View Single Post
  #14   Report Post  
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
Frnak McKenney Frnak McKenney is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 87
Default Stainless steel, epoxy, and tableware

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 14:00:43 -0600, Paul K. Dickman wrote:

"Uffe Bærentsen" wrote in message
...
Den 31-12-2013 23:01, Frnak McKenney skrev:

As we sat around the table afterwards, one topic that came up was the
odd look of their stainless tableware, or to be more specific, the
knives. These were made by a company named Gorham (Fairview pattern?)
and had given wonderful service for many years, but recently they had
noticed that some of the knives were "separating": the blade had begun
to separate from the handle, showing a minor gap of roughly 1/8".


[...]

Has anyone here ever seen this problem? My cousing said it might
be related to washing the knives in a dishwasher, but only about a
quarter of the knives seem to be affected.

Does anyone know how I could learn about the properties of the
"epoxy" (an assumption, the term pops up a lot)?


[...]

They use epoxy nowadays and if yours are epoxied in, I wouldn't mess
with them until the blades actually fall out.

Traditionally, they used a proprietary mix of rosin, wax, shellac
and a filler like plaster or brickdust. It was called "Handle
cement" and is easily repaired. It is kind of like sealing wax (the
kind you used to melt onto the back of a letter and stamp with a
seal).

You have to be careful though. It absorbs moisture over the years
and will foam up and spit the blade out when remelted. The trick is
to melt as little as possible.


Thanks for the warning.

The tang on the blade is usually just a rough forged rod, about 3mm
in dia and about 2" (50mm) long.

Wear gloves, use a propane torch and gently heat the 2" section of
the handle and the bottom of the blade. Heat a little, then wait
for the heat to soak into the middle and repeat.
When it gets around 250 f (rough guess) it will start to push the
blade out. when it does shove the parts together and be sure to pay
attention to the alignment. When it is all good, hold still for a
couple of minutes while the cement cools down, then run the handle
under lukewarm water.

Excess cement will have oozed out. Chip it off with your thumbnail,
any excess can be removed with alcohol.

Paul K. Dickman


Thanks, Paul. I'll have to check with my cousin and see if she's
willing to sacrifice one knife to test this with, but the process
you've outlined is clear and specific. ( Is that legal here on on
USENET? grin! )


Frank
--
"I am Sex of Elven, Borg Dyslexix, prepare to be laminated."
--
Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
Munged E-mail: frank uscore mckenney aatt mindspring ddoott com