Lamination bending exotics with epoxy

i glued some purpleheart with epoxy , and it didn’t hold (oily),
so icleaned it up and tried titebond 111 ,
it held like a champ !

hope this helps .

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

Epoxy doesn’t like joints that are clamped real tight. And as David found out, oily woods and epoxy are not best friends. You could wipe the surfaces with acetone right before applying the epoxy. That does help. You could probably get thinner glue lines in more open grained woods with a thinner epoxy.

Robb White, a professional boatbuilder in the south, since gone over the bar, used to use a lot of epoxy. He would heat his shop and with it the wood to over 100°F just before applying the epoxy. He felt this allowed the epoxy to to impregnate the wood better. Might be worth a try and on a smaller piece, you wouldn’t have to heat the whole shop.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

I have tried to glue a bubinga table top section to a yellowwood and rosewood top..
I used ordinary cold glue and it never worked. My luthier friend said that I must sand rough the edge that needs glueing and wipe it down with acetone to neutralise the oils. I re did it and still used cold glue….
8 years later the table’s still strong.

-- "Even small steps makes a distance." (Shawn Phillips, musician)

I epoxy teak veneer and bend it for a boat project i’m working on it seems to be working fine so far

-- cut it saw it scrap it

I’ve been using the west system for at least 30 years and never ever had a glue failure. And never had a problem with over clamping. I use it for style and rail joints because it is so thin I hold it back from the corners and only have to sand the flat sides. I have used other epoxy’s that are thick like malaises but West is not like that. I might add that I worked in the custom boats when I was younger and everything was epoxied and everything was Teak a very oily wood. These were ocean going yachts were peoples lives depended on it.

-- Mike, Westport MA.

Thanks for all the help. Seems that regardless of glue the acetone wipe is important.

I was surprised to hear from David about the joint failures…since Epoxy is typically touted as the solution for oily woods rather than being imcompatible, and that it is the water base PVA that don’t adhere. Learn new stuff every day!

-- Its never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.