Don't use old epoxy, and my evaluation of AcraGlas

[Nathan the Machinist]

Guys I was just looking at this stuff and was about to call in my order but wanted to check with you guys first. Looks like they sell a 4oz and 16oz kit. How much of this do you generally use when doing a set of scales or hidden tang?

ATM I'm only turning out a knife every so often as free time permits. I know it has a long shelf life but I'm trying to figure out if the 16 will be overkill or the 4 won't be enough. Any help is appreciated.

I mix about 10 grams (1/3 oz) at a time and it is probably enough for 2-3 knives. So, by that reasoning, 4 oz would be good for 20-50 knives, depending on your efficiency.

 

[safta]

Guys I was just looking at this stuff and was about to call in my order but wanted to check with you guys first. Looks like they sell a 4oz and 16oz kit. How much of this do you generally use when doing a set of scales or hidden tang?

ATM I'm only turning out a knife every so often as free time permits. I know it has a long shelf life but I'm trying to figure out if the 16 will be overkill or the 4 won't be enough. Any help is appreciated.

You're looking at Acraglas gel. If you plan to do any hidden tang knives it will be a pain to use. It is thick, has the consistency and color of firm butter. It also seems to get thicker and chunky over time. I don't like it anywhere near as much as normal Acraglas.

Get the 28oz. resin/ 7oz. hardener, even if you only make a few knives at a time it is worth it. Brownell's website says it's $48.38 the small kit is $16.44

 

[jdm61]

The marine epoxy systems like West have been around for a long time and I have heard stories from custom boat builders that when the earliest cold molded mahogany boats built by folks like Rybovich and Merritt in South Florida in the early to mid 60's come back in for restorations, "core samples" from the epoxy impregnated wood hulls are typically in darn near perfect condition with no signs of degradation or water intrusion even after 30-45 years of pounding. The bad news is that stuff like West doesn't come in anything smaller than a pint can, BUT even if the hardener goes brown or red, it still works the same. I think West may claim a 10 year shelf life. With that said, the one thing that West advices you NOT to do is to try to eyeball the mixture instead of using the pumps. the bad news is that you get more epoxy in the cup than you will need for a knife. the good news is that the ration is spot on. Bottom line is that you will never go wrong with West or one of its higher end competitors or with Acraglass. these products have a very long track record. I have heard that the Golfsmith stuff is good too, but that you can't get it untinted anymore.

 

[Fletch Helical]

Alright guys I have the 28 oz resin with the 7 oz hardener coming. I opted out of the whole kit with the measuring. mixing, release agent, and color tints. I'm hoping that wasn't a mistake. The measuring and mixing tools I can do fairly easily. I have no idea what I may want the release agent for, I usually use Corbys on everything so I figure once they're set with the glue I have no real reason to release anything. My only concern would be the dyes but I was figuring I could use something else other than what they sell should I want to change the color of it for any reason right?

 

[jdm61]

Alright guys I have the 28 oz resin with the 7 oz hardener coming. I opted out of the whole kit with the measuring. mixing, release agent, and color tints. I'm hoping that wasn't a mistake. The measuring and mixing tools I can do fairly easily. I have no idea what I may want the release agent for, I usually use Corbys on everything so I figure once they're set with the glue I have no real reason to release anything. My only concern would be the dyes but I was figuring I could use something else other than what they sell should I want to change the color of it for any reason right?

I don't think that you will be terribly disappointed because you spent too much on good epoxy. i would order the pumps, by the way.
Now spending too little on bargain basement stuff is another story. You are, however, still permitted to gripe about how much you paid for the stuff and how much you end up throwing away every time you use the pump system, all the while knowing that the stuff will hold for a LONG time.

 

[Fletch Helical]

What does does the pump system do? I can't seem to locate it on their site. I have access to plenty of syringes I can use for measuring, mixing and whatnot.

 

[jdm61]

What does does the pump system do? I can't seem to locate it on their site. I have access to plenty of syringes I can use for measuring, mixing and whatnot.

What brand are you using? West sells little pump caps like what you would find on a bottle of liquid hand soap, but the meter out the exact amount of resin and hardener needed.

 

[Bill Burke]

Joe, just use the syringes, 1 cc hardener and four cc resign is enough with a little left over for most hidden tang knives. I use less full tang knive so do three or four at a time or mix only .5cc hardener and 2cc resign. that' the great thing about the syringes, I have had exelent results mixing .2cc and .8cc respectivley although by the time I got through mixing it there was only two or three drops that I was able to scape up for use. the little wooden stir sticks that starbucks has make for fine mixing sticks too.

 

[jdm61]

Joe, just use the syringes, 1 cc hardener and four cc resign is enough with a little left over for most hidden tang knives. I use less full tang knive so do three or four at a time or mix only .5cc hardener and 2cc resign. that' the great thing about the syringes, I have had exelent results mixing .2cc and .8cc respectivley although by the time I got through mixing it there was only two or three drops that I was able to scape up for use. the little wooden stir sticks that starbucks has make for fine mixing sticks too.

I'm glad to know that I am not the only one who steals his mixing sticks from Starbucks.

 

[sharpeknives]

I'm glad to know that I am not the only one who steals his mixing sticks from Starbucks.

As a stock holder in Starbucks I will be be expecting payment for those sticks
I have used Acra Glas for about 5 years now. Still useing the same 28oz bottle. Just for the record I screwed up a handle on a hidden tang knife and had to remove the handle. I did this by heating the blade. I decided to do a test. I set my temp gun up so I could tell at what temp the handle would release. The blade was at 585 deg F when the handle reluctantly came off.
You will not be sorry you used it unless you have to take it apart.

 

[Bill Burke]

As a stock holder in Starbucks I will be be expecting payment for those sticks

uh I have a recipt for mine. But to be honest I may have borrowed a few.

 

[N12]

So I was looking for something else entirely and stumbled onto here and thought I'd add value.

I build custom hunting rifles as a hobby and have used AcraGlass gel pretty extensively. I like the gel because it doesn't run like most two part epoxies. Brownell's sells syringes that have long plastic ends with a hole big enough that you can get the stuff through it without a problem. I've found that it tends to work best if you mix it first and then load it up rather than using it in two separate ones. Plan on chunking the syringe, you'll never get it cleaned out happily.

I like using plastic spoons (different ones for each part...I'm not all that bright and didn't think about that the first time around. Ruined a whole can of the stuff.) for measuring it out, then just mix the stuff up on a piece of wax paper from the kitchen. When you're done you can just throw out the leftovers. You can glue pretty much anything to anything with that stuff, it's really nice.

If you need something stronger, there's aluma/steel bed, which is just powdered metal you mix in with the stuff. It's actually machinable when it sets up. Which leads me to my last trick for the evening: if you need to use the stuff as a filler somewhere visible, or have something that's hard to match you can grind up some of whatever you're working with and mix it (at high ratios usually works best) with the acraglass like with the aluma-bed and a lot of times it will come damn near to perfectly matched. I've filled chips in stocks doing that, and if you can get some wood that's stained the same it will come a LOT closer than wood putty to matching.