Re-gluing old knife handles

[robgraham]

My wife is asking about restoring two old silver knives where there is now a gap between the handle and the blade.

Sometime in the past I've picked up that this type of handle is held on with brown animal glue and that the 'damage' is caused by them being put into a hot water thereby softening the glue.

Does anyone know if this is correct and that correspondingly the corrective action is to repeat the heating process and just push the joint back together ?

Thanks
Rob

[Nick Odell]

I've done exactly what you describe but with bone-handled knives which
have a sort-of tang on the end of the blade. It worked perfectly. If,
on the other hand, the knives have been through the wash/dishwasher
too many times, it is possible that too much of the animal glue has
been washed out for a simple repair like that to be any good. I'd try
it and see what happens. If I had to reglue it, I'd be inclined to use
animal glue because I work with the stuff on a daily basis anyway but
if you don't (work with the stuff on a daily basis) you might want to
enquire after alternatives.

Nick

[newshound]

Good advice, especially for valuable knives (and keep them away from the
dishwasher in future!).

Assuming it has "sentimental" rather than "antique" value, if you don't
have animal glue this would, to my mind, be a good candidate for epoxy
for its strength and gap filling properties.

However I recently had good results with car body filler on a modern
cooking knife with a cracked handle (bits missing) and, unlike epoxy,
this is surviving fine in the dishwasher. Not that *I* put it in there.

[robgraham]

Thanks Nick

As far as I know both these knives are not dish-washer sufferers so I think there's a chance the glue is still all present. So we'll see how I get on a jug of really hot water. I may even have a honey jar with some beads of glue in it that I got from my cabinet maker brother.

My childhood woodworking was with brown glue - I'm trying to think what trade still uses it and reckon you are an antique furniture restorer or violin repairer?

Rob

[Jim Hawkins]

"robgraham" <robkg...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:cb345186-0a6a-4e19...@googlegroups.com...

Never had to do it, but if I did I'd use Araldite 2-part epoxy.

Jim Hawkins

[meow...@care2.com]

On Sunday, November 17, 2013 4:28:07 PM UTC, Jim Hawkins wrote:
> "robgraham" <@btinternet.com> wrote in message

> news:cb345186-0a6a-4e19...@googlegroups.com...
>
> > My wife is asking about restoring two old silver knives where there is now
> > a gap between the handle and the blade.

> Never had to do it, but if I did I'd use Araldite 2-part epoxy.

Not the best choice of brand tbh


NT

[Gib Bogle]

Which is the best?

[The Natural Philosopher]

I've used just about every one and not found any difference,. The secret
is exactly equal parts, a thorough mix and STOVE the item at about
60-90C to get good runny epoxy into all the parts and a tougher
resultant bond.

--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

[meow...@care2.com]

I don't know, there are brands people that use epoxy a lot recommend such as west systems. They do a very wide range. Araldite is pricey and I've not found it the best performer. I've been mainly using Metalux, and for the occasionl job needing clear epoxy I've just used poundland - its not worth me getting greater quantities online for that.

Perhaps one of the folks here that uses epoxy a lot will add something more.


NT

[robgraham]

On Sunday, November 17, 2013 4:28:07 PM UTC, Jim Hawkins wrote:

Probably not a good idea as the problem is that the handle has slipped and has exposed just a small part of the tang. If you were to use another adhesive, then you would have to heat the handle anyway to get it out and then try and find a way of getting the brown glue out before applying the epoxy.

So just re-heating and pushing the handle back in is a far better option - plus it doesn't allow the thread here to go off on a meaningless tangent ! :>)

Rob

[Nick Odell]

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 08:04:29 -0800 (PST), robgraham

The clue is in the email address, Rob :) Incidentally, if you use some
of the hide glue pearls that you mentioned, you'll want a very thick
mix for this particular application. And to keep both parts on the hot
side of very warm throughout the operation.

Nick