Interesting that larger volume of epoxy doesn't need longer time to cure.
I have an unheated garage shop. I heat up a cup of water and sit my resin and hardener in hot water to get warm and thin out. After mixing, the warm glue flows well into nooks and crannies, but I let it cure in the cold overnight (maybe 40 degrees F). This has worked well in the past, but maybe I need more than 24 hours? Or is this just too cold?
Another point is that I currently color my glue black with laser printer toner, a very fine polyester powder. I assumed polyester will mix well with epoxy resin. I do mix well, to get the powder color and the hardener fully blended.
I've been drilling round holes for hidden tangs, maybe 1/2 inch diameter. Maybe I will try gouging out a slot, I have a Sawzall blade that I made into a thin scraping tool. Another option is to try burning a red hot tang into the handle block, as seen on Forged in Fire.