New Kilij

[tom hyle]

There are a lot of epoxies, some of them too expensive for me to have ever messed with. Most of the ones I've used can be a bit brittle for work on swords, but are indeed, not too bad. Two cautions about epoxy: one is the fumes, sometimes smellable and sometimes not, sometimes with a buzz or headache, sometimes not, are poisonous; ventilation is a good thing; I personally won't do Bondo for instance without a mask though; and B clean/degrease the surfaces real good first; strong alcohol works well and is relatively nontoxic; some roughening can help too, in contrast to some adhesives that work best on tightly matching smooth surfaces.
The tang band soldering is done with a soldering iron, either newfangled or oldfashioned; there can be a torch involved, but the level of heat is not comparable to direct iron to iron welding. Please never use an electric welder on a sword unless you want to dangerously ruin its temper (potentially creating nasty brittle areas; a soft area at best), or intend to reharden afterwards. Various types of soldering, even of brazing, can be done on tempered blades without altering the temper (unless it is very hard; harder than usual for weapons) by expert welders, and this is why it is a semitraditional way to repair blades and is fairly commonly seen as a repair for cracks and delaminations on old blades.