A Few Shopmade Handle Materials

[whitebuffalo58]

Part of what we do is work with solid surface countertop materials. As a result, over time, we end up with several varying colored tubes of adhesive. While cleaning out the shop awhile back, I came across several tubes that were outdated. These adhesives are a 2-part epoxy on steroids, in that they heat while curing to the point of creating a molecular bond between pieces. It dispenses through a special "caulking" style gun that delivers both parts down an auger tip that premixes it at the end. Rather then throw them out, I decided to line a loaf pan with wax paper and fill it as full as possible. I ended up with a full loaf. After filling, I poked and swirled until it was just about to start flashing off. Since this stuff is meant to cure in a micro-thin layer, or at most, a bead of squeeze out, it took several weeks to fully cure to the center. Most colors lean toward the pastel side, so aren't real dramatic. After semi-working them down on this first knife, I filled the air bubbles with clear epoxy and finished it off.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it around a 7 as an effective handle material.

WB

[OLDE CUTLER]

Part of what we do is work with solid surface countertop materials. As a result, over time, we end up with several varying colored tubes of adhesive. While cleaning out the shop awhile back, I came across several tubes that were outdated. These adhesives are a 2-part epoxy on steroids, in that they heat while curing to the point of creating a molecular bond between pieces. It dispenses through a special "caulking" style gun that delivers both parts down an auger tip that premixes it at the end. Rather then throw them out, I decided to line a loaf pan with wax paper and fill it as full as possible. I ended up with a full loaf. After filling, I poked and swirled until it was just about to start flashing off. Since this stuff is meant to cure in a micro-thin layer, or at most, a bead of squeeze out, it took several weeks to fully cure to the center. Most colors lean toward the pastel side, so aren't real dramatic. After semi-working them down on this first knife, I filled the air bubbles with clear epoxy and finished it off.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it around a 7 as an effective handle material.

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WB

That turned out to be a really interesting experiment. I have made some pens and several sets of pistol grips from a solid surface material, Corian. I am sure you know what a wide variety of colors it comes in. I made a couple of sets of pistol grips from white Corian for single action pistols and they look great. Have not tried any yet for knife handles, but it should work. The only thing that could be a problem is some small knives have very thin handles, some just over 1/16". The pens I have made look good too, it polishes up nice after a final sanding of 1500 grit on the mini turning lathe.

[FRJ]

"End Of Day" hasn't got anything on that End Of Month stuff, whitebuffalo. That's pretty neat and very creative.

[whitebuffalo58]

OC, I too have found the ss material too brittle for smaller knives, even more so then MOP. I have used it successfully on larger knives like Buck 110's/112's and Schrade LB7's and 6OT's.

Thanks Joe, I hadn't thought of it like that.

Here's one I did using fiberglass resin and just regular craft glitter.

WB

[philco]

Rob I really like the glitter effect. Makes a nice looking set of handles.

[OLDE CUTLER]

OC, I too have found the ss material too brittle for smaller knives, even more so then MOP. I have used it successfully on larger knives like Buck 110's/112's and Schrade LB7's and 6OT's.

Thanks Joe, I hadn't thought of it like that.

Here's one I did using fiberglass resin and just regular craft glitter.



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WB

That is a spectacular looking knife the way you did that! Really nice material for when you are looking for something different.

[whitebuffalo58]

Thanks Phil and OC! I haven't field tested it, but it should be durable and it won't off-gas like celluloid.

Here's a knife I did with a colored resin base and chips of fresh water mussel shell that I picked up down at the lake. It's basically the same thing as terrazzo.

WB

[jerryd6818]

Dang Rob! I had no idea that you're such a talented "arteest". Good job buddy.

[glennbad]

Cool experimenting!

[FRJ]

The Robeson is pretty cool. Did you do the file work?

[whitebuffalo58]

Thanks Guys!

Jerry, I wish I was an artist.(arteest ) Actually, my wife is the artist, I'm just a lowly craftsman. 95% of everything I've done for the past 4 decades has involved designing and creating objects for use. Once in a while I get the opportunity to play around with a few ideas. It only seemed natural to put some of those ideas to use on knives.

Joe, yes I did. A few years back Charlie Noyes was selling a few duplicate knives he got with a Robeson display case, I bought both the toothpick/fish knives. One was dead mint, the other had cracks at a couple of the handle pins. I kinda went crazy on it. Fully jimped (milled) liners, full stem to stern filework. I even made a wharncliffe secondary to replace the scaler blade. Decked the whole thing out with channel inlayed terrazzo style handles. It was a fun project, but have to admit, I was glad to get it finished.

I really appreciate the kind words fellas, glad you like 'em!


WB

[wlf]

Rob does excellent work.

I don’t know if I told you Rob, but John Lloyd almost caught his shop on fire not long after I turned that NYK’s handles into pork rinds. I had told him about the French ivory. He likes to move on things.

[whitebuffalo58]

Thank you, Lyle!

No, I don't think you had told me about John's mishap. Hope it didn't turn into a 4 alarm!!

I don't know if I had mentioned it before, but what Lyle's talking about is the misadventures of working with celluloid and a central dust collection system. I didn't realize the stuff would spit out little fireball zingers and you do not want one of them traveling through 300' of duct work and landing or lodging who knows where.

It's funny now, but kinda frightening at the time. First time I realized it, was at a stationary belt sander. I kept seeing these little flashes of light out of the corner of my eye. About the 3rd or 4th one missed the collection tube and landed on the work surface. GASP!!!

Seems the stuff has a rather low flashpoint and when it hits that temp....whoosh!

Lesson learned!


WB

[orvet]

Great work Rob!
I have often wondered about using casting resin for handles, glad to know it works. Was there a specific brand you used?


Fires in the shop are pretty scary! I was cutting some larger pieces of Bois de Rose (dalbergia maritima), into book matched handles. Bois de Rose is a very hard and oily member of the rosewood family.
I noticed smoke coming out from under my bench top table saw, so I turned the saw off and it and lifted up off the table. I had built up quite a little pile of sawdust and it was smoldering but as soon as they moved the saw it burst into flames as it got more air. Fortunately I had a CO2 used fire extinguisher right beside me so I grabbed it and put the fire out. It was kind of startling though.

[whitebuffalo58]

Thanks Dale!

The first knife is done with Formica(it used to be known as Surrell) brand solid surface adhesives, they're color matched to the specific materials you're using. The glitter set is just Bondo brand fiberglass resin, available almost anywhere they sell that sort of thing. It's green when you first mix it, but turns an amber color over time. The Terrazzo style is Key brand epoxy resin, it's available in several colors and seems to hold that color forever. You can get different aggregates from them also, but I had a bunch of mussel shells I had picked up, so I made my own. You could use virtually anything.

Glad you like them,


WB

[whitebuffalo58]

Here's another shop made material and a different take on Christmas tree handles.

3/32" Lexan. Spray on a wet coat of clear gloss acrylic paint, sprinkle on glitter of choice, clamp under wax paper and a block of wood to press it in. After it dries, tap off excess glitter and apply a final wet coat of acrylic to seal it in. Pretty much works like any other acrylic from there.

One of these days I'd like to try experimenting with stripes or maybe get real ambitious and do a glitter herringbone.

WB

[glennbad]

I like it! You could retire if you made a real christmas tree substitute.