- Joined
- Sep 27, 2007
- Messages
- 7,680
Got home from work today to find a package I've been anxiously awaiting! About six square feet of handle material! Don't ask me how much it cost....I blew my grinder belt budget on this stuff! I was thrilled to find some silver twill G-10 for a pretty decent price all things considered, a big sheet of 2x2 twill Carbon to add to the stockpile, and some black and blue carbon fiber/kevlar.
Since the blade is waiting to be sent out to heat treat, and the new material came in I decided to get some scales glued up and ready for when the knife gets back.
Decided to go with the black and blue carbon and kevlar for the West Coast Hunter. Went to the liner pile and I think some .065" thick orange will pop nicely with the black/blue slabs.
Laying out some slabs and liners and working on the band to get my pieces cut.
Next I mark the center lines of the slabs and liners and come in about 3/4" from the ends with a sharpie. More on this in a moment.....
Now I go to the drill press and drill some divots out of both the slab and liner pieces in order to create pools for the expoxy to collect in, giving me a stronger and thicker bond. I keep the divots very close to the center lines that I drew on the handle material. I've learned from past mistakes that if you drill these divots too far out from the center of the scale or liner, they will appear during handle shaping..........not good!
**EDIT** I should not here that I drill divots in both the liner AND the slab. The more volume the better for the bond. I realized when I saw the pics posted that the carbon fiber slabs are too dark in the pics and you can't really see then divots so I wanted to mention it.
After the divots are drilled, I go to the bench and using some nice chunky 50 grit paper and a sanding block, I rough up the surfaces to be glued really good using windex to keep the harmful dust from flying. I should note though that I also wear a respirator during the whole pocess as well.
After the material is good and roughed up, I go to the sink and thoroughly wash all of the pieces in warm water with Dawn detergent, giving them a good scrubbing. Then they are laid out on a clean paper towel and allowed to dry. Next comes a good wipe down with first acetone, and then rubbing alcohol to to make sure they are totally clean and ready for bonding. I take care at this point to not touch them anymore without gloved hands.
All scuffed up and clean and ready for a batch of West Systems G-Flex slow cure epoxy. I love the G-Flex. From what I understand it was originally designed for marine applications and when cured has the slightest amount of flex to it which can help absorb shock and keeps the bond strong. I've done some pretty tough destruction testing with it using both G-10 and micarta laminations. I eventually good separate the bond but only after serious abuse with a hammer and large chunks of concrete. It's tough stuff for sure! Plus, Alpha sells it and they get tons of my business!
After mixing up a small batch of epoxy, I apply it liberally, but evenly to both pieces being bonded, making sure there is enough to squeeze out of all four sides of the handle slabs so that I know there is contact along the whole surface of the slabs/liners. I use standard wax paper from the kitchen aisle on my bench when I clamp up my slabs. Once the epoxy is cured, it comes right off and there is no mess to clean up. Works great! Speaking of clamping, for handle laminates I like to use these super cheap black spring clamps form Grizzly Industrial. They break in easily, and once they've softened up just a touch they are the perfect amount of pressure to hold the slabs and liners together nice an secure without squeezing so hard that they press all of the epoxy out from between your materials. Less than a dollar each I think if you buy a ten pack.
Finally, a shot of the materials all glued up. They sit here for the next 24-36 hours until they cure and then I'll grind off the excess epoxy and move on to the next step.
Since the blade is waiting to be sent out to heat treat, and the new material came in I decided to get some scales glued up and ready for when the knife gets back.
Decided to go with the black and blue carbon and kevlar for the West Coast Hunter. Went to the liner pile and I think some .065" thick orange will pop nicely with the black/blue slabs.
Laying out some slabs and liners and working on the band to get my pieces cut.
Next I mark the center lines of the slabs and liners and come in about 3/4" from the ends with a sharpie. More on this in a moment.....
Now I go to the drill press and drill some divots out of both the slab and liner pieces in order to create pools for the expoxy to collect in, giving me a stronger and thicker bond. I keep the divots very close to the center lines that I drew on the handle material. I've learned from past mistakes that if you drill these divots too far out from the center of the scale or liner, they will appear during handle shaping..........not good!
**EDIT** I should not here that I drill divots in both the liner AND the slab. The more volume the better for the bond. I realized when I saw the pics posted that the carbon fiber slabs are too dark in the pics and you can't really see then divots so I wanted to mention it.
After the divots are drilled, I go to the bench and using some nice chunky 50 grit paper and a sanding block, I rough up the surfaces to be glued really good using windex to keep the harmful dust from flying. I should note though that I also wear a respirator during the whole pocess as well.
After the material is good and roughed up, I go to the sink and thoroughly wash all of the pieces in warm water with Dawn detergent, giving them a good scrubbing. Then they are laid out on a clean paper towel and allowed to dry. Next comes a good wipe down with first acetone, and then rubbing alcohol to to make sure they are totally clean and ready for bonding. I take care at this point to not touch them anymore without gloved hands.
All scuffed up and clean and ready for a batch of West Systems G-Flex slow cure epoxy. I love the G-Flex. From what I understand it was originally designed for marine applications and when cured has the slightest amount of flex to it which can help absorb shock and keeps the bond strong. I've done some pretty tough destruction testing with it using both G-10 and micarta laminations. I eventually good separate the bond but only after serious abuse with a hammer and large chunks of concrete. It's tough stuff for sure! Plus, Alpha sells it and they get tons of my business!
After mixing up a small batch of epoxy, I apply it liberally, but evenly to both pieces being bonded, making sure there is enough to squeeze out of all four sides of the handle slabs so that I know there is contact along the whole surface of the slabs/liners. I use standard wax paper from the kitchen aisle on my bench when I clamp up my slabs. Once the epoxy is cured, it comes right off and there is no mess to clean up. Works great! Speaking of clamping, for handle laminates I like to use these super cheap black spring clamps form Grizzly Industrial. They break in easily, and once they've softened up just a touch they are the perfect amount of pressure to hold the slabs and liners together nice an secure without squeezing so hard that they press all of the epoxy out from between your materials. Less than a dollar each I think if you buy a ten pack.
Finally, a shot of the materials all glued up. They sit here for the next 24-36 hours until they cure and then I'll grind off the excess epoxy and move on to the next step.
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Here is a pic of the test piece I did today. The left hand side of the piece is after rough grinding with a 60 grit belt. The right side was finished to 800 grit, wet hand sanded with SC paper. The kevlar fabric doesn't seem to get impregnated with the resin much, if at all. You can see how loos the fabric fibers are on the left side after grinding. Even after finishing to 800 grit, if you run your finger over it it feels like fabric, not like a durable handle material. As you can see it also finishes very hazy. The blue doesn't stand out like some other blue or red carbon fiber mixes I've seen. To make it worse.....I got a 12 x 24 sheet of the stuff and it's not cheap! 
