Thread: Knife makers spacer material

I looked thru a lot of threads but could not find applicatons for liners using spacer materials as in vulcanized spacer or 3 ply spacer for knife makers, Ive seen it referenced and people have asked but anyone using it for a liner instead of micarta or non ferous sheets. I have a horn scale that I epoxied where it snaped during unpining and it is holding but ofcourse when I repin it will probably crack or break could I use the spacer material? is it a waste of time. What about carbon fiber as a liner

The vulcanized fiber will work very well. More knives in Europe have this stuff as a lengthwise layer between the handle scale and the tang than is common in the US. Make sure you have a system to clamp everything flat and true. Then glue the liner material to the scale and let set up. Then, flat grind the liner material and you should be very close to what you want.

Carbon fiber would be interesting too. I've seen some at knife shows as thin as 25 thousandths thick.

I use it all the time on burl woods that are pretty soft.

Here you go:

that looks real nice do you think it has some stucture to it as an foundation for fragil scales? and do you epoxy it ? and is that the 100mm? I really like the wedge you used by the way

I layer it using epoxy and then epoxy it to the wood. SO yes it adds some strength. I think I used 3 layers on those.

You can get the spacer material you are looking for at Texas Knives and I would also recommend using T-88 Epoxy. The longer setting epoxy dries much harder than the fast sets.

Very nice work with the Turquoise by the way.

Ray

Originally Posted by Aquanin

I layer it using epoxy and then epoxy it to the wood. SO yes it adds some strength. I think I used 3 layers on those.

Are you saying that you layer the fiber with epoxy before you adhere them to the scales? I have some of this stuff and it seems to be penetrable to water unless it is protected.