Durability of Superglue finish

S

Steelwolf

Joined
Jul 19, 1999
Messages
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I'm guessing that by now, there have been quite a lot of people who have tried the superglue finish on wood.

Does anyone have anything to say about the durability of such a finish? Does is scratch easily, or is it brittle and crack off if dropped on a hard surface? How would it compare to say... level II anodised aluminium or 420J2 stainless steel handles? Or how about a comparison to the metal handles in anyone of the Spyderco knives?

What about comfort level? Is holding it anything like holding a zytel-handled knife? Or is it more like a metal-handled knife?

Thanks in advance to all.
 
With 50 looks at this but no answers yet, I'm guessing that not many people have contemplated this issue. With that in mind, I have gone ahead with my plans for doing such a finish to some of my knives. I will post anecdotal results (probably to this thread) as time passes.

As an aside, Bob Engath's Library doesn't seem to be working. I sort of remember how to do the finish, but I wanted to take another look to be sure.

The first in line for the finish is a William Henry Evolution (S07). This came from AG Russell with lacewood slabs. The wood had a sanded finish but wasn't sealed. This particular mod may not tell me much as the knife sits in a leather pouch when not in use. However, it will be the easiest of my currently available knives to do this to as the slabs can be removed.

I have another which is a fixed blade neck knife that I intend to add wood scales to, but as I haven't yet got the wood, that mod will come later.

Hope all this will be useful.
 
it depends on which wood you do such a finish.

If you do it on bare beech, you'll waste a whole lot of superglue, because that stuff is like a sponge for superglue. Most light open wood can take a superglue finish easy and hold it a long time.
Simply because the first few layers of superglue penetrate the wood deeply and the layers after that can be polished.

Superglue finishes are easy, if you want help on them, just mail me.

greetz, Bart.
 
I have used the CA finish on ALOT of knives in the past. I go about it the same as Slobodian, which is to built it up to t thick topcoat not just as a stabilizing agent. Looks great, gives a deep glossy wet look.

On a display piece it will last and last. On a user, it is toast. It is very brittle. The slightest bump and it will start to show what I called cancer. It is a white cloud that will spread. It is caused by the glue seperating from the wood. A semi hard hit will cause it to shatter into a spiderweb pattern. I stopped using it about 4 years ago. About 35% of the knives I used it on have been returned with cancer.
 
RWC: Interesting to note that. Thanks. So what type of finish are you using now?

Ripper, Bart: Thanks for the advice and the links.

I sort of guessed that it would be about as brittle as acrylic plastic, so I thought that it would be alright in pocket knives, especially the William Henry. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see now, since I've already completed the finish. Maybe I should thin it down until I'm almost back to the wood surface? Currently it is quite a thick layer.

With regard to the cracking and the "cancer", I don't suppose the rigidity of the wood or the backing to which the slabs are attached would have any influence?

I heard a bit about urethane finishes, but unfortunately, the only urethane I have on hand is Selley's Urethane Bond. Has anyone tried this yet? Has anyone tried using the Selley's urethane stuff? Is it more durable than the superglue finish, and is it possible to polish it to a mirror finish?
 
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