Will epoxy stick to annodized metal?

[eyeeatingfish]

I am putting on new handles onto my seki cut fixed blade.
The handles now aren't all that pretty and they aren't well sealed, therefore meat juices could get inside if i use it for a steak knife etc. There are, i'm assuming, anodized aluminum pieces on the sides and then a piece of wood all held together with two screws. The wood pieces were actually held on with some sort of double sided tape too.

So the problem is, if i'm going to use epoxy to stick the wood to the handle slabs and maybe even the handle slabs to the tang itself, will epoxy stick to the anodized aluminum. Why use the sticky tape if epoxy wouldn't work?
Im probably just going to use the same screws you already see on the knife, though i could replace them with someone like the screws with round nuts that you sand smooth later... Im just afraid that the two screws alone would not create a sufficient tightness to keep stuff out.

I guess i could always just put only wood and that would be of course stick to the metal with epoxy. Im supposed to roughen up the metal to help the epoxy stick right?
Thank you

 

[mete]

It's a good idea to roughen up anything for epoxy and degrease it also [acetone etc]

 

[Patrickknives]

Epoxy should stick to the aluminum fine. The main trick is to not clamp or tighten the screws too much, Use very light pressure just enough to hold together and you should be fine.

I would be more worried about the wood, if you are going to use a oil finish or varnish dont finish the bottom or the epoxy will not stick there.

 

[eyeeatingfish]

Epoxy should stick to the aluminum fine. The main trick is to not clamp or tighten the screws too much, Use very light pressure just enough to hold together and you should be fine.

I would be more worried about the wood, if you are going to use a oil finish or varnish dont finish the bottom or the epoxy will not stick there.

I was going to use some wood hardener but that might make it hard to stick too.... I guess i could just paint wood hardener on the outside of the slabs only.
What happens if i clamp it too hard or screw it too tightly?

 

[AcridSaint]

Since all you're doing is keeping stuff out, the epoxy should hold up just fine. Poly glue or super glue should also work just fine for this application. If you're really worried about it you can get some spacer material and just put that between them instead. Usually it will squish a bit and create a gasket. The screws should hold up well.

 

[eyeeatingfish]

Since all you're doing is keeping stuff out, the epoxy should hold up just fine. Poly glue or super glue should also work just fine for this application. If you're really worried about it you can get some spacer material and just put that between them instead. Usually it will squish a bit and create a gasket. The screws should hold up well.

What could you use as a spacer material?

 

[Patrickknives]

You can buy spacer material, its usually a paper product. If you had some vinyl or other material that is water proof you could use that. If the knife if going to get wet often I think glue is a better idea. I would not put your wood sealer on the bottom.

If you clamp too thight the glue will be so thin it will not have any strengh. When you remove a handle that has a thin coat you can see where it did not bond. Light rubber band tight is good enough. You want a nice fit around the edge but a layer of glue inbetween.

 

[AcridSaint]

Sorry for not being clear, here is what I'm talking about:

http://www.usaknifemaker.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=64_72&products_id=1163

The vulcanized stuff will squish, plastic not so much. If it's going to soak in water it might break down at some point, but for regular use I wouldn't worry about it. Just like the link mentions, I've found that CA (super glue) soaks in and sticks to this stuff like crazy. You could get some slow setting CA, coat your spacer material and then screw it down.