Getting rid of excess epoxy on ricasso

Pete84

Pete84

Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
168
Hi, all!

Doing finishing work on the scales of my third knife and have run into some difficulty. Despite my best efforts, I had a minor amount of epoxy seep out onto the ricasso of my blade. Rookie move, I know. Not much, mind you, thanks to the painters tape I applied, but still enough that it bothers me. Roughly 1/2 mm or less of glue showing on an otherwise clean sanded ricasso area. I've tried gently scraping it (to no avail) and using a Dremel rotary with wire brush attachment (which helped, but didn't completely solve the problem).

Any thoughts on how I can remove this small line, or make it so it is less visible?
 
Sharp clean blade will cut it out nicely. Just make sure that the blade is not harder than your knifes blade or you will scratch it. I clean up the epoxy with pure acetone when it is still not fully set.
Never use Dremel or any other rotary tool. it is very easy to put grind marks and very hard to get rid of them. I learned that hard way.
 
Hey Pete84. I will usually use a razorblade and a very very steady hand. Once I have removed the bulk of it I will clean the rest off with Goof Off and a clean cloth rag, then handsand out any scratches. If your sanding lines on the blade run parallel to the guard you can use a high grit sandpaper and some time. I wouldnt suggest sandpaper if your grind lines run perpendiculer to the guard.
 
What they said... I had the same problem with my first knives. I find I have to check the ricasso area 2-3 times during the first hour of curing and use acetone to remove any excess epoxy. Getting rid of it before it cures will save you having to fix scratches and just make your life a whole lot easier :thumbup:
 
Make a little chisel like tool from some left over brass and use that. It won't sctratch your blade.
It doesn't need to be large
 
If possible use the razor blade, new scalpel, craft knife blade or chisel to push into the excess epoxy where the ricasso meets the handle, then slice under it along the blade, it should snap at the first cut you made and pop off. Because you push into it there should be no scratch, often it will just break off from the first cut. Since that area is presumably somewhat more polished it cannot bond so well.

You can do this more easily at the gel stage when the epoxy is no longer tacky but has not yet fully cured (ie some time after 2hours for 2 hour epoxy around hr 3 - 4) If you make the cut, then peel off your tape the epoxy should come away with the tape leaving a clean edge.
 
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My sister in law, gave me these for my birthday, never new such a thing existed, the pointy tips are very strong.


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I use alcohol and Q-tips to remove any epoxy squeeze out before it sets. You may have to do this a few times before it stops squeezing out.
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone! I'll get to it! And thanks to those who mentioned measures to prevent this in the future. :)
 
WOW those cosmetic appluicator thingies would be perfect! No more shoving qtips into cracks!
 
Had a moderate level of success fixing this... Will try to get some pics up when I get off work.
 
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Wharn said:
Will acetone work on epoxy that has already set?
Click to expand...

My experience thus far has been that it will not. More experienced makers, I'm sure, could say more definitely than I. At this point, it looks like another round of 400 grit sanding is my next step. :/
 
OK, thanks for the input. I recently just completely sanded down and repainted my Suzuki Samurai and got sloppy with reapplying the logo on one side and had epoxy drip down. Looks like I may have to sand it down and repaint that side.
 
O'neil, thanks for chiming in. I'll keep after it with the acetone and see how it goes.
 
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