First time jimping. Screwed up with epoxy

[mccandmatt]

For my 3rd knife I am making a sgian dubh and Bladesmth as always gave me a good idea to jimp it and use scales, but I made a dumb-dumb when epoxying the scales on. First messup was I did not rough out the scales to size I want or even bring them down closer to the metal (next time I will do it right). But the epoxy got into my jimping, using gorillia glue epoxy, not the superglue kind but the 16 hour stuff. Is there a trick to getting this out without hammering off the scales and starting over? I am using black resinwood for the scales and was thinking about clamping the scales again and taking a heat gun to it to loosen up the epoxy and try to scrape it out but not sure if that is going to effect the longevity of the epoxy.

Thanks in advance, Matt

 

[PT Doc]

Maybe just fill it all in at this point. Unless you are willing to take apart and begin anew.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

There are a couple methods.

One is to dye the resin when gluing up the scales. I like red, but sometimes use black. This fills the filework with the colored dye, and you sand and finish the scales and the tang edge all at the same time. This is probably the most common method. You can dye the epoxy with any dye made for epoxy resin. I prefer the powdered dyes sold by many knife suppliers. Most boat shops and plastic/fiberglass shops carry dye, too. In a pinch, you can use many things to dye resin, but the best choice is a dye made for the job.

Two is to make the scales removable with take down screws.

A third choice I haven't tried yet would be to use 3M VHB tape and trim it so it does not show in the filework.


Now, as for what you have to do with this one.....Take off the scales and clean the tang up, then do one of the above. After removing the resin that is easy to get off, acetone will help dissolve and clean up the rest.
Heat them with a heat gun slowly, carefully slip an X-acto blade under the front, and lift the scales loose. That should work fairly good. The scales should survive, but it may be just as easy to replace them and start fresh.

 

[mccandmatt]

There are a couple methods.

One is to dye the resin when gluing up the scales. I like red, but sometimes use black. This fills the filework with the colored dye, and you sand and finish the scales and the tang edge all at the same time. This is probably the most common method. You can dye the epoxy with any dye made for epoxy resin. I prefer the powdered dyes sold by many knife suppliers. Most boat shops and plastic/fiberglass shops carry dye, too. In a pinch, you can use many things to dye resin, but the best choice is a dye made for the job.

Two is to make the scales removable with take down screws.

A third choice I haven't tried yet would be to use 3M VHB tape and trim it so it does not show in the filework.


Now, as for what you have to do with this one.....Take off the scales and clean the tang up, then do one of the above. After removing the resin that is easy to get off, acetone will help dissolve and clean up the rest.
Heat them with a heat gun slowly, carefully slip an X-acto blade under the front, and lift the scales loose. That should work fairly good. The scales should survive, but it may be just as easy to replace them and start fresh.

Thanks Stacy, I have more scales so I might just replace them, dyeing the epoxy is a genius idea and gives me a great idea. Thanks!