Knife maker's adhesives

S

Sutcliffe

Joined
Dec 5, 1998
Messages
659
I got conned by my six year old nephew into a Pukko for his birthday. I've made a few knives before using epoxy(two part kind) and noticed you have to be careful you don't work it too fast or the epoxy loosens due to heat build up.
Am I using the wrong epoxy? Stupid question that I guess I just answered. Are there heat reistant types? How about JB Weld? I've heard some machinists say it's kind of a cure all for almost everything. Can anybody tell me what they use and why?
Thanks
 
I don't know, but am curious to see this revisited again. I had some great epoxy for bedding rifles but it's run out.



munk
 
JB-weld is sometimes used to hold on guards or ferrules, but not to glue on wood handles.

I use Devcon 2-ton epoxy. It comes in two bottles, and has an 8 hour cure time. The longer the cure time, the better. Fast drying epoxy will not give as strong a bond.

Some people also use superglue.

The devcon epoxy has a label warning not to use it above 200 degrees Fahrenheit. So, it couldn't really be considered heat resistant. But, I don't think you should have too much heat buildup when finishing the knife. If you get it that hot, your handle material would probably be burning.
 
Acraglas - best wood-to-metal bond
Epoxy - generic glue-all
JB Weld - metal-to-metal...as good as a light weld


my 0.02
YMMV
 
Epoxy can soften a bit when heated, but in my experience it seems to harden again when it cools. Usually when working on knife handles I've never caused enough heat build up for it to be a problem. But it can be helpful to be able to use a heat gun and loosen the handle, if trying to dissassemble a knife.

If you're getting a lot of heat build up it could from dulled belts, or trying to grind off too much metal after the handle is glued. Any metal parts such as guard, buttcap etc should be 90% shaped prior to gluing, if possible.

I prefer to use a hand rasp and file for rough handle shaping, and use a belt sander to get out the rough scratches and take it down to fine grits like 400 or 600. The belt sander will leave belt marks though, so afterwards you have to go back to hand sanding, then buffing.

The other problems which can happen with epoxy, I have found that if trying to use exactly the same amount of resin (brownish) and hardener (clear), sometimes it doesn't harden completely, so now I try to add a bit more hardener than resin to make sure it gets hard.
 
I have a friend who fixed a broken seat post on a mountain bike, it's
still holding( he weighs about 150) , I would have never tried that...... if it failed , guess what would happen the next time you sat down........
 
What Dan said! I swear by Acraglas and JB Weld, and use 2-part quick setting epoxy for everything else.

N.
 
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