Here's the scenario: wood scales on an etched 2000 grit finished knife. How in the world do you apply finish to the wood and keep the knife clean? I tape off as carefully as I can, but there's always some finish that needs to be scraped off, or some tape that doesn't come up right at the junction between the scales and the blade. I've been using a brass scraper, which works well on 400 or 600 grit finished blades, but it seems to scratch on the etched blade. Any ideas? What's your general method for keeping that area clean and neat looking?
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Tips/tricks for finishing handle/ricasso junction?
- Thread starter Jason Fry
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2004
- Messages
- 3,041
Are you talking about cleaning up epoxy in front of the handle without messing up the etched finish?
I used to sweat this a ton and use scrapers, etc. Now what I do is wait until the epoxy is about 85% set up. This is when its hard enough that it can snap but still soft enough that it can bend. I take a nail, stick it into the epoxy bead, and then peel that epoxy away. once ita fully hard its a b*tch to clean up but if you do this at exactly the right time, that bead will quickly pop off the etched finish and then you can "peel" it off. If you do this too early, you run the risk of pulling some of the epoxy from under the scales as it will be too flexible.
I used to sweat this a ton and use scrapers, etc. Now what I do is wait until the epoxy is about 85% set up. This is when its hard enough that it can snap but still soft enough that it can bend. I take a nail, stick it into the epoxy bead, and then peel that epoxy away. once ita fully hard its a b*tch to clean up but if you do this at exactly the right time, that bead will quickly pop off the etched finish and then you can "peel" it off. If you do this too early, you run the risk of pulling some of the epoxy from under the scales as it will be too flexible.
I've been using superglue/CA. I suppose I could finish the front edge with a few coats before attatching the scales... makes sense. Good tip on the epoxy as well. Seems like 90% of the time I work on knives is after 8 p.m., and I usally do glue ups at bed time so I can let them cure overnight. May have to alter my schedule 
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2004
- Messages
- 3,041
I've been using superglue/CA. I suppose I could finish the front edge with a few coats before attatching the scales... makes sense. Good tip on the epoxy as well. Seems like 90% of the time I work on knives is after 8 p.m., and I usally do glue ups at bed time so I can let them cure overnight. May have to alter my schedule
Oh gotcha. Yep what someone else said...finish any area like you describe100% before attaching the scales.