home mademosaic knife pins

[scottm]

I was hoping you fellas could help me out here.Im new at knife making.Ive made a couple of knives recently from an old 16" saw blade.Ill post some picks as soon as I can get my camera to cooperate.Any way, Im wanting to make my own mosaic pins.I bought some different styles of brass that fit well together.My question is what glue to use to fill the voids in the pin.I thought some type of black epoxy.ButI cant seem to fined any.Any tips would be greatly appriciated.Thanks, Scott

[kbaknife]

You use regular epoxy but dye it with epoxy dye.
You'll want to use the slowest setting epoxy you can find.
Just go to the big auction site and you'll find anything you need. Type in epoxy dye.

[kuch]

i use 2-ton epoxy with black dye mixed in. tedious and messy but pretty cool. i make short sections instead of 6 or 12 " sections....just easier to deal with.i got the dye from a knifemakers supply. i have some blue dye if you want it. pm me if interested.

[scottm]

Thanks for the tips fellas.I would have never guessed that they make a dye for epoxy.any tricks on filling the gaps like in a star shaped piece?

[scottm]

Sorry one more question powder or liquid dye?what would you recommend?

[kuch]

i use powder.never used liquid.

[kuch]

scott,sent you an e-mail.

[OconeeDan]

I use liquid dyes made for laquer based paints.  Any tint should do.  Maybe even black india ink.  Use only a tiny bit, the less the better.  
Use a vacuum pump for pulling a vacuum on it, just hook some fish tank tubing to the tube, then to vacuum pump.  it'll bring the epoxy into the tube. There is not a good way to promise no air voids, it just takes practice.  Pull the least vacuum it requires to pull the epoxy through the tube.  Keep a small vacuum in the setup until the epoxy sets.
I am talking about the handheld vacuum pumps that you can bleed brakes with on a car.
Mityvac, I believe, is the name of mine.
Dan

[scottm]

Dan thanks for the tip on the vacuum pump.I might just give that a try.