High-temperature silicone as a handle adhesive?

[overmodulated]

Folks: Before I risk a potentially bad bond on the next project, has anyone tried hi-temp silicone sealant to bond knife scales to the blade stock? This would be in addition to pinning.

I figure that a lot of people use a thin rubber-type spacer material to help absorb the stresses of the different materials expanding & contracting with temperature, so I'm thinking this might be just the right consistency, and waterproof to boot. Thoughts?

Thanks for any input!

[Rich Hale]

I am a big believer in shop testing: I have not tried that product for wot you want to know about but you can find out if it will do wot you wish simply; Take a piece of steel like you make knives from and bond a kind of handle material you like to use with the silicone. Pin it just as you do your knives and then test it to see how it holds up. test it in any manner you may forsee that it would see as a knife. If it does wot you wish you will know,,if it does not then try wot ever else you want and see how it holds up.

[reefera4m]

While I haven't used it on knife handles I have used quite a bit of it around my wood stove and propane forges. It doesn't seem to have that much adhesive strenght and seems to easily peel off of steel. You'll be primarily relying on the pins to hold the scales on. I slso don't think it works well on wood or bone. None of the silicons I've ever used, high temp, marine, regular, adhere to wood well. Although the silicon is water proof if/when it starts to peel it will trap water inside the handle. There are certainly much better alternatives.

[overmodulated]

good points - thanks.

I did plan on experimenting with the stuff but was hoping someone might have been there, done that, to save me the trouble.

I'm suprised this sealant wouldn't bond rather well to either polished or rough steel, since it's commonly used on glass, which doesn't get any smoother. But I'll check that out. Was hoping this might be just the right compromise in a flexible waterproof (mild) adhesive that can take the temperatures of belt sanding. Just seems right.

If I make an experiment out of it I'll share the results.