Hey all, I know this had been touched upon afew times after scouring the forums. But id like to hear, what are the best brands available in Canada and where can you purchase them. I hear alot about G2 epoxy and Acraglass. Questions I have about those two in particular are....G2 is more made for wood then other materials is it not? Ill be using deer sheds so I need something that will bond well with bone. And as for Acraglass I've noticed 2 types ones in brown packaging (liquidy) and the other is green packaging and a gel. Isnt Acraglass made for bedding a firearm stock? How would this pan out if used on a deer shed? In your opinions what do you use on your bone handles, that you've found had the best results? Cheers Jason
Hi Jason, Yes Acraglas is for bedding firearms. I can't speak specifically for bone or antler, but I have used Acraglas (liquid) on bunch of knives, full and hidden tang and it's very good. I have also used West Systems G/flex. Again super epoxy. I would have no hesitation in recommending these. That being said, one cannot talk about epoxy without talking about preparation of surfaces. The best epoxy will suck if it doesn't have something decent to bond to. West Systems instructions are very detailed. Even the time from cleaning the surface to applying the epoxy needs to be taken into account as the surfaces begin oxidizing immediately after the solvents use for cleaning evaporate. Maybe someone with more experience with bone and antler can chime in with their thoughts. Dan
You want the liquid version I imagine as it would be easier to get into the tang hole. For antler my biggest concern was material stability (lots of air) so I stabilized the antler with various degrees of success and then it bonded pretty well and less fear of tear out when abused.
Thanks Dan and John for both of your replies. Yes I know preperation is everything, its the same at my workplace as soon as we ultra sonic berrilium copper and take ot out it starts to oxidize. This I understand very well. How did you go about stabalizing your antler John? Thats something I never considered. And wouldnt know anything about. Ive heard of stabalized wood, which keeps the moisture to a minimum. Can you process an antler like that?
Antler is similar to wood with a big BUT, the large porous structure of the Elk antler I used allowed 90% of the resin to drain out before the thermoset resin had set. If one end is closed then cook with the open end raised and if both ends are open then at least one should be plugged up. I used a bit if crazy glue to seal the end before going into the vacuum tank a second time.
Now you've just lost me lol. Did you bake your antler in an oven to stabalize it? And this was done with the knife and expoxy in it?
OOps thought you knew more about the process place antler or wood blocks in vacuum tank with cactus juice vacuum for 4-8 hours or until all bubbles stop. release vacuum and allow to soak in resin for 16 hours to 24 hours, minimum twice as long as vacuum time. remove and place in a toaster oven, cook at 190F for 2 hours or until evenly heated. This will activate the resin and it will solidify. One end of antler should be sealed before going into vacuum chamber so that when removed all the resin does not pour out. for wood you need zero percent moisture or as close as humanly possible. I weigh the blocks and cook for four hours per 1/4" approximately at 220 to 250F weighing each hour after three hours and recording weight loss. stop and allow to cool when no weight change occurs for two hours.
If it's a thermoplastic resin like methyl methacrylate (Cactus Juice, Stick Fast etc.) then baking it around 105°C (220°F) will cause it harden.
Speed reading fail, I need a nap or something.. Everything to do with stabilizing is done before the material is shaped or attached to the knife
Alright makes more sense now. Thank you. Im new to knife making so bare with me. So for epoxies like Acraglas and G2 etc. have less stability without stabilzing? Odds are I wont be stabalizing so im roughly back at square one. Very informative though, thank you.
Epoxy will be good, first year elk is very porous compared to other deer. All hardwoods are good to go just use a drying oil like tru-oil or Danish oil to protect. Stabilizing is pretty new in the 12 year for knives and plain wood has worked for thousands of years.
The plan is make these knives for my hunting group as gifts. So they will be intended to be out kn the negative degree weather, blood, rain and snow will all likely come into contact with them so I want the best bond possible. Ive already ordered afew epoxies to play with. Loctite heavy duty red 2 part epoxy and 2 Ton waterproof epoxy. Decided to hold off on the afore mentioned and give these 2 a go.
