Small handle repair?

M

Maya_steel

Joined
Jun 28, 2014
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Last weekend I was out in the woods using my Dui Chirra and doing some fairly heavy chopping. The blade performed excellently (no surprises there), but the chiruwa handle suffered a small chip where the handle meets the base plate. I intend on using some dark epoxy/wood glue to repair it and wanted to ask if anyone has any recommendations?

I bought some Gorilla Glue earlier but I decided not to use it as I'm sure it will dry a light tan and ruin the look of the satisal wood handle :/
 
Is it a horn or wood handle.

I use a lot of Brownell's acraglas myself. I'd get the gel. Easy to mix small quantities as it's one to one by volume. It comes with brown and black dye so you can usually match a color pretty well.

If one has the chunk that broke off you can use the same stuff to glue it back on. It's good for all kinds of stuff.
 
Do you still have the chip that came loose? If so the Gorrilla glue will be fine. Glue it back then lightly sand it then polish it to a shine.
If you dont have the chip then you need to use something to fill it with. For filler id use epoxy mixed with sawdust. You can darken the sawdust by dipping the tip of a sharpie marker in the sawdust. It will stick to the tip as it soaks up the dye. Then scrape it off the tip of the pen and mix the wet sharpie dyed sawdust with regular sawdust till you get the right shade. Then mix with epoxy and fill. You can tape off the neighboring areas to minimize touch up later.

Oooops Mr B beat me. It took me 35 minutes to post. Yes i forgot about that dye. Mr.B knows what hes doing:thumbup: I approve of that message;)
 
Thanks for the speedy replies gentlemen, I think I will try the epoxy/sawdust solution, as I unfortunately do not have the small piece that chipped off.
 
With the acraglas you don't need the sawdust, it fills itself.
Certainly worth trying the sawdust routine, nothing to lose and you got the stuff.
 
Bawanna said:
With the acraglas you don't need the sawdust, it fills itself.
Certainly worth trying the sawdust routine, nothing to lose and you got the stuff.
Click to expand...

So the acraglas works on wood handles as well? If so I might go with that for the sake of simplicity.
 
Acraglass will set you back $25 plus $16 shipping last I checked. If you want something comparable mix some kind of fiber (sawdust) and get away with it for the price of epoxy alone. If your a gun nut and have it on the shelf anyway like BB, GB , Mr. B or one of the other B 's ;) then id do the acraglass but if your in the doghouse like me then do what matches your budget and constraints. Adding any kind of fiber makes the mix infinitely stronger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete
 
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I've had good luck mixing a bit of two part epoxy with some charcoal dust or finely ground sawdust. One of my repairs is at least 10 years old and holding up ok.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I've had good luck mixing a bit of two part epoxy with some charcoal dust or finely ground sawdust. One of my repairs is at least 10 years old and holding up ok.
Click to expand...

Add some rabbit turds and you got an even stronger bond. Ask any Neanderthal;)
 
Thanks for all the tips! I have a similar issue with one of my kukri. Mine got smacked good on the butt plate chipping off a small piece of the handle and slightly bending the butt plate. The plate is also slightly loose (I suspect from some shrinkage of the handle over time as well). Butt plate only wiggles about 1/16 of an inch radially, so it's pretty minor, but I think these methods may also fix that issue too. I'm tempted to drill into the handle a bit where the chip is to access a little more of the exposed butt plate and reseat the butt plate with the handle. The aracglas sounds like a great product, but I have some epoxy on hand that I will mix with some saw dust as recommended. Thanks!
 
You may be able to give the peened tang just the lightest of smart smacks with a hammer. Sometimes that'll tighten it up.
 
Hmmm I was wondering if that might work... Thanks, I will put it in the vise tomorrow and see if that addresses the loose plate.
 
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