This is great stuff gang! As "pure" scientific research, this testing is outstanding and, to date, has yielded what I think everyone agrees is very interesting results. Kudos.
On a practical note, I would like to see how these products or product types perform under realistic stresses as would be endured by a knife handle/bolster.
For example, the most common type of stress endured by a knife handle would be created by prying something or being dropped, even from a considerable hieght (for blades used by tradesman or building construction workers, perhaps). Under those conditions, the handle would most likely, but not always, have the support of multiple pins, which would create yet another axis of support perpendicular to the main "glued" surfaces. This strengthens the bond exponentially against the kind of forces that are replicated by the tapping test.
By no means am I suggesting that the tapping test is irrelavent. Quite the contrary--All things being equal, the strongest adhesive, as revealed by the tapping test, will also be the strongest adhesive in a pinned handle. I only wish to point out that even the least of these products as tested, may serve perfectly for a lifetime and longer in a well pinned handle (and I'll bet someone reading this can testify to as much).
I would be very interested in seeing a prying test to see how far a given bar can be bent before adhesive failure. Not even pins could prevent that (I wouldn't think).
Again, gentlemen, do not take this as a critisism. I am impressed by the scientific method you have chosen to employ and I, like many of the others who are "glued" to every addition to this thread, am grateful for the research you have undertaken (at your own expense no less). Thank you.
Drive on!
Andy
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