help! glue lines

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Nebulae

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Aug 24, 2009
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I have a glue line inbetween my wood handle, and bolster its fairly obvious in the pic, because it is so huge! Do I have to take the bolster off, or can I do something else? also if I have to take it off, how am I going to get the bolster off, and the joint all smooth and flush with no damage.

Thanks in advance

glueline.jpg
 
Well first, you will not remove those without damaging them too much for reuse. Did you pin on the bolsters or glue them on too? Just glue won't give you a very good bond. When you pin, take the extra time to establish a close fit between the bolsters and the scales, and you won't need to use glue in those places. Don't be disapointed I believe most of us have had the same problem, maybe without the glue but still with a big space there. Frank
 
Can you just put new scales on it and leave the bolster alone? It looks like the bolsters have square shoulders and not dovetailed, from what I can see at least. You could maybe try to slot out the glue line with a fine hacksaw blade and put some spacer material in the slot. The cut would need to be made very true. And like Frank said, most of us have had that same problem happen before.
 
yeah that's what I was thinking about the spacer. just get the glue out, and replace it with either a liner, or some CA glue with wood dust.
MJV, the bolsters are indeed dovetailed, and I cant afford to redo them because they are mokume that I made myself, and it took forever.
 
Well, the fight to get it right is worth it !!! Sometimes a big tool is the one to use. Perhaps a hack saw with a say 32 teeth per inch blade. If the cut is made oversize, just find a material you like, thin it out to fit, glue it in and then finish it down . Frank
 
Ugh...glue lines. Hate em

This is what I would do just from past experience. Remove the wood scales and put on new ones. By the time you monkey around trying to fix it with spacers, liners etc. you could have already been finished putting on a new scale.
 
how 'bout a dremmel cut of wheel? it sounds like I could control it a little better.
 
I'd prolly cheat that by sawing out the glue and gently tapping some soft copper/malleable metal wire in the gap. A copper or brass liner in that gap might make it pop nicely. You could probably even find some suitable wire at Michaels.
 
Actually, Ryanol gave me a good idea that might be easier than cutting it full depth. Score it deeply enough to get that wire in but no further, that reduces the odds of messing up the cut. I would make sure it's not TOO tight a fit for the wire, but if you stick to something soft like copper it should work well. The remaining glue below it will resist the sheer force creating by pushing the wire in there tightly.
 
FWIW if your bolsters are only glued I'd be very gentle about wedging the wire in with some sort of burnishing tool.

If they're pinned you might be able to put a little more elbow grease into it.

For the saw I'd use a jewelers saw rather than a dremel cuttoff wheel or hacksaw.
 
good suggestion about the wire! I'll try that. do you think it would blend with the copper bolster o.k.
 
If ya have a variable speed Dremel try a wire wheel at very slow. It will take out just the glue if you are careful. I think that if ya only went wire deep you would still see the glue line looking down on the knife from the spine wouldn't ya? If it were me I'd knock the wood off and start over. I've done this a couple of times and always put er down to slipping while clamping during glue up. I always check after clamping now and have readjusted a couple of times.
 
Next time you might want to add a little color to your epoxy. Acrylic paint for decorative painting you can find in craft stores works wonder and comes in a zillion different colors. A few drops will do. It would not hide a large gap of course but can do wonders for small ones.
 
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