Epoxy dipped cord wrap handles

G

GrenfellsBrutalForge

Joined
May 23, 2016
Messages
115
Hello everyone, this is my first post.
Today I finished my first kwaiken and upon posting it for sale had a buyer show interest and ask a few questions.
This kwaiken has a traditionally tied tsukamaki in paracord. One of the questions the potential buyer asked was is the handle dipped in epoxy. It is not.
There are a few reasons why I decided not to dip the wrap. The first reason is that tsukamaki is not traditionally glued or coated in any way. This allows easy replacement or repair of any damage which may occur.
Now the other reason I decided not to dip comes from the experience I have with epoxy. A few years back I designed and built cedar strip kayaks. The hulls were covered with Fiberglas impregnated with epoxy resin.
I used a high end marine grade epoxy for this and I would expect that it would hold up as well or better than anything out there but all epoxies suffer from a common problem. They are sensitive to ultraviolet light and therefore need additional protection. For boats, paint is considered to be 100% uv protection, or in my case I used 10 coats of marine grade uv resistant varnish. Even varnish wears away and must be reapplied yearly.
I know from experience, without some kind of protection the epoxy will evaporate within a year. The fibreglass will pull off by hand.

Ok, back to knives.
I know that a knife isn't exposed to as much sunlight as a boat, but I would be concerned that in time I'd would wear away enough that it would cause problems. To combat this you would either have to paint your handle or slather on enough varnish that you wouldn't be able to utilize the excellent grip of the wrap.
Personally I would rather be able to easily replace the wrap if needed. It takes me about an hour to wrap a 5" handle.

What are your thoughts?
 
Phill Hartsfield pionered using epoxy on cord wrap. I have personally seen some of his blades that have been in hard use from the Jungles in Central America to the deserts of the middle east and some of them were over 30 years old and did not look much different then when they were made.

To get them off you literally have to grind them off they are so tough and never need to be replaced due to damage because you are not going to damage them unless you are severely abusing the handle with a hammer or saw.

Cotton cord does turn a from white to cream over the years but I find that rather attractive.

Here is one I just completed and I have no doubt it will look pretty much the same in several decades.

This is treated with System 3 epoxy.

Yug9SH5.jpg
 
i have talked to guys who work on cold molded wood/marine epoxy laminated boats and they say if everything was cared for properly, if you cut a plug out of one of those hulls, typically it will look like did in 1970 after over 40 years of beating and salt water.
Have you though about UV resistant clear poly? or, if you have access to boat stuff, how about vinylester resin?
 
In making epoxy cord wrap and tsukamaki, the trick is not to DIP the handle. You use a small brush ( I use the disposable flux brushes from HF) and paint a light application of good quality thin epoxy (I like System Three clear coat) on the cord. You paint on just enough to watch it disappears into the cord. Take care to apply the resin only to the cord, and not down in the diamonds or on any under-layers like the same'. When done, it should have all soaked in so it looks like you haven't put any resin on the wrap at all. To make sure there is no excess, I wrap the handle in a lint free cotton cloth and give it al hard squeeze, then I unwrap it and let it dry sticking out sideways from a magnet bar. I turn the handle from side to side every 10-15 minutes to make sure there are no drips. When dry it looks like there is no resin there, but the wrap will not move and will wear dozens of times longer.

BTW, as a registered user, you are not allowed to talk about sales, customers, and orders. That is a privileged of a Knifemaker membership level. You can post pictures and discuss the knives as much as you like, just leave out any mention or discussion of sales.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies.
So I guess I'll be giving it a try. And a little experiment. I'll try painting it on in the technique Stacey mentioned. What I plan is to treat a handle and leave it by the window in my shop and see how it holds up in some extreme uv exposure. This might take a while but I'll post ongoing results.
Has anyone tried just using varnish? Maybe I'll give that a try as well
 
If you want the toughest, weather proof then use marine epoxy, such as System 3 Clear Coat or West Systems.

No experimentation really needs to be done when we have thousands of knives that have proven track record.

Use the right stuff and you will not be sorry use the wrong stuff and you will be
 
I have used west systems in the past. The epox I came to prefer was MAS epoxy. It's been a while since I used any of the better epoxies but I seem to remember back when I was shopping around that they all suffer from uv degradation and require additional protection. On a fibreglass boat, the gel coat keeps the epoxy protected. Unless something has changed...
 
If you want to see some that have held up over the years watch Joe Paranees video. It is a good example of these knives having been used from Africa, jungles to the forrest in hard use.

[video=youtube;fCB3VuzXuEY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCB3VuzXuEY[/video]
 
I have been using wrapped hemp handles treated with West Systems 105/207 almost exclusively for the last decade. I still have the first few test handles I made. They have been subjected to several years of neglect and abuse. Still going strong.

I tried Flagship Spar Varnish but didn't like the results.
 
Last edited:
Rick Marchand said:
I have been using wrapped hemp handles treated with West Systems 105/207 almost exclusively for the last decade. I still have the first few test handles I made. They have been subjected to several years of neglect and abuse. Still going strong.

I tried Flagship Spar Varnish but didn't like the results.
Click to expand...
I've been living with and learning from the Nahuatl people in the Huasteca Potosina in Mexico for a LONG time. It's a physically gnarly environment.
The Jungle (or mold) takes everything back, sooner or later, and you live by your machete and knives. Literally.
Problem is, the tools here are kinda....lacking (you know what I mean)

What do you suggest for 'building up' the grip? only hemp cord? do you wrap cotton as a base, then overlay it with hemp? I'm a complete newb, I know. But this group seems really nice. If anyone has a suggestion, I'd really appreciate it! thank you so much in advance, guys

If you ever visit here, I can help you out and find you a place to stay!
Just ask for Ben (bin-ha-MEEN), the really tall gringo preacher (muy alta Testigo de Jehova) . Everyone knows/helps everyone; such a great community of people!!!


I give all my stuff away, so your advice will help a lot of good people.

my fortune cookie wisdom:

Building with tools is awesome,
but If you can make tools, well, you can make anything.
 
I have epoxy handles that get daily carried, and after 5 years show no signs of issues. I've seen them older than 20 years old that that look brand new.

One thing I am absolutely sure of...the cord wrap that is not epoxied will need replacing much much sooner than epoxied wrap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top