Clamping pressure for scales

[Bazzle]

I am a beginner knife maker wondering the correct pressure to clamp scales onto a knife using epoxy.
The first few knives I have made I used a bench vise and small c-clamps. Is this too tight? Should I be using hand/squeeze clamps instead? Thanks

 

[Jason Fry]

I guess I'll go ahead and chime in before this gets moved to Shop Talk. Answer will be the same in either forum. the main thing is that you don't want to squeeze all the glue out of the joint. I use C clamps alot, and also sometimes use spring clamps. I like to clamp mine till the glue just starts squeezing out of the joint. You can usually get another half turn at least on the clamp at this point, but you shouldn't. Just enough to close the gap, not all the way "tight."

 

[rwn2000]

I clamp my scales like Jason does. Also, you can put shallow dimples with a 1/4" drill bit on the tang side of the scales to hold more epoxy. I am not sure if it really helps the tang-to-scale bond, but a lot of people do it.

randy

 

[Kevin Jones]

Blade Forums has a Shop-Talk sub-forum specifically for the asking and answering of such questions.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/741-Shop-Talk-BladeSmith-Questions-and-Answers

 

[Bazzle]

Thanks for the info. Forgive me for not seeing the proper forum

 

[Karl B. Andersen]

With scissors, cut a few "dots" of thin tape and place them on the glue side of the scale.
This will prevent all of the epoxy from being squeezed out.
And try to place a couple right at the location of where you will place your clamps.
To try to adjust the pressure of clamps - no matter what kind - to avoid squeezing out all the glue is nearly impossible.