Not gorilla glue. It is good for some things, but not (despite the ads) the strongest. Go with a yellow wood glue such as Titebond II. You can even use it for outdoor projects.
Any of the yellow wood glues will hold stronger than the wood itself. Titebond, Borden's, whatever brand your store has will work. Spending more money won't get you a better glue joint.
Be sure you have a good mating surface and clamp the pieces until the glue dries.
Never meant to imply that West Systems uses a 1:1 ratio.
I was responding to "That's why some of the better formulations are sold in boat shops." West Systems is, in my opinion, one of the better formulations.
And the damn stuff grows and expands so much it either blows out the dowels, or you end up with a lot of gloppy globs you have to trim off. I'm sure it's good for something, just haven't found it yet. Spendy, too.
I'll agree that epoxy is not the correct solution to every glue-up situation. In fact, I've never used it for wood.
However, the very "gloppy globs" property that you mentioned is exactly what gives of epoxy (with the correct weight of fillers) some of its allure. It can be poured, molded, shaped and used to fill (even bridge) gaps between dissimilar materials, something you can't do with many other adhesives. It results in a substance that will be rock hard when cured. Use it to lay up fiberglass and you can make an extremely stiff assembly, shaped and sized to fit your application.
Until I worked on a project that required all of the above uses of epoxy, I thought it was nothing more than an extremely strong glue. Once I had the opportunity to see how versatile a product it really was, I found more and more applications where it fit the bill perfectly.
Elmers Woodworking glue or Titebond Woodworking glue. These glues are yellow in color. For best results clamp overnight. Don't expect the glue (or any glue for that matter) to hold for end-to-end butt joints.
Your post came right after a couple of posts regarding epoxy and I thought you were responding to one of those. Now that I've re-read your comments and applied them to Gorilla glue, I am in full agreement.
I'll agree that epoxy is not the correct solution to every glue-up situation. In fact, I've never used it for wood.
However, the very "gloppy globs" property that you mentioned is exactly what gives of epoxy (with the correct weight of fillers) some of its allure. It can be poured, molded, shaped and used to fill (even bridge) gaps between dissimilar materials, something you can't do with many other adhesives. It results in a substance that will be rock hard when cured. Use it to lay up fiberglass and you can make an extremely stiff assembly, shaped and sized to fit your application.
Until I worked on a project that required all of the above uses of epoxy, I thought it was nothing more than an extremely strong glue. Once I had the opportunity to see how versatile a product it really was, I found more and more applications where it fit the bill perfectly.
And I reply:
Yabbut, I think we're talking about two different things. I agree with your statements about epoxy. I would be lost without my JB Weld and JB Fix. However, I find Gorilla Glue about as unpredictable as that shoot in foam stuff regarding unknown amounts of expansion and what it's going to look like dry. Epoxies are pretty much WYSIWYG.
JIm, You are correct regarding epoxy-hardener ratios in the common commercial systems. However, in my work I use the unmodified industrial resins and hardeners, and the ratios are indeed 1 to 1 for chosen systems. A favorite resin is Epon 826 with Versamid 140 hardener. Much slower cure time than the commercial systems, but outstanding properties. Downside for some would be the higher price, but in typical wood working projects it isn't a factor IMO. One of these days I plan to try out some of the commercial guys stuff and see how it compares to my home brew.
The only time I used Gorilla glue was at my parent's house - because they had some and I didn't have my epoxy kit.
A contractor had left a hole in their tile wall when he removed a ceramic tile rack. I used the Gorilla glue to secure a piece of wood to the back of the tiles above and below the hole to create a base to mount the mounting bracket for a new towel rack. So far (it's been a year) it's holding fine.
"SteveB" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.infowest.com:
many epoxies do not SOAK INTO wood,and thus provide a poor bond. Boatbuilding epoxies are much thinner than the usual epoxies you find in stores(including "hobby epoxies"),and need fillers to be used as glue.But they perform much better.
I really recommend downloading System Three's Epoxy Book;it's VERY informative about epoxies. And it's FREE.
West,System Three and RAKA are all excellent boat-building/fiberglassing epoxies.
Joe wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@d5g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:
industrial epoxies may not come in small enough quantities for most home users. Even Raka only comes in a 1.5 qt kit.
I've had good success using System Three(S3) and RAKA epoxies. S3 and West are available in many local woodworking and boating stores. and you can get fast and slow hardeners for them,depending on the temps in your workplace. you can also buy glass cloth at the boat stores.
the S3 trial kit was a great deal,came with lots of different fillers to experiment with.RAKA was less expensive than the S3 or West System epoxies,but I had to mail-order it(Florida). I've played quite a bit with fiberglassing and gluing large model rocket body tubes and fins.
Curing at higher than room temp is also a good idea,if you can work it out.It makes for better strength and a faster cure. I use incandescent lamps or my car's trunk in the hot sun. ;-)
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