Handle stabs, seal or not to seal?

[ron_m80]

OK, my G-10 black and green stock showed up. And i went to work. rough shaping about 1mm away from finished dimmension, or my best guess to where that will be.

I took the oposite slab off to get it cleaned up at the hilt area of the knife, and noticed ALOT of G-10 dust and some moisture where i had been wiping down the handle after filing (working slow with hand tools is keeping me from destroying a good piece of G-10).

So this leads me to believe there couldbe a serious case made for sealing these slabs aginst moisture from the outside, cause its carbon steel blade. So do you guys seal them, and how do you do it?

 

[silver_pilate]

From your description, it sounds like a full tang knife. If that's the case, almost everyone uses a slow cure two-part epoxy to mechanically bond the scale to the tang and prevent moisture from accumulating and corroding the steel, especially carbon steels.

--nathan

 

[ron_m80]

From your description, it sounds like a full tang knife. If that's the case, almost everyone uses a slow cure two-part epoxy to mechanically bond the scale to the tang and prevent moisture from accumulating and corroding the steel, especially carbon steels.

--nathan

Just let it squeeze out and finish it with the rest of the handle slabs and tang? yes its full tang.

I'm sure its been covered but what epoxy is the common one loved here by BF members?

And Thank you for your help.
-Ron

 

[Troop]

http://tds.loctite.com/tds5/docs/HYSAE-120HP-EN.PDF

 

[Keith_H]

I have heard makers using thin-ish superglue to seal the handle. Off the top of my head, SR Johnson showed it in his video and Bruce Bump described it to me.

 

[silver_pilate]

I've also seen thin superglue used as well. My personal use is the 2 part epoxy that Tracy sells on USAKnifemaker.com. It seems to hold up well, though I am switching to Brownell's Acraglas for its gap filling strength. The E120HP scored well in tests also for flat-to-flat mating surfaces.

--nathan