I want to add a thin "handle" to a blade.

[Lavan]

I think wood grain vinyl tile would be perfect for what I have in mind.

The knife has one hole in the handle part but the entire blade is just flat steel.
What would attach vinyl tile to steel?

Super Glue?
Gorilla Glue?
Epoxy?

Other?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wowbagger]

Other

I would go with some serious contact cement. Be sure to clean the heck out of both surfaces with some good solvent like carburetor cleaner. Let the cement dry for the time in the instructions BEFORE bringing the two surfaces together.
Sure epoxy, of the correct type would probably work. If using epoxy roughen the surfaces with very coarse sand paper. Not needed for the contact cement.
For that application I would avoid super blue or Gorilla glue. They tend to require a very precise (flat to flat) fit up to be at their best . . . they don't fill gaps and maintain strength.

My first thought when I saw your thread was; just buy an off the shelf knife. If there is one criticisim I could make of the current knife offerings it would be that the handles are, almost to a knife, too thin . . . much too thin.

 

[jpm2]

You can use all types of material for knife handle. I have a couple that are flat slab leather, not stacked washers.

I also use rubber cement (contact cement) but deviate from the instructions and put it together tacky. This leaves a little wiggle room for adjustment. Takes longer to dry, but no issues with holding.

 

[Lavan]

Hey! Leather could be better. Thanks for the tip.

Also a helluva lot easier to trim to fit.

 

[jpm2]

Leather is very easy to work with, easy to attach, and comfortable in hand.
I used it as a temporary handle for a Spyderco mule, but liked it so much, decided to keep it.
This one is two layers.

 

[Wowbagger]

rubber cement (contact cement)

The rubber cement that I am thinking of is most certainly not the same as contact cement.
LINK > > > rubber cement for attaching clippings to a scrap book or for mach up.
LINK > > > Contact cement for holding the soles on my work shoes (literally) after I resole them.

 

[CasePeanut]

Leather is very easy to work with, easy to attach, and comfortable in hand.
I used it as a temporary handle for a Spyderco mule, but liked it so much, decided to keep it.
This one is two layers.

This looks great! How did you put this together?

 

[jpm2]

The rubber cement that I am thinking of is most certainly not the same as contact cement.

Maybe... I think back in the old days it was all called rubber cement, or that's just how I remember it.
I use weldwood, which is indeed labeled as contact cement. Regardless, I use it as I described.

This looks great! How did you put this together?

Weldwood contact/rubber cement.

 

[Sonnydaze]

That leather grip is VERY interesting. Nice job. How do you "round" the edges of the leather around the periphery of the grip...or do you just use a "scalpel" to shape it? BTW...love those mules...

 

[jpm2]

That leather grip is VERY interesting. Nice job. How do you "round" the edges of the leather around the periphery of the grip...or do you just use a "scalpel" to shape it? BTW...love those mules...

If you mean shaping it, I just glued them on a little oversize and cut with another knife.
If you mean contouring the edges, I left them square and burnished with a piece of bamboo. I've been meaning to bevel the edges more.
This was done in a hurry, probably under an hour... not counting time for glue to dry.

 

[Wowbagger]

Maybe...

There's no Maybe . . . I've been doing this kind of thing for forty years both graphic arts and metal & leather crafts.

Rubber cement is favored in art applications where easy and damage-free removal of adhesive is desired. For example, rubber cement is used as the marking fluid in erasable pens.

another LINK > > >

Contact adhesives are used in strong bonds with high shear-resistance like laminates, such as bonding Formica to a wooden counter, and in footwear, as in attaching outsoles to uppers

another LINK > > >

 

[Wowbagger]

By the way dampening the edge with water and burnishing with some cloth such as denim will generate enough heat to make a professional edge and create a nice sheen. Depending on degree of dampness and heat generated it can even take on an interesting darker color

 

[jpm2]

Just so there's no confusion, I use Weldwood contact cement.

 

[Sonnydaze]

If you mean contouring the edges, I left them square and burnished with a piece of bamboo. I've been meaning to bevel the edges more.
This was done in a hurry, probably under an hour... not counting time for glue to dry.

Impressive work done in a hurry... looks nice to me...

and Wowbagger...
By the way dampening the edge with water and burnishing with some cloth such as denim will generate enough heat to make a professional edge and create a nice sheen. Depending on degree of dampness and heat generated it can even take on an interesting darker color

I never knew any of this...and my son is an excellent leather worker...thanx.

 

[jpm2]

Impressive work done in a hurry... looks nice to me...

Thanks.
Forgot to add, I used neutral color shoe polish for the burnish.

I can see that wetting the leather would allow it to more easily compress resulting is denser material that would build up heat faster. I might try this next time.

BTW, I'm no leather smith or anything like that, just a DIY hobbyist.

 

[HeavyHanded]

I would use something rigid such as a slab of clear maple or other hardwood, but anything can work as long as the texture is OK for good grip etc - plastic, aluminum, some polycarbonates are very strong.

I would drill it, and peen an aluminum nail or short length of aluminum rod in the one hole available, and beef it up with some glue. E6000 works well on a lot of materials and is my go-to for most work of this sort.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

DAP Weldwood Contact Cement is "a premium quality, brush grade, neoprene-based contact cement" and neoprene is a kind of rubber which might be source of the confusion.

E6000 works well on a lot of materials and is my go-to for most work of this sort.

It appears that one has a styrene-butadiene base; also a kind of rubber.

Barge makes a cement with a urethane base. So many choices!

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The one reservation I have with contact cements, or varieties of them, is that some seem to be vulnerable to oils or solvents. I made a strop of denim-over-poplar a while back, and used some Weldwood spray contact adhesive to attach the denim to the wood. No issues there, in itself. But the compound I applied to the strop was a mix of dry-powder chromium oxide and mineral oil, which I'd made on my own. Made as such, it's very easy to 'paint' the green compound onto the denim very evenly, using a paint brush or something similar. This strop worked very well while it lasted. But over time, the oil in the compound mix leeched through the denim and into the wood, and the contact adhesive lost it's hold on the materials, causing the denim to start peeling off, eventually to a point I just peeled the whole thing off and abandoned that idea.

With that one reservation in mind, my first inclination anymore, when attaching materials that may be exposed to oils or solvents, would be to use something more impervious to them, like epoxy. I'd think occasional light exposure to oils might not be an issue in most cases. But it's something to consider.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

That's important. I have had adhesive turn to goo when exposed to oil.

Weldwood Original Contact Cement claims:
Cured bond resists the effects of heat (up to 180°F), water, weather, grease, oil and household
chemicals. Interior/exterior use.

Seal-All also claims:
What is the most unique feature of Seal-All?
Seal-All is resistant to gasoline, oil, paint thinner, and most solvents. Seal-All is also water resistant immediately upon applications.

E6000, by the same company, does not.

 

[jpm2]

I've no experience with any of the weldwood variations like the sprayon, non flammable, gel, etc... only the original formula in the red can. It needs to be stirred well to completely mix and applied at as close to 70F as possible.
I've attached quite a few handles with it including wood, micarta, and leather. All of these started off as temporary with the intentions of removing them and using epoxy. So far none have shown any signs of separating, but I haven't exposed them to much oil or solvents either.