Fitting a guard without soldering.

[Stefan]

I?ve read Terry Primos?excellent article on fitting a guard with J-B Weld.

The thing is, I don?t have J-B Weld...

I?m making a hidden tang hunter scandinavian style with a damascus blade as a present for my father. Anyway, I?m going to have a nickel silver guard that will be press fit. I don?t really want to solder it, since my competence in that perticular area is slim and I don?t want to risk the expensive blade unnessecerily.

I want the joint to be water tight, as always. The thing is, why not use the epoxy that I use for the rest of the fastening of tha handle?

I mean, it?s water tight and creates a strong bond between the tang and guard, like J-B Weld. Am I missing something or is this a feasible way of doing it?

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can share with me,

Stefan

[Stefan]

My local hardwarestore has "steel-epoxy", a two component epoxy supposedly made to glue steel parts together.

But I don?t see the need for special steel epoxy since the joint only needs to be watertight.

[Jamey Saunders]

That "steel-epoxy" sounds like what those of us in the States know as JB Weld. You may not need the adhesion of steel epoxy, but it can't hurt.

[Ray Rogers]

If you have access to the 'steel' epoxy, use it. Many regular epoxies will soften with long exposure to water but JB Weld and, hopefully, that stuff you have access to don't seem inclined to do that. If you're sure your epoxy won't soften then use it if you prefer.

One reason for using JB Weld is that it sort of matches the color of steel while most epoxies are clear. This becomes more important if your guard isn't quite perfectly fitted ..........

[Stefan]

That?s good advice, thanks.

I?m trying to get the fit as close as possible (aren?t we all) but having a compund that resembles steel can?t be all bad... Hmmm. I?ll go get some steel epoxy and try it out on a test piece of silver nickel and see what it looks like. Let?s just hope it isn?t purple!

[Ray Rogers]

Yeah, purple would not be good. I add a little white pigment to my JB Weld to get it to a lighter shade of grey so there is some room to play with the color .........

[PS_Bond]

I've used both JB Weld and Araldite Steel (usually when I run out of JB Weld!). Both look the same, and seem to handle about the same. Properties after they have set seem similar too...

Halfords (car parts shop) in the UK frequently has JB Weld in stock.

Of course, the colur issue is less important if you're working with brass guards...

Peter

[Stefan]

I?m going by some hardware stores and car part stores tomorrow and check if they have anything useful. I wouldn?t be surprised if I come up with some actual JB Weld.

The pigment thing is a little more tricky, though... What kind of pigment are you using. Ordinary artists pigment or something else?

[Ray Rogers]

JB Weld is pretty dark as it comes out of the tube so I've only needed to make it lighter in color. For that, I have some white epoxy colorant that seems to work fine. With clear epoxy I sometimes use a drop of lamp black to make the glue turn black and that seems to have no ill effect. I've heard that acrylic model paints can be used.....

[SteveS]

You can use epoxy mixed with atomized steel. I've used Acraglass and atomized aluminum to get a closer color match.

However, if you fit is perfect it shouldn't matter.

Steve

[McAhron]

perfect fit.ha aha aha

maybe with a mill

[SteveS]

McAhron

When you get a chance check out a Nick Wheeler or Michael Vagnino guard fit.

I know Nick doesn't use JB Weld to fill and he fits by hand using a filing jig. His fits are so tight the final press of the guard requires jig and a hammer. He does use JB after assembly to back fill and moisture guard.

Can be done.

Steve

[whv]

welcome to ckdf, stefan. good luck with your search.