Kitchen knife handle: Which epoxy?

[xardoz]

I'm putting a new handle on my dad's favorite kitchen knife. It's an ugly blade, but great for slicing tomatos.

The previous handle was plastic scales fastened to a full-tang blade with aluminum rivets. Moisture had gotten under the plastic scales, rusting the tang. I've chosen dymond wood to make slightly oversized scales to make a hidden tang handle rather like a tsuka - two scales mated with a carved section for the tang.

The tang is drilled for three pins, which seems like overkill to me for a kitchen knife. I haven't decided whether or not to pin the handle. If I drill through the scales for pins, each pin is another potential entry point for water. If I don't, will epoxy by itself be enough to hold the blade in place? In either case, is there a particular brand or type of epoxy that would be better?

[Drac]

There was some testing on glues a while back. http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/sh...light=adhesive

As for pinning, definitely use pins or some other fastener. If you use pins you will be epoxying them in so that will prevent moisture that way. The main thing is to keep it out of the dish washer. You probably know this but it never hurts to remind your father.

Let's see the knife; I actually love some of those old ugly kitchen knives. I love to cook and some of those blackened over sharpened knives are great. When I go through antique stores I always look for some, but they are hard to find as people either hoard them or throw them out.

Jim

[xardoz]

Thanks! Do you want to see the raw blade, or just wait for the finished project?

I'm thinking about using hidden pins - drilling from the inside to just about halfway through the scale, so the scales snap together kind of like Legos, with the blade sandwiched between them.

If I don't do that, I do have some stablized maple I can make pins from, which would be a nice contrast with the walnut dymondwood.

I'm starting to like that idea, actually.

[Drac]

Both, of course .

I will say I do like using hidden bolts on kitchen knives.

Jim

[Ray Rogers]

I make a LOT of kitchen knives and have re-handled many old knives. My favorite epoxy for the full tang knives is K&G Finishing's house brand. This is some super tough, chemically resistant, strong glue! I have used it to repair pressurized water pipes, the pump housing on a 2 hp gasoline powered water pump, a hand vranked gasoline pump, the mirror mount on my jeep, the argon fitting on my Paragon heat treat furnace..the list goes on. The only down side to this stuff is that it has to be mixed by weight so you'll need a postage scale but, once you get the hang of it, it's hard to beat.

The handle style you're talking about doing is called a mortissed tang. You might get away with using glue without pins on some kitchen knives but my general advice would be to always use pins or bolts on a knife handle...

[xardoz]

Thanks Ray! The more I think about it, it will make assembly easier if I drill through for pins from the begining. That way I've indexed the scales to the tang and it will be harder for me to misalign - in theory.