Scale not fitted tightly enough, allowing moisture in

crom · Mar 7, 2011

Hi, I have a little custom FB in 1095 that has slight gaps on both sides of the scale where it meets the tang. I've been very careful but I need to address this. I've been thinking of either using some sort of thin epoxy that will get in there or possibly mashing vaseline or something in there to retard moisture. Does anybody have any ideas? The gaps are SO small but there is no doubt in my mind that I already have some oxidation under the scales.
Thanks,
K

richard j · Mar 7, 2011

if there is rust in there already then sealing it up wont stop it. if you are going to put something in to fill the gap anyways just try superglue and wipe the excess off and sand what stays behind.

crom · Mar 7, 2011

Richard, thanks. Superglue was my first thought because it's so thin. I plan on letting it sit to dry for a good and long time and the i'll try this. I let it sit inside of a cooling oven (down from 350 with door open a few inches) lastnight to hopefully dry up any moisture in it.

Ditch_Digger · Mar 7, 2011

You say it's a "custom".
By you or a maker?

If by a maker, I would contact him/her to see what they would suggest.
Most scales are put on with epoxy so that you don't have these kind of issues.

Since you say they are pulling away from the tang the proper fix would be to remove them, sand/surface them flat again and re-attach with epoxy and new fasteners.

crom · Mar 7, 2011

Custom by a maker, not me. There is epoxy present, I can see it. But the nature of the grind means the tang is narrower at the ricasso than it is at the butt end of the knife. I've thought about contacting the maker but if it's something I can take care of myself i'd rather not bother him. thanks for the reply. The fasteners are large-ish (about 6mm) brass pins. The scale material is maple.

Sparljo · Mar 7, 2011

Good on you for taking some initiative.

Get the thinnest superglue you can and drip it in, sand off the excess as described.

Richard is right though, it will keep rusting even if you seal, and cause the whole scale to pop off eventually.

Its best to punch out the pins and reglue the scales for the long term. This will be pretty tough if the pins are mechanical fasteners or peened. You can add spacer material if the scales still dont match the taper once you get them off.

Ditch_Digger · Mar 8, 2011

Any self-respecting maker would not stand for an issue like this and would want to see the knife and fix it, so, like I suggested, get in touch with them FIRST before jacking with it.

Problems like this present "learning opportunities" for makers so that they don't make the same mistakes twice. The only way for this to work is to examine the knife and figure out what caused the problem and hopefully come up with a different method/procedure to prevent it going forward.

As an example/W.A.G. on a possible issue is the Maple you mentioned.
If it is not stabilized "properly" it will "move" based on temperature and humidity changes. NO AMOUNT of "glue" will prevent this.

crom · Mar 8, 2011

Update: I took the suggestion to contact the maker. As it turns out; he's completely willing to repair the knife and I think excited as well since he thinks the knife is probably one of his early pieces. He will also be convexing the edge for me, so I'm excited about that! Thanks everybody for the suggestions.

Obsessed with Edges · Mar 8, 2011

crom said:
Update: I took the suggestion to contact the maker. As it turns out; he's completely willing to repair the knife and I think excited as well since he thinks the knife is probably one of his early pieces. He will also be convexing the edge for me, so I'm excited about that! Thanks everybody for the suggestions.

:thumbup:

I've been quietly watching this thread, and was impressed that you were willing to dig into this problem and fix it on your own. But, having said that, I was sort of keeping my fingers crossed that you'd get in touch with the maker, at the very least to see if he'd give you some suggestions on how to go about it. It does seem to me, that the vast majority of custom makers out there, REALLY care about the quality of the work they produce, and will go to the ends of the earth to make sure their customers are happy. I'm very glad to see there's no exception in this case.

crom · Mar 8, 2011

Dave,
yeah, I'm a DIY type of guy. I wrench on my cars, bikes, you name it. This guy is good and I own 2 by him and after this i'm sure i'll buy more!