Cleaning petroleum jelly out of handle?

weo

weo

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Hello all. Today I decided to try a new way of making/shaping handles on my hidden tang knives based on something I saw or read a couple of years ago. I smeared petroleum jelly on the tang, and then epoxied up the rough handle pieces together and after letting the epoxy set for an hour or 2, pulled out the blade with the plan on final shaping of the handle tomorrow. My question is, when ready for final glue up, how does one adequately clean up and make sure there's no petroleum jelly in the slot in the handle from where I pulled the tang out?
Thanks.
 
I don’t know the answer to your question but I use a similar process except I use a light coat of paste wax on the tang. Less clean up and it works great.
 
weo said:
Hello all. Today I decided to try a new way of making/shaping handles on my hidden tang knives based on something I saw or read a couple of years ago. I smeared petroleum jelly on the tang, and then epoxied up the rough handle pieces together and after letting the epoxy set for an hour or 2, pulled out the blade with the plan on final shaping of the handle tomorrow. My question is, when ready for final glue up, how does one adequately clean up and make sure there's no petroleum jelly in the slot in the handle from where I pulled the tang out?
Thanks.
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I suggest long q-tips and alcohol.
 
As said, use long Q-tips. Petroleum Jelly is slightly soluble in alcohol, so try denatured alcohol first. The true solvent is paint thinner or acetone. Acetone will somewhat dissolve the epoxy, but if you are fairly quick it should not affect it enough to matter.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
As said, use long Q-tips. Petroleum Jelly is slightly soluble in alcohol, so try denatured alcohol first. The true solvent is paint thinner or acetone. Acetone will somewhat dissolve the epoxy, but if you are fairly quick it should not affect it enough to matter.
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Yeah this is what I do and it works great
 
Thanks everyone, I was thinking denatured alcohol might be the ticket. Unfortunately, the tangs on my kitchen knives are a bit too thin to fit a Q-tip.
 
Weo
you should try to use a "Release agent" like the acriglass stuff. it is a paint on "cellophane" you brush it on a few 3/4 coats
epoxy everything together ,lock the blade into a vise, and tap the handle off..
now you pull out the cellophane residue left behind ,and you have a perfect fit...
this is how i have made several take down knives.. i see no reason it would not work perfectly every time it is used..
get ahold of me if you are in Portland .. i might just give you a little to try out..
 
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I always use paste wax and after I remove the knife I just fill the handle slot with acetone and shake it out to remove anything inside. Does it work? idk but the handles don't come out so either the remaining wax doesn't affect the overall bond, there isn't remaining wax, or the acetone removes most of it. a good solvent should remove the vaseline but it's going to take a few runs probably b/c of how thick and oily it is
 
The "rule" in chemistry is "like dissolves like". Vaseline is heavy mineral oil. Something like gasoline, kerosene, lighter fluid, naphtha. I just tested acetone and it doesn't dissolve well at all. Alcohols won't be any better.

My 2c.
 
weo said:
Thanks everyone, I was thinking denatured alcohol might be the ticket. Unfortunately, the tangs on my kitchen knives are a bit too thin to fit a Q-tip.
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You can also try trimming off a bit of the excess fluff at the end of the Q-tip with a razor blade. That has worked well for me on blades that are .100" thick at the tang.
 
A good thing to have in the shop is a laboratory item (or 3) called a "wash bottle", a polypropylene squeeze bottle with a nice thin tip. Scads of choices at AMZ. I tend to like the ones manufactured by a company called Nalgene.

A sizeable syringe with a needle or flat-faced needle (cannula) is also a good thing to have around for a situation like this.
 
weo said:
Thanks everyone, I was thinking denatured alcohol might be the ticket. Unfortunately, the tangs on my kitchen knives are a bit too thin to fit a Q-tip.
Click to expand...
Google say this
Petroleum jelly is slightly soluble in alcohol. To avoid damage to plastic and minimize ventilation issues, isopropyl (rubbung) alcohol can be used to remove or dissolve petroleum jelly. Isopropyl alcohol is inert to most household surfaces and can remove or dissolve petroleum jelly efficiently.
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It is insoluble in water. It is soluble in dichloromethane, chloroform, benzene, diethyl ether, carbon disulfide and turpentine.
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"Slightly soluble" and "dissolve efficiently" are a rather direct contradiction. At least to my chemistry sense. Especially with an alcohol and water mixture, all the way at the opposite end of the solubility (polarity) spectrum from petrolatum.

Added: the reason I am saying use the stuff I suggested is because billyO said he can't get a wiper in there. Thus you need something that will dissolve the stuff on it's own, no rubbing. "Highly non-polar solvent" is the answer.
When I tested acetone earlier I smeared some on a plate, covered it in acetone, and rubbed it with a q-tip. At first I thought it was dissolving but then I realized it was so very insoluble in acetone that it was forcing it all onto the swab in a ball.

As I said earlier, just my 2cents of professional opinion. YMMV.
 
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I use paste wax as well for this and afterwards I take a popsicle stick and super glue a small piece of felt to it. I soak the felt in acetone and then clean the inside of the handle with that. I only used those materials because I had them on hand anything similar would work. I think for some of my blades I had to thin the popsicle stick a touch.
 
Worn out windshield wipers if cut apart apart with diagonal cutters can supply some super thin spring stainless flat rods that are very useful in knife making. They usually come in two widths. I use them for multiple things in my knife shop from mixing epoxy to applying epoxy in pin hole before I install the pin. I'd think depending on tang hole width someone could glue some felt to one and "help" scrub out with solvent. IDK
 
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