Glue Problem.

[Mungo Park]

I have a folding knife kit with nickle silver bolsters and brass liner(if that is what it is called)
The brass is quite thin. I glued my wood scales to the brass. I used epoxie and sanded the brass with 80 grit paper, and cleaned the brass with dish soap and alcohol. Once the glue was dry I started to hand sand the scales, while doing this I droped the piece on the floor and the scale poped off the brass!!! Is this normal or am I glueing wrong.
I want to reglue the scale back on but think that I have a weak bond and fear the scales will pop off again once the knife is finished. I did not pin and pien the scales as I was still shaping them. Will pins and Piening them keep the scales on?
Cheers Ron.

[markd]

Pins and peining will definitely help. Don't know what glue you are using, but there are currently "glue wars" being performed in GCKRD.

[SteveS]

Originally Posted by Mungo Park

The brass is quite thin. I glued my wood scales to the brass.
I used epoxie and sanded the brass with 80 grit paper,
and cleaned the brass with dish soap and alcohol.
Once the glue was dry I started to hand sand the scales,
while doing this I droped the piece on the floor and the scale poped off the brass!!! Is this normal or am I glueing wrong.
I want to reglue the scale back on but think that I have a weak bond and fear the scales will pop off again once the knife is finished. I did not pin and pien the scales as I was still shaping them. Will pins and Piening them keep the scales on?
Cheers Ron.

Ron,

I haven't done any official testing on brass, but epoxies don't like it real well, so lots of care is needed. I learned the hard way that it's tough to rinse the soap off things.... really hard. Takes lots of time, hard water ( I learned ) is much better at removing the surfactants in the soap than soft water. An alcohol wipe won't do it. Right now I don't know what to use. The best results I've gotten are by sanding then wiping with a dry paper towel (to remove any grit). Don't touch it with ANY else (hands especially). If you have to use something, try a xylene based brake cleaner.

In any case I'll just bet it was the dish soap.

And like Markd said, if there's any way to peen or screw them on, do it.

Steve

[cedar_fluteman]

If you don't put in pins you might try JB weld. It's suppose to be great stuff. Just a thought. I think some makers even use this stuff instead of soldering there guards on there blades. But make sure both sides are really ruffed up so the glue can take hold.
Good Luck !!!!

[Mungo Park]

Thanks for the help.
I cleaned up the glue and then re cleaned the brass and wood. I roughed it up with a grey scotch bright and cleaned with brake cleaner. I used rod bond epoxie this time. It is for fishing rod buiding and is a little less stiff so if things flex a little so will the glue. Time will tell. Cheers Ron

[Mungo Park]

I do not have JB weld I have not come across any where I live but I will keep my eye out for some Cheers Ron.

[AcridSaint]

Mungo, if you're in the states you can get it just about everywhere. If you can't find it at walmart or kmart try any of the hardware stores in your area, or if all else fails get it online. I've never used it on knives (or wood for that matter), so I don't know how it would fair, but I've seen it in a lot of auto applications and it works wonders. By the way, from what I understand it's basically high temp epoxy with an alloy mixed in. I'd say devcon would work just as well if you're bonding wood to metal. If you do get it I'd suggest JB Weld and not JB Quick. The faster time may be apealing to you but I've noticed that the bond isn't as strong.

[Crex]

You can get JB Weld at any Auto Supply store. It's a standard in automotives. Good stuff in the proper applications.

[SteveS]

Check out the glue wars for more information on JBWeld for knives.

Basically with JB Weld, you have to leave a visible glue line on full tang knives - Might be ugly. On the upside, works great on bonding woods and steel.

RE: Devcon. There are much better choices out there. We aren't done testing, but for a comparable price and consistency, Golfsmith's Shafting Epoxy is a much better choice. We gonna start testing K&G's 24 hour epoxy, I'll bet that's another good choice.

Steve

[Crex]

Steve's right, JB will show. Shafting epoxy is good stuff, reminds me of Brownell's barrel bedding "acraglas"? with out the brown pigment.