Handle wood and CA glue finish

[TheBigRedArcher]

Hey all:

Again I come to you with a question. This time in regards to CA glue finish on exotic wood handles.

I am about to finish up some knives ( i will post pics later. My question is, when using ca glue do you need to place the wood once covered in a vacuum container of sorts so that the glue can be drawn into the wood under a negative pressure? Or will the glue prevent cracking with just being put on the surface of the handle once shaping is finished?

Thanks in advance,

TBRA

[TxMoon]

if your wood is stabilized your ok I just put a thin coat let it set steel wool then another thin coat put couple coats at least.

[Ray Hammond]

honest, if your wood is stabilized(impregnated with acrylic under negative pressure) you really don't need any finish.

When using CA- in my experience, which is limited, if you use the real thin stuff first, and use a surgical glove to wipe it all over the wood, let it dry, then steel wool, you will get some soaking into the material.

Then you can use the gap filler type CA to really get several good layers you 0000 steel wool between each coat, which will bring out the grain and give the finish some depth but I don't think the CA will go too awfully far into the wood to actually soak it, if that's what you are asking.

[TheBigRedArcher]

Ray:
 
I guess my question is, is it better to negative presure soak it or will thin coat(s) be good enough. I am using woods like Osage, Bacote, African black wood, and mesquite burl.

TBRA

[Jeremy]

The benefit of a CA finish is that it seals the oily exotic woods and it dries FAST.  By the time you apply a vacuum it'll be mostly dry.

I'd recommend sending the burl out to be stabilized, expecially if your using it as a block and not scales.  The other woods will seal well with CA glue, but you'll still get seasonal wood movement with the humidity change (and that's the reason why I dislike full tang knives!)

[TheBigRedArcher]

All of the knives I am making this round are going to be full tang knives. The handle material will be thin once worked to my liking. I usually use 1.8 inch dymondwood and then thin it to about 3/32 on my sander. This time I am using natural woods, thats where all my questions are coming from.

TBRA