The best thing about 5-minute epoxy is that it sets up in only 5 minutes. The worst thing about 5-minute epoxy is that it sets up in only 5 minutes...
A few hours after i epoxied my Arizona cypress scales to my knife tang, i began to shape the handle using the belt sander initially, and then various files, until i was happy with the basic shape. It just wants some gentle finesse sanding.
The day after epoxying my wooden scales to my knife tang, one began to separate. I popped it off, and was also able to pop off the other one. The epoxy separated from the metal surface, but photo shows the surface texture of the metal tang, and it looks pretty toothy. So i suspect that i spent too much of my allotted 5-minutes in spreading epoxy, lining up the scales, and trying to clamp the handle in a vise. So i sanded the epoxy off the wood, and did my best to grind some perpendicular grooves into the metal, and tried the epoxy again, but this time with a more critical eye on the clock. Fingers crossed, but three days later and there is no sign of separation yet.
I used some wood filler on the few little gaps next to the guard, and i used a Dremel tool to carve out the spot for my inlaid turquoise cabochon. The photo shows the turquoise unfixed in its setting. I have to decide how to finish the wood, and whether it would be best to set the stone before or after this step.
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