MEMBER ITEMS FOR SALE
Custom Knives | Other Knives | General Items
-------------------------------------------
New Posts | New PhotosAll Photos



Go Back   The Knife Network Forums : Knife Making Discussions > KNet Classifieds :: For-Sale Forums > The Supply Center

The Supply Center What's Hot ... and where the deals are! Supplies are our specialty ...

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 07-03-2007, 09:03 AM
Paul Gibson Paul Gibson is offline
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Maryville, TN
Posts: 82
Cheap (local) epoxy for mosaic pins.

Just a little nugget of experience that I thought I would share. Stop me if you've heard this one...

I did about 10 test attempts at creating mosaic pins, with little luck.

The problem always seemed to be with my epoxy being too thick. Since I didn't want to wait around for an order of "the good stuff" to get to me, I bought every type of epoxy I could find locally - all with terrible results. Until I tried the cheap no-name stuff from Hobby Lobby. It is called "Ultrafast Epoxy Cement" and was $3. (http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item....at=10&Search=Y)

It is cheap, has very low fumes, is very fluid, takes color well (I used india ink) and it sets in what I call "a useful way". For the first 2 or 3 minutes, it is very fluid. Then over the next 1.5 minutes it turns very hard, very fast. Within 15 minutes, it felt like stone. I let it sit 24 hours anyway just to be sure. But since it sets so fast, it makes keeping the epoxy in place after you get it sucked in the pin a lot easier. You can basically draw the epoxy through the pin like normal, then put your thumb over the tubing end and wait one minute. Then you're done.

I also found a nice trick. I used the standard vinyl tubing as a straw for drawing the epoxy up the pin, but I made one modification. Instead of just slipping the tubing on one end and putting the other end in the epoxy, I first put a wrap of electrical tape around the top and bottom of the pin. In addition to the 6" "straw" that most use, I put a small length (about 1/3") of tubing on the bottom of the pin. So the pin is kind of suspended in between two lengths of tubing. The electrical tape and extra tubing save you from having to clean or cut off the ends, giving you more usable pin!

Not as good as the expensive stuff I'm sure, but useful if want to play around making some pins and don't want to order anything. (assuming you have a Hobby Lobby near by)

They also carry K&S metal rods and tubes you can use for the pin itself!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 07-03-2007, 11:25 AM
Ray Rogers's Avatar
Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
Founding Member / Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
Posts: 9,840
Very interesting, Paul. The cheap glue will probably be just fine for this application as long as it doesn't shrink excessively over time.....


__________________

Your question may already have been answered - try the Search button first!






Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 07-03-2007, 11:28 AM
Paul Gibson Paul Gibson is offline
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Maryville, TN
Posts: 82
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray Rogers
as long as it doesn't shrink excessively over time.....
Yeah, that is my only concern. I actually set up a test of two small slabs of ebony with a 1/16 gap filled with this stuff. I'm checking it with my caliper every once in a while to see if there is any shrinkage. So far (5 days) it hasn't moved a thousandth. *fingers crossed*
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 07-03-2007, 12:51 PM
NJStricker's Avatar
NJStricker NJStricker is offline
Hall of Famer
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Central Ohio
Posts: 2,193
Paul,

My brother is a chemist and the companies he has worked for make adhesives for custom applications. One of their ways of testing the long-term durability of adhesives is a freeze/heat test. They have expensive freezers and ovens to do the testing, but the idea is to expose the adhesive to several cycles of extreme heat and cold (they also use UV radiation for some applications) in an accelerated attempt to see how the materials stand up to exposure over time. You may not want to put the ebony in an oven, at least not at very high temperatures, but you could stick it in a freezer and see how much shrinkage occurs (in the cold and again when the material returns to room temperature).

Nathan
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 07-03-2007, 11:41 PM
Paul Gibson Paul Gibson is offline
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Maryville, TN
Posts: 82
Nathan,
Sounds like a plan. You would be suprised how hot ebony can get before it ignites. I have used it as a socket material for firedrills and had it so hot that it scorched the oak block it was epoxied to (also, the epoxy failed). But once it gets going, good luck putting it out!

I think I will give it a few heatgun/freezer cycles and see what it does!

Thanks for the tip!
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 07-04-2007, 06:00 PM
Terry_Dodson Terry_Dodson is offline
Skilled
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 376
Do you have any pics of the mosaic pins? I am thinking about trying to make some myself and read somewhere that you could mix acetone with the epoxy to make it thinner, do you know if this would work?
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 07-19-2020, 10:00 AM
jimmontg jimmontg is offline
Guru
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Now live in Las Cruces NM.
Posts: 1,345
I'll add that store Like lowes and Home Depot carry some tubing and rods.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 07-21-2020, 06:50 AM
Crex's Avatar
Crex Crex is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Acworth, GA and/or Hanging Dog, NC
Posts: 3,583
Save your lips - go to Harbor Freight and buy one of those cheap brake bleeder pump kits (coupon is good to use here). Simple to set up and you can get a nice easy vacuum pull with just a couple of squeezes. Plus you don't have to figure out how to get the red epoxy off your teeth.....


__________________
Carl Rechsteiner, Bladesmith
Georgia Custom Knifemakers Guild, Charter Member
Knifemakers Guild, voting member
Registered Master Artist - GA Council for the Arts
C Rex Custom Knives

Blade Show Table 6-H
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 07-21-2020, 02:32 PM
Paul Gibson Paul Gibson is offline
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Maryville, TN
Posts: 82
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crex View Post
Save your lips - go to Harbor Freight and buy one of those cheap brake bleeder pump kits (coupon is good to use here). Simple to set up and you can get a nice easy vacuum pull with just a couple of squeezes. Plus you don't have to figure out how to get the red epoxy off your teeth.....
Ha! Yeah, I guess the wording in the original post was a little vague on that point: but yeah, I used (and still use) a little hand held vacuum pump that came with a brake bleeding kit.

Grainger is a great source for the tubing too. For small diameter nickle silver wire, you can find spools for pretty cheap online.

Hitting a slow cure epoxy with a heat gun to thin it works really well too (picked that one up from Sandy Jack). I think the reason that original experiment worked well is the addition of the ink accelerated the cure, which in turn increased the heat and thereby thinned the epoxy. Heat gun works the same way, but in reverse.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 12-16-2020, 08:35 AM
Thomas Walther Thomas Walther is offline
Registered
 
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: turkey
Posts: 8
Hi we Produce in second Generation and set the highest quality standards in mosaic and logo Pin making since 1996
We use German machines and equipment best quality Products to make sure that we can bring the Top Quality Pins for Custom Handmade Knives.
We can also produce high Quality Knife Handle Pins with your own Logos and Design.
Materials : brass outer tube, brass, Epoxy resin
8 mm / 0.31 inch - 100 mm / 3.93 inch length
10 mm / 0.39 inch - 100 mm / 3.93 inch length
You can have our mosaic pins for knife making, metal work, jewelry making
Our pages where you can buy products from me ⬇️
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CustomKniv...g_id=893357840
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
brass, buy, ca, cheap, easy, epoxy, handmade knives, home, how to, kits, knife, knife making, knives, made, mosaic, ore, pins, post, scandi, simple, store, surface


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:14 AM.




KNIFENETWORK.COM
Copyright © 2000
? CKK Industries, Inc. ? All Rights Reserved
Powered by ...

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
The Knife Network : All Rights Reserved