bonding stainless sheet material to micarta

I AM NEW IN KNIFE MAKING AND AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE BONDING OF THE STAINLESS SHEET MATERIAL TO THE MICARTA OR THE FIBER SPACING MATERIAL. HAS ANYONE HAD SIMILAR PROBLEMS? I HAVE NOTICED WHEN I CLAMP THEM TOGETHER IT SQUEEZES OUT MOST OF THE EPOXY, IT DOES NEED TO BE CLAMPED-DOESN'T IT? ANYONES HELP IN THIS MATTER WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.-THANKS

Jason, when I do this, the first step has to be to scuff up the surfaces of the sheet steel (or nickel silver, or whatever) with sandpaper. follow this by wiping all components down with acetone. Find a board that is larger than the pieces you are gluing up (this will be used as a caul), and prepare 2 sheets of waxed paper the same size as the board.

Mix up the epoxy, and spread it on the first piece of the assembly, which should be resting on one sheet of waxed paper on your workbench. Add the next component, and repeat until all the pieces you want to put together are present and glued.


Lay the second piece of waxed paper over the whole thing, and rest the board on top of the assembly. Now, weight the board with a couple of bricks, or 5-10 lbs. of scrap metal, and let the glue cure overnight.

This seems to work the best for me, although despite my best efforts, there is occasionally a gap or a delamination in some area. I work in 1 foot strips, and cut the pieces for a particular knife from this assembled stock, saving the rest for the next project. This way, if I run into a piece with a problem, I can cut another chunk from the glued up assembly.

I've been running into this same problem , the only difference is I'm using Accuglas. Getting absolutely no adhesion to the brass spacers. Using the same procedure that Don described and all i'm getting is aggravated :-)

Is it not sticking, or is it coming apart later? I know that if you start finishing up your handle and generate heat, the epoxy will loose it's gripping power. You must let it set up (24 hrs for me) well past its "required time" to get it to stick well.

Personally, I still think humidity has something to do with adhesion as well.

Bob, they are coming apart when I start to shape them. Doesn't seem to be adhesion to the metal. Liners bond fine to themselves. superglue will bond just fine. Seems as if the accuglass is too heavy to flow into the scratches on the metal.

I tried using acraglass this winter for the first time with some poor results. Though I heated the acraglass to the specs on the label, my shop was cold and I'm thinking that temperature was the culpret in the poor bond. I'll give it another try this summer.

I did have some excellant luck in using the same acraglass to seal some wooden scales. Not only did it do an excellant job of filling the pores of the wood but gave it a very nice finish.

Gary

We have always found epoxy bonding difficulties can be reduced to a few things.

1. Type of epoxy (we us conapp, recommended by Loveless the "Living Legend").

2. That its properly mixed.

3. Parts must be free from greaase and oil.

4. Parts must be allowed to fully cure.

5. No heat heat must be conducted throught the blade and handle when finishing. Steel (brass, etc...) pins and bolsters heat rapidly and can destroy an epoxy bond in a moment. We avoid heat by doing all machine work pre-assembly.

<a href="mailto:DaveBolton@Smithand...Knives.com</a>


Smith and Bolton Knives