Need to attach some handle scales...

Grease

Grease

Joined
May 10, 2012
Messages
1,812
I made a big chopper for myself and had some fun hacking apart logs with it, but last night while trying to baton a few of them into more manageable chunks, the scales popped off :grumpy:

Evidently 2 ton epoxy and quarter inch micarta pins aren't enough to hold micarta scales in place under that much stress.

What could I try that would work better?
 
Any metal mechanical fastener- the aforementioned bolts, screws, or peened pins.
 
Prep is the key with epoxy along with the shelf life. The two ton stuff has a short shelf life and could be the problem. A good epoxy bond should take a lot of abuse. I use mechanical fasteners too just so I feel good about everything.
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
Prep is the key with epoxy along with the shelf life. The two ton stuff has a short shelf life and could be the problem. A good epoxy bond should take a lot of abuse. I use mechanical fasteners too just so I feel good about everything.
Click to expand...

I agree! I always use a mechanical bond as back up. Makes me feel better knowing its there.
 
In my opinion, epoxy is just not sufficient for securing handle slabs. It MIGHT work well, it SHOULD work well, but often it doesn't.
I would rather use mechanical fasteners.
 
I use mechanical fasteners as my first approach, and only use epoxy when needed - either to hold out moisture (like in a kitchen knife) or when it is going to be a hard working camp knife. Otherwise, I use three stainless pivot bolts with torx button head screws. I seat these in counterbored holes that have a small washer to spread the load. Assuming you've bored the holes accurately and tightened the screws, this attachment can be extremely strong.

TedP

P1266308-sm_zps5c5041db.jpg

P2186328-sm_zps83c3b320.jpg
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
Prep is the key
Click to expand...

I did some test a while back on how well epoxy holds scales on. The ones that was cleaned real good before I attached scales have a great bond, I have several knives that I have hit the scales with 75 hammer blows and they are still good. The ones I tried to attach with minimal prep will not stand up to the hammer blows, they pop off after just a few hits of the hammer.
These were test knives made with stabilized spalted maple, acraglass and no pins. My test showed me a well preped blade is VERY important.
 
I use micarta pins and GFlex epoxy a lot. I've not seen one handle pop off to be replaced since I started. That G-flex epoxy is really good. Its hard to chisel the handle off.
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
Prep is the key with epoxy along with the shelf life. The two ton stuff has a short shelf life and could be the problem. A good epoxy bond should take a lot of abuse. I use mechanical fasteners too just so I feel good about everything.
Click to expand...

That could be the issue... I used up the last bit of some epoxy that has been open for a few months.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top