Epoxy troubles..!!

G

gldiatr

Joined
Apr 19, 2016
Messages
17
Hello everyone, a new knife maker here, I'm working on my second knife, first knife I made a few days ago and turned out great, anyways this second knife is a smaller knife and the blade was finished all the handle material which is wood of 2 types and copper were extremely accurate and well fitted all that was left is to put the epoxy in, and it was a disaster. See, the only epoxy I could find here (Egypt) is a locally manufactured 2 part 4-min epoxy, and you can't just buy stuff online here (not even from the a foreign store because getting things through customs is a hassle), you have to ask a dozen stores here and there in order to find it, and you can't just say "I want epoxy", you have to explain what epoxy is and maybe someone will understand, and this epoxy pretty much couldn't be used after 90 seconds of mixing because it hardens too fast, so I ended up ruining 24 hours of work and material, which got me really disappointed and frustrated.

So my question here, can I mix this epoxy in a different ratio in order to get more work time out of it (like using 2:1 resin to hardener ratio), or can I add something to it to make it stay runny for longer (like alcohol), do I heat it up a little?..

Any suggestions would be much appreciated
 
Man I thought I had trouble sourcing materials in Australia! I know what its like trying to describe something like G10 though. I dont know about different ratios for a longer set time it probably depends on the type of epoxy, but I have heard of guys using fibreglass epoxy resin which you should be able to get through a car or boat repair place or similar, good luck.
 
Thanks LX, not sure If I'm allowed to re-post my thread though..

@ elasmonut, I won't even consider thinking about G10, I'm lucky enough to find any epoxy, thanks for the suggestion though, although I'm pretty sure if any car shop here uses epoxy It's gonna be the same one I've got, I might try asking anyways.
 
Last edited:
Should be allowed....as for the epoxy....I don't think you can give it a longer working time. If nothing is available locally then I'm affraid ordering online and dealing with customs is the only way.

Do they not have big Do it Yourself stores in Egypt? Home repair shops? They should have epoxy. Over here we call it 2 component glue. And they might have it by a more locally known name.
 
unfortunately not, only small businesses called 'Tools shop' that might have epoxy (they call it 2 component glue here too), at least in most cities there's no such thing as a DIY or home repair shop.
 
Here in the USA we find 5 or ten minute epoxys to be poor shelf life , and poor strength.
 
I would recommend testing a different ratios, you could do it on a scrap of cardboard. I would suggest that as long as the epoxy sets up hard it's working. You could double check on a test piece -comparing your ratio to what is recommended for strength.

(I know what you mean. I'm in Spain and all the things taken for granted online or in any Home Depot, in the good ol' USA, isn't available).
 
I believe that different ratios may influence the strength of the final bond, so I would not try that myself. I would suggest cooling the epoxy in a fridge before using: it will make it thicker (which is probably not that good) but should considerably slow the reaction time, as with any chemical reaction. Try various temperatures.
 
Acetone will thin it out and will increase the time it takes to kick off. Just make sure you experiment with some batches before you goo up something you've spent alot of time on.

-Haley
 
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'm definitely doing some testing with all these methods.

I've been testing with different ratios, 5:1 resin to hardener is actually not that bad, it gives a few extra minutes and reaches decent hardness in about 24 hours.

I've also tried mixing super glue (Cyanoacrylate) with the resin itself without the hardener, and I had an interesting result, still doing more testing with this.

I tried more intensive shopping, I did find a longer setting epoxy, but it wasn't clear epoxy, it's more like black when mixed, not sure if this is suitable for knife making.
 
Temperature will make a difference. I get a significant longer working time when the temperature is 50 degrees in my garage than when it is 75 degrees. I would bet if you put stuff in the fridge and got it even colder you would add more time.

I was using West system to repair a kayak. I noticed the amount of epoxy I was mixing made a difference too. Larger amounts heat up more and have a shorter pot life.

I'm not an expert but a lot of people who seem to know their epoxy are quite against changing the ratios. They say it will affect the strength of the epoxy.
Play around with the temperature, you might get the results you want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top