Real simple right clean brass, sand and epoxy to the wood. Fell apart for the third time, so this knife gets no brass. Going to be one of those days
I have a slingshot that I started on a long time ago with wood and brass and it is holding but i never trust epoxy for any wood to metal bond.
I have seen handles with layers of stainless, leather and wood looks real nice. Might be the fact I am using Black Ebony for the handle and the epoxy really does not soak in very far or sanding the brass with 400 grit was not rough enough. might try it another time with 200 grit paper instead of 400
Hi John, Are you making a hidden tang or full tang? Ebony is hard and oily. With it I scuff, scratch and sometimes drill the mating surfaces before epoxying together. Say 80 grit or an X-acto knife or Dremel wheel. Not sure what epoxy you are using, but for sure surface preparation is half the battle. Hope it turns out. Dan
Also for the oily woods I clean the surface with acetone until the oils don't show up on the rag. It does take quite a bit of cleaning but you will get to a point where a white rag stays white. With all of the other parts already clean I mix the epoxy and get it together asap because the oils do start wicking back to the surface. Another thing I do with a full tang is dish out the tang in the area that will be covered by the wood. I had to redo a cocobolo handle and even after I pressed the pins out the wood was splintering before the bond broke.
Oily wood, you know that just never entered the brain. After a little experimenting I found starting with a 36 grit belt on the Ebony was faster than the round rasp mounted in a drill. Sheath came out poorly which I am trying to save but the handle looks nice enough. Have always used West Epoxy System for stuff like this as it seems to get the best results, and will be trying a ebony sheath and handle again on another knife without brass inlays. I do have a fillet knife that might get some brass work but I will try an experiment on scrap to make sure I get the cleaning schedule correct. john
