Fiber Spacers

Originally posted by pendentive
I just made a pair of kitchen knives and put in spacers...
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Perhaps I should append my comment with this:

the spacers are between the handle slabs and the steel


Is it still going to be a problem?

Everything is epoxied up nice and tight.

I don't expect it to be put in the dishwasher, but it sure it going to be washed a lot.
 
Dan,

I made three paring knives as Christmas presents. While I am confident the spacers are secure (mine are spacer against tang, as you say your's are) I have noticed a slight swelling on my Lady's knike. It is detected by me by rubbing my thumb along the tang to scale area. I too have about had it with these 'fiber' spacers. However, I am not yet convinced that it may not be because I don't understand how to properly use the materal.

Roger
 
Well, this morning I went down to put the scales on a miniature tanto I'm making. I normally epoxy the liner material to the scales before assembling the knife, and did so yesterday morning to allow the epoxy to set overnight.

But the fiber liner had slipped and I had to grind it off and start over; a whole day lost. But I'd just read this thread and thought about Michael's use of contact cement.

I have some because I use it to hold sheaths together while sewing. So I cemented on the liners and proceded to grind the thickness down. (Because this is a 50% miniature, I'm making the liner thickness half that of the full sized knife.)

It held nicely. :D So I thought, well heck; I can get this handle on this morning! And I did. Everything went as Michael described it, and it's holding together nicely. What a cheap and ideal trick! No waiting for epoxy to cure, no mess! And it's cheap!

Man, this was a real treasure, I love this place. Thanks Michael! If anyone's interested I'll post a pic of the knife when it's finished along with its "parent." :)
 
Ok, What I am reading is that no one really likes spacers. But some makers have used them and maybe not had any problems. But we dont know for sure cause most of the response has been negitive.

So, my question is how do I fix my knife. Should I just sand it even again ? and hope for the best ?

Thanks
Jack
 
Ok, What I am reading is that no one really likes spacers. But some makers have used them and maybe not had any problems. But we dont know for sure cause most of the response has been negitive.

So, my question is how do I fix my knife. Should I just sand it even again ? and hope for the best ?

Thanks
Jack
 
here's a positive reply for you Jack......I've built close to 300 knives in the past 2 1/2 years, 99% of them had vulcanized spacers.....don't know what your particular problem was as it's never happened to me....I would hazard a guess that your handle material shrunk a bit rather than the spacers expanding, either way, just sand it smooth again & re-finish, no problem....
 
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