Installing vulcanized spacer or liner material?

PIndelicato

PIndelicato

Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
1,577
I haven't done handle liners before, and I couldn't find a detailed procedure for this by searching or in the newbies links. Some guys mention gluing the liner to the scales first with super glue.

Is there any reason why I can't just epoxy everything together in one step? (ie, just add them in with another layer of epoxy when gluing up the scales like the standard full tang scale gluing procedure?) This would seem to be easier and faster to me than doing an extra step.

Thanks!
 
I just use epoxy,just the way you just said,and it works great.When I fit my liners,I double face tape them to the tang then drill them through,so they are tight to the guard.Then I do the other side the same way.If you are not using a guard,after getting the front faces to the shape u want,on the handle material,cut the spacers to size,drill your holes then you can put a couple pins,or handle bolts through all your material,to form a sandwich.Then your front face can be sanded and buffed to a finnish before appling to the knife.That way you don't have to worry about them moving.Hope this helps
 
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Paul

The trick part is getting the liner material to stay butted against the back or the guard or even with the front of the grips on knives without guards.

It is a major disappointment to get to the finish stage and find a gap between the edge of the liner material and the back of the guard or bolster. If you are real careful it can be done (gluing everything at once), but when the clamps are applied things have a tendency to slide around a bit and liner material seems to slide more than most. This is especially true on tapered tangs. By gluing the liner material to the grip material ahead of time eliminates the worry of the liner material migrating away from the guard.

Jim Arbuckle

ABS JS
 
Paul,

The only real problem with going your route is getting a perfect fit between the front of the slab and the front of the liner. In my opinion its worth it to epoxy the liners to the slab before even profiling the scales so you'll get a nice cut on the liner material and also have the ability to completly finish the front face of the scales/liner as a single unit before assembly. This will give you perfect matchup of the scales and liner and MAJORLY reduce the risk of putting a scratch on the ricasso of your finished blade.

One scratch on that blade and your repair time will be 10 times what it takes to do your epoxying in 2 stages.

Just my thoughts on it but it can be done the way you described.

-Josh
 
My process is get together your scales,liner material,and epoxy.
1.get scales flat on granite surface plate.
2.cut liner material to size of scale.
3.rub liner material on surface plate to remove all gloss and rough it up,Iuse 150 grit paper.
4.mix epoxy and spead a thin layer on one scale,place liner material on scale,place a pieceof wax paper on top of liner,do the other scale and place them together and clamp.
5.let them dry overnight.
6.cut scales to shape and put on knife.
The wax paper betwenn the scales will keeep them from sticking together and you will have no gaps when fitting up. You do waste a little liner material this way but it is cheaper than tring to fix a gap.
Hope this helps
Stan
 
Thanks everyone for the input and suggestions.

I thought by pinning/clamping the scales and liners together to finish the fronts (with matching pin holes in the liners of course) before assembly this would allow them to be finished at the ricasso ahead of time and prevent them from moving around. Would this approach not work for some reason?

Thanks again!
 
Multiple layers of liners are best glued up before hand then glue the sandwich to the scale. Tape and drill the handle assembly for each side then finish the front end if it is going to be exposed. Finally, glue up the hande on the knife with the pins.

Use epoxy throughout, sub assemblies with super glue will only be as strong as the superglue and the whole thing can come apart.
 
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