Acra-Glas repairs for bone handles

[Bill DeShivs]

Nothing will repair broken pearl, except replacing the pearl. You can do it-but the results will be horrible.
I use clear polyester casting resin from Hobby Lobby. It works very well.

[OLDE CUTLER]

You guys have impressed me with the repairs you're posting. I'm going to order me some and give it a try. Thanks!

That was the whole point in my original post, get others to try repairing broken bone on EDC knives instead of rehandling or tossing them. SUCCESS !!!

[SteelMyHeart85420]

Well played, sir

[Doc B]

One revision...over my previously posted repair...
In hand, it looked pretty good. It seemed to me, that the limiting factor, was the "dullness" of the Acraglas. Today I put a thin coat of clear fingernail polish, over the Acraglas. It gave it a shine that brought it closer to the sheen of the bone. In short, I thought it was a worthy addition, to this repair. In hand, it looks pretty good.

Before glaze, not too bad:

After glaze to Acraglas, better shine and blends in better:

[OLDE CUTLER]

Those of you who have tried the Acraglas like I showed in the OP for repairing bone may have had this happen. Yesterday when I got out my Acraglas kit, I opened the container of resin to find that it has changed from the clear liquid which it was into kind of a white paste. I stuck a popsicle stick in and tried to stir it, but it was too solid. So I thought before I toss it I will call Brownells customer service number and see if there is a solvent that can be added to it and bring it back to life. I talked to the lady and explained the situation, and she told me to either put the tub in a hot water bath or put it in the microwave for a few seconds (with the metal lid removed) and the heat would fix the problem, like one would do with honey that had turned white and set up. She was right, I put it in the microwave for 10 seconds and it turned back into a clear liquid. Now to fix that old jack with the broken bone.

[Doc B]

Good to know!

[Byrd]

Lesson learned! Use Acra Glas and not hardware store epoxy! I mixed it with sanding dust from another project and didn't put enough in the epox to match. Also the epoxy doesn't buff up like Acra Glas does. I jigged it with a dremel, used a toothpick to color it and it bled into the epoxy...so I covered it with clear nail polish and did it again. Then another nail polish coat and when it dried I sanded it off so the polish will protect the colored jigging. The knife is. a Chinese Winchester so it was great to practice on. It looks better than it did!

[Doc B]

Nice job!

[muskrat man]

You can get various colors of pearlizing powder to add to clear resins that may make a decent patch for MOP. I have no first hand experience with it at this point but the potential seems to be there

[Bill DeShivs]

I doubt anything will work well with pearl.
Mother Nature made it the way it is, and I have seen nothing that will match it.

[OLDE CUTLER]

This is the latest Acra-Glas patch job I did on this 2 and 7/8" bone handled Hibbard, Spencer, & Bartlett pen knife that I picked up for $3 at the fleamarket. It had 3 pieces of bone missing, 2 on the mark side and 1 on the pile side.

1/32" holes to anchor the Acra-Glas

Finished

[Ivoryman]

Great work Old Cutler, looks about as good as it can get. Nice tutorial and info, great to see your work too. Congrats on some great jobs.

[glennbad]

That looks nice. I don't have the patience for that type of work

[Nev52]

Great Job!! Looks like new.
Nev