Glue for desert ironwood

L

levernut

Joined
Aug 24, 2010
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I am building a tapered tang knife with dovetail bolsters and Desert Ironwood scales. I plan to use two, 1/4" mosaic pins but no thong tube. Will the Acraglass adhere well to the Ironwood scales or is there a better adhesive for this wood? Thanks in advance for your help.
Brad
 
Acraglas is a great all-around adhesive. I've used it on a good bit of ironwood without trouble. Surface prep is the biggest key. Clean with lots of surface area. On the steel, some people actually grind in a slight hollow in the middle of the tang to accept the epoxy. I drill several holes which allows the epoxy to communicate from side-to-side. I also drill small divots into the handle scale as well as use a sharp lower grit belt to rough up both mating surfaces as well as the pins.

I'll wipe both the blade tang, pins, and scales down with alcohol just before gluing up. This helps remove any debris and oils that may prevent good bonding. Don't over-clamp as you will squeeze out epoxy and starve the joint.

--nathan
 
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As Nathan said, with extremely dense wood, it's important to really rough up the surfaces. I like to drill little divots in both the handle material ont eh inside, and some extra holes through the blade, for "epoxy" rivets. I've had problems with very densley stabilized woods coming un-glued before when the mating surfaces were too smooth relative to eachother, because there wasnt enough 'grip' for the epoxy.
 
I find that the slight hollow ground "reservoir" is the key to having scales stay in place. The thin pool of resin that fills this void will make a strong joint. I use the corner of the contact wheel to make the recess in the tang ( and sometimes on the scales) to come to within 1/8" of the edge of the tang. Clean any oily/dense wood with acetone just prior to glue up.
 
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