Stir Sticks and Glue Spatulas

[Horsewright]

This has come up in a couple of different threads lately as an aside. This is a great idea and works extremely well. I haven't used anything else for 12-14 years.

It's one of those great ideas that's so good ya wish it was your own but it's not. Jim was a service guy for Sears. We have a small garden tractor and he was at the house servicing it. I was busy working in the shop grinding knives. Most of that I do outside and as he was done working he came over and asked what I was doing. Turned out he was BF member. He asked if he could come over on some days off and just hang out and learn how to make a knife. He'd push a broom, do busy work, bring the whiskey, didn't matter, just wanted to learn. This was his idea.

So you've done worn out your band saw blade. In this case a portaband. Normally ya just toss em but this one is gonna get repurposed.

Hammer it flat so ya break the blade.

Then using your vise, break it into about 4 inch lengths:

Once ya have it in those 4 inch pieces you can use the vise or a pair of pliers and bend one end up.

I then use a flat disc to round off the sharp corners on the end we did not bend:

That's it we're done! I store them in an old dixie cup. Keep em by your glue and you are ready to go.

The perfect glueing stick. The rounded corners help not to rip up your surface that you are mixing on. Lots of folks and I do, will mix on magazine paper and this allows ya not to rip that paper all to shreds. The bent end works great to be able to pick up your gluing stick off a flat surface. Heck ya even have teeth for scraping off excess just like a trowel. Good use for that old blade. It's such a cool idea that I wished I'd come up with it but I didn't. Thanks Jim.

 

[navman]

great idea! I have been using popsicle sticks for 2 part epoxy mixing and handle scale glue up. Did my first two leather sheaths using acid brushes to apply the contact cement, but bought a 3 pack of those reusable glue spatulas and love em.

 

[Horsewright]

great idea! I have been using popsicle sticks for 2 part epoxy mixing and handle scale glue up. Did my first two leather sheaths using acid brushes to apply the contact cement, but bought a 3 pack of those reusable glue spatulas and love em.

For leather I use those disposable foamy brushes. Ya can find big tubs of em for like $10 at some of the art stores. What glue you using for leather?

 

[navman]

Eco-weld water based contact cement the guy at Tandy recommended. Seems to work well, though I have nothing to compare it to.

 

[Horsewright]

Eco-weld water based contact cement the guy at Tandy recommended. Seems to work well, though I have nothing to compare it to.

Next time you are at the Depot getcha a small can of Dap Weldwood contact cement in the green can, not the red. I've used nothing else for over 16 years now and I'm not changing. I keep it on the bench in a lil ketchup like squeeze bottle and then use those foamy brushes. Better glue lines, water based, no headaches from fumes and lots of hold. Also it's a flexible bond ya can sew through. Doesn't set up so hard you're cracking the bond by sewing as many do. The red can is just plain old fashion contact cement, get the green.

 

[navman]

Just chalk that up to one more thing I am learning from you. Your "How to" posts have been invaluable.

 

[Horsewright]

Just chalk that up to one more thing I am learning from you. Your "How to" posts have been invaluable.

Thanks for the kind words. Love to help if I can.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Bandsaw blades make good flat springs, too.

 

[godogs57]

Popsicle sticks…have four grandchildren and a lifetime supply of sticks on my bench. I used to use the ketchup cups from Wendy’s restaurants to mix in but found church communion cups perfect in size for the task. Buy em by the thousand off Amazon for next to nothing.

I use Barge cement for my leather but years ago we got new carpet in our bedroom. The carpet layer used some sort of glue in a king sized ketchup bottle type applicator. He gave me a brand new bottle when he left and that stuff was pure magic. Stuck fast and held together no matter what. Wish I had another bottle…amazing stuff.

 

[RedCrow]

Popsicle sticks…have four grandchildren and a lifetime supply of sticks on my bench. I used to use the ketchup cups from Wendy’s restaurants to mix in but found church communion cups perfect in size for the task. Buy em by the thousand off Amazon for next to nothing.

I use Barge cement for my leather but years ago we got new carpet in our bedroom. The carpet layer used some sort of glue in a king sized ketchup bottle type applicator. He gave me a brand new bottle when he left and that stuff was pure magic. Stuck fast and held together no matter what. Wish I had another bottle…amazing stuff.

Disposable medicine cups are even better for two part epoxy. Dirt cheap, and they have graduated measurement lines on the side, so you can get a perfect ratio by volume. Popsicle sticks are hard to beat, but I don't eat enough popsicles to keep up, so I just buy the sticks on amazon. They are only about 10 bucks for 1000 of them. That's a lot cheaper than the labor it takes to use the bandsaw blade cutoffs, although I do like the idea of using the teeth on the bandsaw blade like the notches on a trowel. At about 3.5 cents total for a medicine cup/popsicle stick combo, I can usually mix up enough epoxy for 7-8 full tang knives at a time, which works out perfectly because I only have enough clamps for 8 at a time. I turned some G10 liner scraps into reusable spreaders at one point too. They actually worked great, but even the 10-15 seconds of time it takes to wipe one off after using it is more valuable than the 1 cent that it costs to use a new popsicle stick, so I gave up on the idea of "resuable" anything when it comes to mixing glue. Probably the most "expensive" item used in glue ups for me are the gloves. But for the life of me, I can't do a glue up clean enough to not need disposable gloves, and they cost more than the cup,stick,and epoxy combined. And when I skip the gloves, I spend the next day or two with my hands looking like they are covered in tree sap.

 

[LCoop]

I don't come close to building the amount of knifes you folks do. However I use the stainless steel flat strips that I recover from worn out wiper blades. I cut them to length with diagonal cutters. They seem to come in two sizes. Both are rather small but I don't have any problem mixing my epoxy on painters tape on my table. Some sticks are so small they are ideal for putting epoxy INSIDE pin holes rather than just dabbing on epoxy on pins and then driving in. Simple clean up with DA while cleaning up excess epoxy off the blade.

 

[navman]

oh yeah...gloves are a must. I buy the 5mil in boxes from harbor freight.

 

[Horsewright]

Popsicle sticks…have four grandchildren and a lifetime supply of sticks on my bench. I used to use the ketchup cups from Wendy’s restaurants to mix in but found church communion cups perfect in size for the task. Buy em by the thousand off Amazon for next to nothing.

I use Barge cement for my leather but years ago we got new carpet in our bedroom. The carpet layer used some sort of glue in a king sized ketchup bottle type applicator. He gave me a brand new bottle when he left and that stuff was pure magic. Stuck fast and held together no matter what. Wish I had another bottle…amazing stuff.

Might have been that green Dap Wildwood I spoke of. It is made for flooring on interior jobs so as to keep the installer on the floor and not floating around on the ceiling!

Haven't worn gloves for glue up in years. I use to get a lot of drips on my drying table too where a knife would set after clamping. After a while I guess I just learned to keep the glue where it's suppose to be. The teeth on the lil trowel help.