Stick tang Acraglass question.

R

R.H.Clark

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Aug 23, 2007
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I've been making some stick tang knives using Devcon 2 Ton Epoxy. Looking at the glue wars threads it would seem that Acraglass would be a better choice.

I've never worked with Acraglass.Can it be mixed thin enough to run into small blind holes as well as Devcon?

If I use multiple pieces in the handle with vulcanized spacer material and or thin brass,can Acraglass be compressed to show no glue lines?
 
If you use the acraglas (081003002) it pours like water. However, the acraglas gel viscosity is more like other 2 part epoxies.
 
Acraglas is all I use. It's about like pancake syrup as mixed. Brownell's has a thinner but I have never needed it. As long as there are no gaps you won't have a problem with glue lines. They also make brown & black dyes for it too. Good stuff you won't regret trying it. MERRY CHRISTMAS.
 
The acriglas gel is not recomended for knife handles . I have just switched to the regular acriglass epoxy and it pours excellent for over 1 hour. I was making some mosaic pins and works excellent for that. I just glued up a jigged buffalow horn handle and its better than I expected. I will be buying the large container and never look back.
 
Great stuff, Araglas. I use the regular Acraglas as well, and the description of pouring like syrup is accurate. It flows really well, maybe more like warm syrup. It's mixed by volume, not weight. I have a couple of syringes I use to draw the resin and hardener into little plastic rinse cups. I mix with a thin popsicle stick. You mix for a full 4 minutes. I've used the black dye that comes with the kit, and just a drop will darken your entire batch. It's much stronger than Devcon from what I've experienced, and it's designed as a space-filler, so it's just about perfect for stick tangs. It cleans up really well with a little WD40 on a piece of t-shirt or even paper towel.

I bought several of the rifle kits from Brownells, and I'm still on my first kit having made about 5 knives (one was a big bowie hidden tang) with over 1/2 of the stuff yet. A little goes a long way. 3-4cc's is more than enough for most full tang knives.

--nathan
 
Here is a trick for filling the holes in a handle block when inserting a stick tang:

Find some long thin hollow coffee stir sticks. Snip the end off of one at an angle ( so it won't bottom out flat), and drop it down the hole ( making sure it is long enough to leave some sticking out). Pour in the epoxy along side of the stir stick, not worrying about leaving an air space on one side of the hole. The air from the bottom of the hole will exit out the tube as the epoxy runs down the hole. Once you have enough epoxy in the hole, remove the coffee stir by slowly lifting and twisting it. The hole will be filled to the bottom with epoxy.

Stacy
 
The Acraglass is thinner than the Devcon, I take a rod and spear Acraglass on the tang and inside the handle and on any spacers and put the handle together. Then pour around the tang until the handle is full between the tang and handle material, then screw on the pommel. If the handle doesn't have a pommel I spear everything then pour some in the handle and push it over the tang letting all excess push out and clamp.
 
Thanks again to everyone.

Stacy
Great tip on how to fill the hole using a stir stick.

Can the white dye be mixed to match solid white stag?
 
I have used white acrilic hobby paint and works well as a dye .lots of colors helps to blend around pin holes when its matched up better. kellyw
 
the stir stick is a neat trick but you will not need it with accraglass. Brownell's sells black brown and white accraglass toner and it is all very concentrated so you only use very little. you can also get it in three sizes of bulk reson and hardner wich is way cheaper than the gun kits. if you need a faster setting just heat it to 130 or so and it will set in about two hours. this is reccomended by brownell's in some of their lititure on accraglass. heating also makes it nearly as thin as water and it will pour into very tight spaces. if there are any spaces at all in your handle material it will run into and fill them. This is good and bad. I have had it run out of a slightly loose spacer joint and run onto the floor. with very pourus material like deer and elk horn it is adviseble to drill a hole down into the pithy part and fill it up with accraglass and let it soak in. try and keep the hole ful until the glue starts to setup, then let it harden and redrill your tang hole in the glue. this is extra work but I have had to reglue a couple of horn handles on because all the glue was absorbed into the pith of the horn.
 
I just turned on the computer after mixing up some colored dye and gluing up 20 knife handles ( todays batch). I saw this thread, and thought I would give my opinion on dying epoxy.

I realize that a lot of people have got away with using colored model paint and other things for dye, but the only colorants I would use are the dry powder colorants made for epoxy. I keep a jar of black,white, red, and tan. The total cost for the four is about $28. It will last me a 5 years, and most makers will never buy any again. By blending the four I can make a fair to excellent match for almost any wood color. It takes only a tiny dot of the dry colorants to color 20 grams of epoxy.The small screwdriver tip scoops up ( about a small snuff pinch) will dye 60 grams of epoxy.

Using paint and non-epoxy dyes can affect the cure rate, and degree of cure on epoxy. It may not be noticeable, but some effect is made. Just as using the right quenchant will make the most out of your steel, using the right dye will make the most out of your epoxy.

Stacy
 
K&G was my standard and only epoxy for years. It is perfect for knife work, and takes K&G's colorants well.
Now I use T-88 for almost all glue up ( and I can get it locally). To emphasize how strong it is. I had a sashimi knife that showed a bad flaw ( hidden bark inclusion) in the scales when doing the handle grinding. There were six rivets in the handle. Since the knife was for an order, I took the piece to the band saw and cut the scales off parallel to the tang, cutting through the rivets. I ground the remainder to the tang, leaving nothing but the flush ground 1/8" rivets glued in the3/16" tang holes. I had to punch them out with a good whack on the punch as they were as solid as the tang (almost).
Stacy
 
How is K&G or T-88 for filling up stick tang holes?

where is a good place to order K&G,T-88 or even Acraglass for that matter? I know a couple places to get Acraglass but I think it is only sold in kits.

Mr.Burke
Is it a good idea to scrape and drill away as much pith as possible in stag that has a lot of pith like Elk or White tail deer and fill with Acraglass or is it better to just thin the Acraglass by warming it and alow it to saturate into the pith?
 
R.H.Clark said:
where is a good place to order K&G,T-88 or even Acraglass for that matter? I know a couple places to get Acraglass but I think it is only sold in kits.

Mr.Burke
Is it a good idea to scrape and drill away as much pith as possible in stag that has a lot of pith like Elk or White tail deer and fill with Acraglass or is it better to just thin the Acraglass by warming it and alow it to saturate into the pith?
Click to expand...

This is a kit of hardner and resin. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=3767/pid=1033/sku/28_oz__Resin_and_7_oz__Hardener order it direct from brownell's.

I have done it both ways and don't really have a preference. but i usually just drill a hole and let the pith wick up the acraglass thinking that the matrix of the pith will reenforce the glue.
 
K&G resin - K&G Knife supply
System Three T-88 Structural Epoxy- Woodcraft ( and any dealer that handles System Three adhesives)
Acraglass - Brownells; gun supply catalogs; some gun shops

Stacy
 
I did not see this trick mentioned in the thread about acraglas. When you mix it together, you will see air bubbles in it. I put the acraglas container on top of my vibratory marker and press it on a piece of scap steel, and turn it on full strength. You will see all of the bubbles come out of the acraglas.
That should make for a better seal.
Fred
 
Good tip, Fred. Keep in mind that you don't have to mix the stuff quicly. Just slow, even mixing for 4 minutes. There's no need to whip it up.

--nathan
 
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