Newbie here in search of some advise and wisdom- which glue?

[lar45]

Hello everybody, my wife bought me a propane fired forge for father's day because the boys and I were talking about wanting to make some knifes.

The only thing I had on hand to work with was some mystery metal round bar about .75" OD. So I stuck in in the forge and chiseled off a piece to start hammering on.

I hammered it down to about 1/4" in thickness, then started shaping the blade to be a straight taper from the spine to the edge. I left the handle long to have something to hold onto and ground it down to size afterwards.
I spent a few hours with a Mill Bastard file and got to this point.

The blade ended up being about 7" long and didn't look right, so I cut an inch off the end and reshaped it.
Once I had it about looking like a knife, I put it back into the forge and heated until it turned non-magnetic and quenched in some tractor hydraulic fluid. It turned out fairly straight and only needed a few love taps to get it all in line again. I heated up the oven to 450 and tempered it for an hour, then turned off the stove and let it cool over night.
I found Jantz supply for knife stuff and ordered a brass finger gaurd. I filed it out to fit the tang and silver soldered in place.
While clearing brush this spring we cut down a Cedar tree and I saved part of the stump. I cut some scales out of part of it and epoxied them in place with some Harbor freight 2 part quick set epoxy. I don't know if I didn't degrease the shank good enough or what, but the glue didn't stick to the metal and started coming off while I was shaping the wood on the belt sander.

Sooooo, I thought I would stop and ask for some assistance. What kind of epoxy should I use to glue the scales on?
I'm hoping that I can just sand the harbor freight glue off and go back with something better.
I have some 5/16" brass round stock that I was thinking of using at a rivet to hold the handle together after the glue has set. Or if I have the right kind of glue, will I need to rivet, or just use some pins. In looking at it, the 5/16" looks to be abit on the large side, so I may have to order in something smaller. Any help on what size they should be?
I saw a knife at a gun show that used roll pins instead of like a brass or silver/nickel...

I did order some 1080 and 5160 in different sizes to use after this one is done. I haven't sharpened the blade yet, but it will shave on parts of it already, so I taped it up with a strip of gorilla tape while shaping the handle.

I know that I have probably made a bunch of mistakes, so... Any constructive comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Drew Riley]

West System makes really good epoxy. A lot of makers like the G-Flex. Acraglas is also a really good epoxy. Both are gonna be a bit pricier than your big box store Loctites or Gorilla glues (both of which will also work just fine), but they're a superior product.

At any rate, I woud never trust JUST epoxy to hold handle scales in place, especially if you're going to be chopping with it. Even a couple of 1/8" brass pins, lightly peened on each end, will hold scales better than epoxy. The only thing I really count on epoxy for is water proofing the inside of the handle. I rely on mechanical fasteners (usually corby bolts/rivets which can also be found at Jantz) to keep things in place for the long term.

Another tip for getting the most out of your glue joints though: Don't over clamp. If you clamp too tight, all the adhesive sqeezes out, and you'll have a "starved joint". A couple of light spring clamps is all you need to hold things in place while your glue cures. Even just a little bit of electrical or masking tape will do.

As for quenching in hydraulic fluid, I think you'll get better mileage out of a gallon or two of Canola or Peanut oil, and the vapors won't be as harmful. Even better would be an engineered quenchant like Parks #50 or AAA. Look at Maxim Oil in Texas. They're prices are better than most, and shipping to Arkansas shouldn't be bad at all.

Looks like you need a fine job on your first. Keep it up!

 

[Drew Riley]

Oh,, and don't be afraid to round those scales a bit more. A lot of new makers (and even some older makers) suffer from BHS (blocky handle sydrome).

Take some putty or play dough and squeeze it in your hand. You likely wont find any straight lines or flat spots. Not that you want to make it round like a broom handle either, but an egg/oval shaped cross section works really well. A little curve in the handle will make it more ergonomic as well.

 

[lar45]

I have some Acra Glass GEL on hand, will that work?
I also have some Devcon 10210 metal epoxy that I used to glue a 22lr liner into a worn out 1906 Win. It cures grey, so I didn't know if I wanted that instead of a clear epoxy.
Thanks for the tips. I'm reading all the posts in the Knife Making 101 section.
Thanks again
Glenn.

 

[Smallshop]

"A lot of new makers (and even some older makers) suffer from BHS (blocky handle sydrome)."

Lol....great definition...

 

[Chris Railey]

Big fat second on the canola oil quench. I have used it many times. Give it a pre heat with a hot piece of scrap. This is the epoxy I use. I get it at Pop’s knife supply in Georgia. Actually Pop’s place is about 30 minutes from my office so I pick stuff up at times to save shipping. Pop is good people.