Stick Fast

P

popcornpicker

Joined
Apr 3, 2007
Messages
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Is anyone familiar with Stick Fast from EKnife Supply? They claim it's better than epoxy, like "Super Glue on steroids"
 
I've never heard of it. The concept of something acclaimed to be "better than epoxy" while at the same time claiming it's like steroidal super-glue seems to me to be.......silly.

Consider the application:
- if you would choose epoxy for a specific job, then super-glue, even on steroids, would not work well. Epoxy is very strong, but takes time to setup.

- if you would choose super-glue (for its super-fast setup), then obviously you don;t want epoxy. Super-glue is tough, but not strong enough for high-tension, long-lasting bonds.

I can't imagine anyglue that's better than epoxy and yet still compared to cyanoacrylate. It's contradictory. It's like saying "Our new automobile is faster than any car out there! It's even faster than a lightweight racing bicycle!! It can take you from Iowa to Oregon faster than you can walk there!!!" Or.....more relevant to this post: "Our glue is stronger than epoxy! It's even stronger than super-glue!! Can you believe that? And, this'll be tough to believe, we know, but it forms an even stronger bond than bubble gum!!! Ten times stronger even!"

I can imagine, however, a company wanting to sell their product and making all kinds of extraordinary claims. hmmmmm.
 
There are so many factors that affect an adhesive's bond that I'm always wary of claims about any 'new' adhesives.

Epoxy is about the best GP adhesive I've run across because you can buy different formulations and customize it for different application with binders and fillers. Even still, it doesn't work on soft, waxy plastics: polyethylene, polypro, etc. There are other limitations as well of course. Check out the Gougeon Brothers (West System) website for everything you ever wanted to know about epoxy. Their magazine, Epoxyworks, is full of useful tips and new technology/techniques too.

CA(SuperGlue) isn't a great bond at the best of times, speaking in terms of the contact area required for a strong bond, unless you're gluing a compatible plastic with a solvent bond (polystyrene IIRC). It's good for gluing a really porous material that allows the glue to sink into both pieces deeply for a purely mechanical bond (on really soft woods like balsa and basswood it's pretty good but hard to sand)

I had a look at the glue you mentioned. This is a standard CA that's been formulated a little thicker with a longer set up and the end retailer puts their own label on it. If you have a model or craft store in your neighbourhood, you can get it there. The bottle will be inside a large brown pill bottle. There are usually thin/fast(instant), medium(~5-10 seconds) and thick/slow (30 secs) The slow is also used in modelling as a gap filler. I definitely wouldn't use CA for gluing scales on, or for any application where one side is metal or stone, because the lack of pores will cause a weak bond. They also have a shelf life once opened.

In the knives I've done so far, I haven't run across a situation where CA would be a better adhesive than epoxy.
 
popcornpicker said:
Is anyone familiar with Stick Fast from EKnife Supply? They claim it's better than epoxy, like "Super Glue on steroids"
Click to expand...

Howdy,
The biggest problem with standard cyanoacrylates is that they don't have good peel strength. There are some that have been modified to provide greater peel strength than a standard cyanoacrylate. This would appear to be such. But it still will not match the performance of an epoxy.

I'm not exactly sure what the promo is talking about when it says epoxies need a primer. Not for a knife handle. Not for anything less than structural metal to metal bonding. Epoxies can be sensitive to acidic substrates, but it has to be way acidic.

However I note that the scales of the knives in the picture were all fancy gents scales that would not take well to pressure. Epoxies work best if applied then put under pressure until the epoxy cures. This works well with tough scales that require the most rugged bond, but perhaps not for a fancy gents knife scale that won't take the pressure.

That promo sounds like it has some fertilizer mixed in it. But I would guess that the adhesive will work quite nicely for attaching less robust materials to knives that will not see extreme use.
 
i used to glue my neoprene handles on with a superglue that cost $40. for a small bottle but it was industrial strength and could not be purchased from a store. it has good strength and would hold the neoprene on extremely well. i had to remove one side that i had messed up while shaping and it was a mother to get off. i had to use a wood chisel and small hammer to get the glue off. i tried some of the new krazy glue and it held just as good on a test piece. the rubber actually tore away while the glue stuck with a layer of rubber still attached. if both of the surfaces are well cleaned and roughed up enough for the glue to grab, they will stick.
 
It has been recommended to me to (1. Rough up the metal with #100 grit sandpaper,(2. Clean both surfaces with acetone,(3. Use Golfsmith Shafting Epoxy,(4. Clamp the pieces together. Do you think this would be a successful procedure? Fingernail polish remover and golf club epoxy should be fairly easy to get. Are springloaded clamps OK?
 
fingernail polish remover has some kind of nail conditioner in it. you want acetone from a paint store that is pure so there will be no residue left behind. alcahol seems to have worked ok for me.
 
Yup, pure acetone is best. For cleanup up though, lacquer thinner works great as well. For cleaning it off hands citrus and pumice handcleaner is great. Springclamps are fine for clamping, as one of epoxies faults is that it squeezes out of the joint pretty readily, leading to voids when overclamped.
 
I didn't much care for the http://www.eknifesupply.com/Products.aspx?id=15 website. It didn't inspire ANY confidence in me (perhaps that will change over time..............) So I looked further.

I found:

http://techmarketinginc.net/

The Stick Fast website. Seems like they have both epoxies and fast glues to me! I didn't see anything about fast glue that is betta than epoxy here or being on steroids either. I've used several brands of hot glue and can't really coplain about any of them or state that one was MUCh better than another, but I didn't conduct rigorous testing of any sort unlike what Tracy Mickley et al did in another glue test thread.

Just my 2 centavos............

Syn
 
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