ok so im finishing up a knife for a buddy that i had planned to give him this following thursday. last night handle was fine. Today i went out to do some final touches on the handle and it pretty much seperated from tang all the way around. The wood is cocobolo. the glue side was sand down with 36 grit belt and i even drilled some very small pin holes for epoxy to set up in. i literally scrubbed the wood with acetone till no more color came off on rag then i preceded to do the glue up. the tang was done to 36 grit freshly sanded and cleaned with acetone. gloves went on after cleaning and no bare skin touched any glue pieces. the handle has 2 pins in and those were glued in also. It appears that the pins at this point are the only thing holding it togther. i guess my only downfall i can see was maybe the epoxy was bad or not fo good quality . it was just standard loctite 60 minute 2 part epoxy. i have used it before with no problems. one other thing i did was color the expoy black with mixol from woodcraft which was a new thing for me so maybe that was the probleam? Either way is there any way to to salvage the blade since its a real cutter. i was thinking i could maybe boil the the handle off and start with some stabilized wood which i normal use. any help would be great since i dont have time to start over and have rdy buy next thursday.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
handle seperated on me
- Thread starter Dakota 11
- Start date
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
- Messages
- 38,513
Not much you can do to make cocobolo hold with glue. The oils will defeat you most every time. Redo the handle, using Corby rivets, and you will have no problems. You can probably just slip a thin knife blade between the tang and scale and pop the cocobolo right off.
De-oiling the inside of the scales with acetone before glue up will usually help with cocobolo, rosewood and ebony.
Stacy
De-oiling the inside of the scales with acetone before glue up will usually help with cocobolo, rosewood and ebony.
Stacy
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2007
- Messages
- 1,976
On oily woods I like to run a tap through the scales and tang then thread a brass machine screw through the whole thing, sand off the head and it looks like a regular pin.
Use "red locktite" on the threads and its on there permanent.
I've also used permatex gasket material between the scales for a seal. looks like a red spacer when its done.
Use "red locktite" on the threads and its on there permanent.
I've also used permatex gasket material between the scales for a seal. looks like a red spacer when its done.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 2,181
hey man. i don't have much experience with cocobola. but i do have a lot of eperience with handle popping off. look back on some of my thread you'll see what i'm talking about. a few thing i learned.
always scartch up the handles and tang with a burr in a rotary tool.
clean with 90% rubbing alcohol. it leaves less residue than acetone does.
make sure everything is flat as can be
do not generate heat while sanding to flatten things. always do this cold with 36 grit paper. if you generate any heat (even if you don't think you do) let that handle slab set sit around for a few days and then check to see if its still flat, five bucks says it bowed out. it barely takes anything to do this.
and the best thing of all is buy yourself some locktite speedbonder 324. you can get it from tracy mickley. this stuff is awesome. activator and epoxy, spray activator on tang, pins, and slabs. then spread glue on one slab. get some on the pins and slide them in the slab... put the knife on that slab. spread more glue on the other slab and slide it onto the pics... clamp with spring clamps..... wait for 15 minutes and have at it.
this stuff cures anerobically. so the stuff on the outside won't be dried up... just wipe off excess and grind the handles. stuff is awesome
its expensive, but considering the fact that the activator is enough to last you a lifetime, and you dont' waste any epoxy mixin and measuring. you tend to use a lot less. the stuff pays for itself all the way.
good luck man. mail if you have any questions. better yet mail tracy mickley
always scartch up the handles and tang with a burr in a rotary tool.
clean with 90% rubbing alcohol. it leaves less residue than acetone does.
make sure everything is flat as can be
do not generate heat while sanding to flatten things. always do this cold with 36 grit paper. if you generate any heat (even if you don't think you do) let that handle slab set sit around for a few days and then check to see if its still flat, five bucks says it bowed out. it barely takes anything to do this.
and the best thing of all is buy yourself some locktite speedbonder 324. you can get it from tracy mickley. this stuff is awesome. activator and epoxy, spray activator on tang, pins, and slabs. then spread glue on one slab. get some on the pins and slide them in the slab... put the knife on that slab. spread more glue on the other slab and slide it onto the pics... clamp with spring clamps..... wait for 15 minutes and have at it.
this stuff cures anerobically. so the stuff on the outside won't be dried up... just wipe off excess and grind the handles. stuff is awesome
its expensive, but considering the fact that the activator is enough to last you a lifetime, and you dont' waste any epoxy mixin and measuring. you tend to use a lot less. the stuff pays for itself all the way.
good luck man. mail if you have any questions. better yet mail tracy mickley
I had a piece of ironwood that I glued and glued and glued and glued. Lots of different high quality epoxies. Finally gave up. I think some pieces, especially oily pieces, just don't like glue.
If you put the knife back in the oven @ tempering temperatures the handle will remove easily. Clean the tang up, sand blast it, try again with another material. Did you drill extra holes in the tang for the epoxy to bite? This helps.
Good luck,
Matt
If you put the knife back in the oven @ tempering temperatures the handle will remove easily. Clean the tang up, sand blast it, try again with another material. Did you drill extra holes in the tang for the epoxy to bite? This helps.Good luck,
Matt
Micheal i had read that glue wars thread the speedbonder 324 is good for stablized wood to metal? I would have to look at my notes i took but i know one was really good at metal to metal.
Matt, i had extra holes drilled in tang and also had alot of endents from dremel engraver. this is my first experiance with a handle poping off and it sucks.
Matt, i had extra holes drilled in tang and also had alot of endents from dremel engraver. this is my first experiance with a handle poping off and it sucks.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2007
- Messages
- 5,846
I dunno so much about oily woods yet, but ALL of my problems thus far revolve around heat or epoxy mix. I feel wateful doing it, but I just have to mix a decent amount of epoxy the get the proportions right, and then use 5% of that on a knife....*sigh*
I've gorilla'd about a dozen knives now that have natural wood (with one exception) and had no issues- I even stress tested the shadetree phenolics sample I got and it held up. buty I have NO IDEA at all how the water cure polyesters hold up to oils.
I've gorilla'd about a dozen knives now that have natural wood (with one exception) and had no issues- I even stress tested the shadetree phenolics sample I got and it held up. buty I have NO IDEA at all how the water cure polyesters hold up to oils.