole and cut off leaving no less than 3 threads on each side. Drill holes in the handle material, just not all the way through. Wallow out with a ball Dremel bit to where the hole will look like a mushroom. Use epoxy in the holes to adhere to the cut off screws. This works, guys! I don't remember who posted it years ago.

I like bolts myself but when I don't want anything to show, the above method is what I use.

Craig
 
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