Full tang spacers/liners?

Varga Knives

Varga Knives

Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
1,302
Hi guys,

I have some spacer/liner material and I may go that route on my next knife just for the visual effect. I can think of a few different ways to go about it but not sure which would work best. Maybe epoxy the spacer to the scale, cure, attach, shape? How much pressure to hold in this method? Maybe just a wood block on it for some weight?

Are there any downsides? It seems to me if you have epoxied two sides there is twice as much room for a failure.

Thanks.

Edit: I ordered this stuff a while back from Jantz. Didn't know any better and got their vulcanized fiber stuff. Since I write/post 99% of the time from my phone I missed some info I later found in a search and a lot of it regarding this material was not very positive. Maybe I'll hold off trying it for now.
 
Last edited:
strider214 said:
Maybe epoxy the spacer to the scale, cure, attach, shape? How much pressure to hold in this method?
Click to expand...

That's how I do it, except I scuff up the mating surfaces first. I use little spring clamps to hole the liner to the scale while the epoxy cures. I like thin G10 for liners.
27028042c.jpg

If you use corby/loveless bolts or peened pins to hold the finished handle together, there's not much that can fail.
 
Use the least pressure that will get the job done . I often turn the handle scale with the liner downward and set it on a piece of waxed paper. Then I set a block of wood on it to just give enough pressure to have an even fit with no gap. I also tint the epoxy to match the liner color.
 
Frank Niro said:
The same as James and maybe I even use the same grit of sandpaper to scuff it up. Frank
Click to expand...
Great minds think alike :p

bladsmth said:
Use the least pressure that will get the job done .
Click to expand...

True, there's no sense squeezing all the epoxy out. I feel the same way about final assembly; As long as everything is flat and fits well, there's no need to crank down on the bolts as hard as you can.
 
Thanks guys and great tips as always. I didn't even think about the tint but an ivory micarta scale with a red liner would probably benefit a tint.

Much appreciated!
 
Be sure to flatten the scale material before glueup. I use superglue (medium visc) for this. HD sells spring clamps for $1 each. I get 5 or so every time I go there.

Use the Vulcanized fiber for projects for your kids or something.
 
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