Warped stabilized scales

donnord

donnord

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Dec 22, 2007
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I bought some Hackberry scales at bladeshow TX from on of the big stabilized wood vendors. They were flat when I bought them and have stayed that way until I tried to use them. I epoxied some cherry wood liners about .060" thickness to the scales. When the epoxy dried one of the scales took a pretty big warp. This surprised me as these were stabilized scales. I have not had a scale warp like this in the past, then it happened with some ironwood scales but not quite as bad. There are 2 variables I am wondering about, one is the epoxy, I normally use Devcon 2 ton epoxy, but for these I used BSI 5 min epoxy. Could some heat have been generated during the cure that led to the warping? The other is the Environment I usually make knives in a hot and humid enviro at sea level. These last 2 were made at 9200' elevation in a very low humidity environment. I have built knives in this location before and did not have any warping. Or I guess it could just be a bad scale. I think I am going to put them in boiling water and see what happens.
 
1. 5 minute epoxy definitely builds heat.

2. Boiling them will definitely break the epoxy bond.

3. Climate and elevation changes can affect the wood.

4. Stabilizing isn't magic. Woods can still shrink/expand/warp.
 
I'm thinking the Epoxy maybe the root cause. All other variables have been dealt with before. I work in this area a couple of times a year and have never had issues before.
 
I usually stay away from the fast epoxy for everything but over the weekend there was nothing left but the quick cure stuff at the local hardware store.

It wasn't a knife, but I just wanted to say I mixed it with a stir stick and spread it with a gloved hand and I was very surprised at the amount of heat that stuff kicked out. Certainly worth noting for sure.
 
I like to hang onto wood for a bit before using...
If I get some scales, boards, or blocks, I like to stick them on a shelf for a few months to a year. This is "dried stuff" already.

Don't just buy and use.

If you store, after awhile you always have acclimated woods you know are use to your environment
 
Crag the Brewer said:
I like to hang onto wood for a bit before using...
If I get some scales, boards, or blocks, I like to stick them on a shelf for a few months to a year. This is "dried stuff" already.

Don't just buy and use.

If you store, after awhile you always have acclimated woods you know are use to your environment
Click to expand...
Solid advice right here. :thumbsup:
 
Update: In case anyone was wondering. It was almost certainly the 5 min epoxy as I also had some warping with a set of desert ironwood scales glued up with the same epoxy. The ironwood scales have been in the shop over a year, plenty og time to acclimate. Anyway here's what I did. I boiled the hackberry scales with the liners attached until I could remove the liners, then I wrapped the scales in parchment paper and clamped them up in a vise while still hot. After about 24 hours that took most of the warp out. Then I got greedy and tried to reverse the bend to completely remove the warp. That was a bad Idea I should've left well enough alone, because I ended up cracking the scale. After some CA glue application, the scale is still useable.
 
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