Now what should i do?

Lagrange

Lagrange

Well-Known Member
I epoxied some scales on a knife out in my garage a couple of days ago. I brought the knife into the house today to finish it up. I left the knife for a while and when I came back the edges of the scales had broke loose around the edge. I used corbies to hold the handle on, and as best I can tell, thats all thats holding the scales on. There's only a couple of places that the epoxy appears to let loose...or whatever. I dont know what to do. I thought about trying to get some sort of glue up under the scales and re-clamp them until it sets, but I'm not sure how to do it and get enough clue into the crack. This is a knife promised to a customer for this weekend and I dont have any more of the same scale material that the customer requested. If I try to remove the scales I am afraid I will break the wood and I dont have any more to replace it.
Anyone have any ideas???
 
Hobby shops have a CA (crazy type glue) called Zap-A-Gap.
If you get the slowest drying time one you can add a couple specs of Black Rit Dye (or another color) it should fill right in.

Steve
 
The Zap a Gap glue idea will work, I would get the medium cure time, Do it with as much ventilation as possible.
You still may be able to deliver this weekend as long as you get some glus and get going.

Good Luck.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Somebody has to ask......

Should this knife be going out the door? If I were the buyer, I'd be ok with an explanation that the epoxy cure failed and the handle needs to be either refitted or replaced.

If some of the bond failed already,you have to consider the rest suspect....
 
I think I agree with you about this. I have been rolling this around in my head all afternoon. I just dont like the idea of having a knife out there that someone is not going to be satisfied with for a long...long time. I think I will give the customer a call and tell him the situation. I would rather be a little late then have the knife fail in any way.
I will update this after I talk to the customer.
 
I should explain a little further. I epoxied the scales on outside in the garage. It was about 50 degrees out when I did it. The knife sat in the garage on my bench for 2 days when the temp fluxed from 33 to 46 degrees. I brought it in the house and after about 4 hours I noticed the gaps. I dont know what the effects of the temp are on epoxy.
 
The effect will be that it took much longer for the epoxy to set.

You want to be in 72 degrees plus when using most epoxies for a optimal curing.. There will be or was literature with it. We can't see it so it's your call if you feel you want to bust off the scales and Do her again?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Best case. Talk to your customer and delay the delivery date and re-handle.

Worst case. Still shoot for best case but make sure the customer understands if he/she has any problems what-so-ever you'll re-handle the blade for them in the future if necessary. Probably be a good idea to aquire some new handle material and keep it on hand for just in case :)

I think most customers will be very understanding as long as good communication is kept up.

Let us know how it plays out !

-Josh
 
I Recently had a knife come back to me due to a run through the dishwasher! Needless to say the scales swoll up, and broke free from the liners but the liners stayed firm to the tang. I have always CA'd my material to my liners, then epoxy liner and scale to tang and back that up with corbies! Im pretty sure the heat from the dry cycle is what broke the CA free and it didnt effect the epoxy?? Anyhow I let the customer know new scales, new charge or if he was okay with a gap fill, and light reshape i do that for free.
I keep 3 viscosities and accelarator on the bench always!! Super great for taking care of cuts in the shop too!! The accelarator feels pretty good on cuts too!!

Lagrange Id do a rehandle and disclose the situation then reevaluate your epoxy and make sure you follow the specs.

Greg
 
I would make sure to talk with the buyer. However, when I have had to fix handles that have separated a little bit because of wood changes, I use a syringe with epoxy in it and shoot it into the gaps, and then use 90% rubbing alcohol with a paper towel to get rid of the excess.
 
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