Scales and superglue

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sunnybob

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Jun 25, 2020
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I'm fitting a pair of scales that are very heavily figured bubinga. Its a brittle wood at the best of times and I'm worried it will chip when i start to shape the handle. Will it help if I coat the scales with superglue, as some woodturners do?
 
I have used really thin superglue on wood before to harden it. To be honest it didn't soak in as deep as I expected even thought it was on fairly soft wood. Using it to keep the scales from chipping as you start to shape the handle I would expect you to go through it really fast and be on bare wood again.
Do you have a grinder? I would suggest shaping using a 60 grit belt. Or if you have a dremel....that works too.
 
I’m not the wood guy so I’m not sure but I have seen people talking about stabilizing bubinga. I know a lot of rose woods do t stabilize well if at all but I’m not sure on this stuff. Super glue works great as a top coat or if you have any cracks or checks. Use the thin stuff and keep filling and curing till thy are filled. I’m not sure how brittle bubinga is compared to snake wood but that stuff is quite brittle and I have never had a problem. Like anything else slow and steady wins the race. Also do not get it hot while grinding g. If it’s that brittle you might want to look into using a thin vulcanized liner material between it and the tang. Pin holes can be problematic on brittle materials that’s why I tend to do hidden pins and not go very deep with them.
 
Bubinga is pretty stable on its own and unless your are using a very coarse rasp it doesn’t tend to be brittle it’s actually quite easy to work with so I don’t find the need to use super glue when I’m working with it and I’ve used it for everything from knife handles to boxes to wooden bowls and thin ink pen bodies without any issues.
 
I use bubinga a lot in my woodworking hobby and like it. But these scales are 4 mm slices from a large knot, giving no straight wood at all. I have used 3 mm of straight grained maple underneath to keep the bubinga in one piece.
I've used three x 4 mm brass pins, all the way through. I will be drilling a loop hole once I have the flat handle shaped. This is my first serious attempt at a big knife, so its a steep learning curve.
Looks like I wont use use superglue though. Good point about burning bubinga, friction burns are very dark and hard to get rid of. I see lots of hand sanding in my future. Thanks.
 
If yo have a variable speed dremel, low speed should work for shaping without burning, as long as you don't press too hard.
 
if any handle material gets chippy or coming off in chunks that means you are using too coarse of an abrasive and too much pressure.
 
sunnybob said:
these scales are 4 mm slices from a large knot
Click to expand...
If you are indicating that your scales are end grain from the knot nothing you do will keep them from chipping or splitting. End grain scales split it's just a matter of when.
 
I'm pleasantly surprised, the bubinga has behaved well, strangely the maple split and caused some re shaping

This is it so far, I have a lot of work to do fixing blemishes here and there, but for a first attempt, i'm quietly pleased.
HUH> how do I post a picture from my computer to this forum?
 
Bubinga has an interlocking grain. It is pretty strong and tough. I have never had it split or chip. Maple will split and can chip-out easily.
 
u2EiDCs
all
Doesnt work. How do I post a picture here?
 
On imgur, right-click on the picture and select "Copy image address". Paste that into the pop-up you get after clicking on the picture icon.
u2EiDCs.jpeg
 
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