mosaic pins

I have someone who wants me to make them a knife, and wants me to use mosaic pins in the handle. Are mosaid pins very strong? And what is the best way to install them and make them look good? (and be durable) I like to use the Loveless bolts, but the customer wants mosaic pins. Help!

Mosaic pins are more for their beauty than their strength. I would recommend using a GOOD quality epoxy, or my personal favorite Accra-Glass, for attaching the slabs/handle. You can very lightly, pein the mosaic pins, but caution must be used to avoid deforming the pins, or splitting the handle material (natural type materials)
I normally attach the slabs one at a time, using the tang as a drill guide once the accura-glass is set. I then attach the other slab and use the affixed slab (already glued in place) as a drill quide for the remaining slab. The mosaic pins are then placed with accura glass and allowed to set. I grind/sand everything together, being careful not to overdue the handle materials surrounding the pin.

Ed's recommendation is almost exactly how I do it. The other thing I do, for added strength, is to drill small epoxy pockets on the inside face of my handle material. They need not be very deep and don't get too close to the edges. Also, the Acra-glass advice is pure gold. Most epoxies (that I have tried) are not both heat and water resistant. You can get it from Brownell's at www.bronwells.com .

Brett

www.brownells.com
Has anyone ever used any of the glass micro beads in their epoxy? I have seen them advertized and they claim to add considerable strength to epoxy. I was wondering if the arcaglass epoxy sold by brownells uses something similar?
Mike

Joe,

This may just be an afterthought, but I'll add this because of what I've come across.

If you have more than one pin in the handle, be sure to rotate them both to match each other. When you are setting them into the handle and have the epoxy going, it's easy to forget something as easy as this. I use a pair of needle nose pliers to ensure that they match each other. It's a small detail, but people notice.

Hope this helps.

Chris

...Another thing that I do is to notch the sides of the pins (I use a Dremel cut-off wheel for this job, but a file would work just as well). This gives the epoxy another place to bite, and makes the pin installation more secure.

NOTE: make sure you put the notches well below the point where you will be finishing the handle. You don't want one of them showing up on the surface of a nearly completed knife!