Super Glue and Liners?

Daniel Rohde

Daniel Rohde

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
1,050
Alright guys,

I have been hearing some pretty good things from some pretty good makers about using super glue when they are gluing up there liners, and I don't know if it's just me or what but that's always sounded a little funny and does't sound very strong. However, I have been wrong a more occasions than I would like to admit so I'm just curious: Do you use super glure for liners on your knives? I have heard that some glues actually deteriorate after several years, could that be a problem with super glue? IF you do use it what brand and consistence to you like? What are some pros and cons?

I don't want to use it if it's at all a problem but in some cases it sounds like it might even work better.....

Thanks Fellas!
 
Unfortunately I can't comment on super glue, but I have used JB Weld many times in the past. JB Weld will stick virtually anything to virtually anything with an absolutely insane amount of force. I used it successfully to repair a bicycle frame that had separated at the weld. I then proceeded to ride it for another 4 or 5 thousand miles.
 
I'm one who superglues liners to handle material. Works good with g10 or fiber. Then I use epoxy to attach the handle to the tang. The way I figure it, you're fastening the whole thing together with pins anyway. The times I've had failure, it was the epoxy to steel bond. Never had a liner/handle failure.
 
I use a lot of Cyanoacrylate glue in penmaking. I have found that it will do more than I originally thought--for example-I have used the flexible Bob Smith Industries cyano to glue together sheet metal spacers to wooden blanks and it has held up to a lot of stresses, including cutting through the wood and the metal in one pass, and also in turning the glued together wood and metal pieces on my lathe to a pen sized cylinder. So I don't know for sure, but I would think cyano would be really good at adhering to liner material, and I know it can stay for a long time glued to metal.

Good luck figuring what you wanna do--if you look on the international association of penturners web-page you can get a lot of discussion from experienced users of cyano. http://www.penturners.org/ is where you can find the IAP
 
I am also wondering about this because I was looking at the liner material that trugrit carries and they say it doesn't bond well with epoxy. It was recommended to me to use CA. I have been hesitant to try it so I'm looking forward to the responses!
 
But if the liner doesn't bond well to epoxy, are you not supposed to use epoxy on your scales to attaché them to the tang?
 
I have used superglue for liners and i think it works great. Its a good bond that sets in seconds thats thinner than epoxy and invisible. I like the medium thickness stuff. I tried it after trying with some home depot epoxy failed and it hasn't failed yet. Im pretty sure the only down side is super glue is affected by heat not sure about the actual numbers tho.
 
Watching with interest on this one. Pretty much with Daniel on this one. I have heard many people use it, would like the time savings, but don't want to compromise my product to save a little time.
 
i used to be skeptical of its strength. then i noticed steve johnson uses it, so it must be ok :)
 
I also use CA glue for fastening liners to scale material and G-Flex epoxy to adhere those to steel. CA glue is thinner and I feel there's less chance of a gap between materials with it. As for adhesion, I had a liner slip once so it was off center and needed to be replaced. I had to grind it off because it was adhered so well.
This is the thread I stumbled upon a year ago that got me started.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1201781-CA-Glue
 
Been using it for years. I use it on liners with mammoth tooth almost exclusively. Really the only handle material I put liners on, well sometimes mammoth ivory too. But always mammoth tooth. I actually sandwich tooth between liners top and bottom and then grind the top layer away when shaping the handle. The bottom layer of course becomes a liner. I've got 5 sets drying on the bench right now that I glued up last night. I use Gorilla Glue brand Super Glue. The regular formula not the gel. Its a medium consitency CA. I have done this hundreds of times and not had a failure. My knives, even the mammoth tooth handled ones, get cowboyed with. They are put into some tough situations in all weathers. I wouldn't hesitate.
 
C/A glues are not famous for water resistance. The way to unglue two fingers stuck together with C/A is to soak them in warm water.
 
I will often CA glue g10 liners to my scales, rough cut and drill them, and then epoxy them liner side to the tang. The major caveat here, however, is that I always use a mechanical fastener to fix the scale with liners to the handle.

That way, if and when the glue fails or begins to deteriorate, there's no separation. In my mind, epoxy is just a gasket to seal against moisture getting under the scales and rusting the tang. Since this isn't an issue between scale and liner, and CA is faster setting, I use accordingly.
 
tiguy7 said:
C/A glues are not famous for water resistance. The way to unglue two fingers stuck together with C/A is to soak them in warm water.
Click to expand...

I am confident that you would have your fingers in water for a loooooong time before they would come apart, and I think that would only be due to your skin failing! I have soaked pens I assembled with CA glue for months doing a test (actually on the ink cartridge) and the CA glue stayed as good as original.
 
Yep I had the unthinkable happen. Made a local guy a set of damascus steak knives with mammoth tooth/camel bone handles to give his wife for her birthday. They had some folks over for dinner and they got talking and she tossed em in the sink full of soapy water and forgot them. Next morning the husband finds em. Quickly oils the blades to retard any further rusting and brings them to me for fixing. Well no fixing involved. Little sanding with some 2,000 grit on the blades, little buffing on the bolsters and nothing to do on the handles. Still being used to this day with no further problems.
 
Thanks for all the helps guys! Looks like I will be giving it a try, not sure what bran of glue I will use yet but will find somthing.

DR...
 
I use Loctite Go 2 Glue for gluing my liners to my scales. The glue is a rubberized glue. It allows some time to set up, unlike super glue. When I counter-bore my holes for the fasteners, I always make sure the shoulder of the hole doesn't go down into the liner material, that way the scale is clamped against the tang with the liner inbetween. I've never had any issues.

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/go2_glue/overview/Go2-Glue.htm
 
I'm pretty new so I can't speak for longevity but I'd like to contribute where I can. I have been using the stick-fast stuff from premium knife supply and it has worked well for me. Just remember you have about 10 seconds to do final adjustments and then you're s.o.l.
 
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