Painted handle sticky?

M

moabblade

Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
77
I have a folder with G10 (or something appearing to be G10) scales. They appear to have been painted. But the surface is slightly tacky. Not sticky or seriously tacky. Just not smooth. Your fingers just don't slide nicely across it. Feels like fresh paint that is like 90% cured. It also smells of chemicals slightly.

What are the preferred methods for fixing this? I'm considering heat, fine sandpaper, baking soda or talcum powder.

It's not really tacky, so much as your fingers don't really glide across what should be a nicely painted, hard, smooth surface. It's like the paint is only 90-95% dry. If that makes sense. You can feel the paint is just slightly sticky. Not really sticky. Hard to explain. Just not cured completely or something.

I think the heat, baking soda or talcum might work. Are there any drawbacks to those methods? Will I make anything worse?

Trying to avoid having to disassemble, strip and repaint. Not sure the knife is worth that.
 
I would try paint thinner or mineral spirits, moving up to acetone.
 
What's the knife? Got pics?

I'd make sure it isn't sure-touch or ameragrip or whatever the rubberized g-10 is first.
 
Trying to avoid full disassembly and stripping. But I will if I have too.

https://imgur.com/a/1B8WHbf

You can't see much from pics. Both are clones. (Hope I'm not crucified for that. I own many more real knives than these.) You can see paint build up on the Adamas. On one end of the scale and build up on the spine in jimping and elsewhere. But the CLA is just tacky by feel. Both smell like chemicals, sticky to the touch, and feel like the paint is not fully curred.

I ran a hot hairdryer over the CLA and it improved a bit. But still feels like it would benefit from a baking soda scrub or the talcum. I have the Adamas sitting in front of a space heater. It has much more paint build up. And is much more sticky to the touch.

I will say both are very well built, function well and are very nice clones. I also got a Protech TR4 that is perfect. All for $20-$25 a piece. Just trying to decide which I like enough to buy the real deal.

I have another similar clone coming in green. Hoping it has not been painted.
 
Sibyrnes said:
Shouldn't knowingly purchasing a clone be a crime?
Click to expand...
Punishable by "tsk tsk tsk"

Any type of solvent will sooner or later work on the G10, if Isopropyl alcohol soak doesn't do much I would definitely avoid stronger stuff, especially acetone. G10 is resilient but with clones you honestly don't know the grade of G10, maybe it's actually G6 (this is obviously a joke but not all G10 is created equal).

I'd just sand it with 600 grit sandpaper that's meant to be used wet. Unless you have proper PPE don't sand G10 dry in the open, the dust is very harmful. I'd use nitrile gloves and sand it submerged in a bucket full of water.
 
Kryme said:
Punishable by "tsk tsk tsk"

Any type of solvent will sooner or later work on the G10, if Isopropyl alcohol soak doesn't do much I would definitely avoid stronger stuff, especially acetone. G10 is resilient but with clones you honestly don't know the grade of G10, maybe it's actually G6 (this is obviously a joke but not all G10 is created equal).

I'd just sand it with 600 grit sandpaper that's meant to be used wet. Unless you have proper PPE don't sand G10 dry in the open, the dust is very harmful. I'd use nitrile gloves and sand it submerged in a bucket full of water.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I will try alcohol.

Ya. If I was gonna strip it I'd try acetone first. And then some other more stringent chems maybe. But only to strip it. Wish I still had my sandblast cabinet. I had the entire set up for building rifles.

I'm gonna try talcum, and baking soda paste. The heat helped quite a bit. It hardened it some. But if all else fails I could just swap out the scales for aftermarket micarta on the Adamas. Which I prefer. But scales are not available for the CLA.

I'm glad I bought these. Because I can see design flaws that have changed my mind about which $300 knife I want to buy. The Adamas has really nice steel. I think the clone is actually Cruwear. (These clones are very well made.)

But the design of the thumb stud and the axis lock are just not to my liking. The thumb stud is not centered in the liner thumb cut out. (This is in the original design. Not an issue with the clone. They are very exact matches.) And is to close to the liner to get at with your thumb. And fiddling with the axis lock feels just like that - like your fiddling. I know many love that style. I'm not a fan. Just a personal preference.

The CLA uses alot of the G10 liner for support. Very small metal parts in the liner to support the pivot/knife. Which makes it a nicely thin handle. But the opening spring and friction keeps it from opening strongly. Which is a complaint I have read from other owners of the original.

The Protech TR4 on the other hand is the nicest knife I've ever owned. Even in the clone. It's an all metal, aluminum and steel design. And is just about perfect. Very nice steel. Very solid handle. And very strong opening and snap to lock. It's also an auto like the CLA. So unfair to compare it to the standard mini Adamas. But I have an auto mini Adamas coming as well.

I would not be above carrying any of these however. These are easily 90% of the original at about 1/20th of the price. And without this finish issue in these two. They would be very close to 100%. I don't own a real Protech. But I would venture to guess it is very close. These aren't "Made in China" crap for the swap meet. They really have their metal work down to a science. Their manufacturing capabilities are advancing a great deal. Since more goes on their than here. And you can find a clone in better steels.

I buy most goods thru AliExpress. Housewares, outdoor gear, shop stuff. Probably 100-200 items a year. Just about anything on Amazon you can find on their for about 1/10th or 1/20th of the price. From the same factories. As 99% of what you buy on Amazon is made in China. Returns are just as easy. Printed return label and drop off at UPS. You just have to be patient with a 2 week shipping time.
 
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