Epoxy Recommendations For Laminating

[Jerry Murray]

I have an idea that I would like to pursue further.

I'd like to laminate some 1/16th-1/8th Ebony and 1/16th-1/8th Rosewood for pistol grips. I think that the ebony would make a nice base and highlight the rosewood well.

I have some of the cheap HF two part epoxy, however, is there anything that you might recommend for this job?

[Chris Padilla]

Is there a color concern for the glue? Do you want a darker glue color, perhaps?

Epoxy tends to work fine with all woods but I'm not sure it is absolutely necessary. Some like to wipe Rosewood with acetone to clear off any built-up oils just before spreading the glue.

[Jerry Murray]

Is there a color concern for the glue? Do you want a darker glue color, perhaps?

Epoxy tends to work fine with all woods but I'm not sure it is absolutely necessary. Some like to wipe Rosewood with acetone to clear off any built-up oils just before spreading the glue.

I would think that the clear would be the best, although I haven't tried my idea yet. Thanks for the tip on wiping down the rosewood.

I did some work yesterday with Kingwood...wow talk about an oily wood!

[Jamie Buxton]

.. Some like to wipe Rosewood with acetone to clear off any built-up oils just before spreading the glue...

And there's another school which holds that the acetone wipe just spreads the oils around. They say that you get a better bond by gluing to freshly-milled lumber.

[Chris Padilla]

Ah, so maybe some swipes of sandpaper before gluing?

I've HEARD that poly glues (i.e. Gorilla Glue) handle oily woods fine.

[Jerry Murray]

Ah, so maybe some swipes of sandpaper before gluing?

I've HEARD that poly glues (i.e. Gorilla Glue) handle oily woods fine.

Ok so how do you think that "Gorilla Glue" would do with laminating?

[Chris Padilla]

Jerry,

I do not have an direct experience with gluing oily woods. I also don't have any experience with gluing oily woods with Gorilla Glue (poly...note that there is also Gorilla WOOD glue...don't confuse the two).

I do have expereince with Gorilla Glue (poly) and it has worked out fine. It is just messy and can turn your hands brown if you get it on you. I believe the makers of Gorilla Glue claim that it'll glue oily woods with no problem.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've tried the polyurethane Gorilla glue for laminating, and don't do it any more. It has three drawbacks. First, it expands into a foam as it cures. It really tries hard to push apart your clamping scheme, so you need a really robust one. Second, the squeeze-out goes everywhere, and bonds to your clamps and bench and everything. It is a pain to clean up. Third, the glue bond isn't as strong as good ol' Titebond. I've been able to rip apart polyurethane bonds by breaking the glue. In yellow glue, the wood goes first.

That said, I've never tried Gorilla on oily woods. Perhaps oily woods are a big enough issue that one must tolerate all the drawbacks.

[Quinn McCarthy]

I would use west systems epoxy. I use it all of the time for bent laminations.

HTH.

Quinn

[Jerry Murray]

I've tried the polyurethane Gorilla glue for laminating, and don't do it any more. It has three drawbacks. First, it expands into a foam as it cures. It really tries hard to push apart your clamping scheme, so you need a really robust one. Second, the squeeze-out goes everywhere, and bonds to your clamps and bench and everything. It is a pain to clean up. Third, the glue bond isn't as strong as good ol' Titebond. I've been able to rip apart polyurethane bonds by breaking the glue. In yellow glue, the wood goes first.

That said, I've never tried Gorilla on oily woods. Perhaps oily woods are a big enough issue that one must tolerate all the drawbacks.

Titebond...which one?

I use Titebond for wood glue ups and this stuff works just fine for that...except the stupidly designed nozzle.

[Jerry Murray]

I would use west systems epoxy. I use it all of the time for bent laminations.

HTH.

Quinn

Where is this available?

[Larry Edgerton]

West System. Google "West System" epoxy, or if you are in an area with marina's one of them will have it. Get on their mailing list, they will send you a wealth of information in their quarterly newsletter, or order direct and have them send a tech manual with the order.

[Jerry Murray]

West System. Google "West System" epoxy, or if you are in an area with marina's one of them will have it. Get on their mailing list, they will send you a wealth of information in their quarterly newsletter, or order direct and have them send a tech manual with the order.

Thanks Larry. I went to their site and they pointed me to some marina suppliers in my area. I'll check them out.

[sean m. titmas]

urea resin or 2 part epoxy adhesives work fine for veneering and laminating work.

i built some cabinet doors with curved rails and a curved center panel by using 1/8" flitches with urea resin glue. there is absolutely no creep and very little visible glue line when cured. using west epoxy or urea resin for small projects is fine but if you do a large glue up or a complicated glue up that requires more time than west epoxy with a retarder added to the mix will give you plenty of working time.

its available at most marine centers or through many of the online catalogs.

[Jacob Reverb]

I think I would go with something other than epoxy.

I use a lot of epoxy for boat repairs and other work (I have about 5 gallons on hand right now) and while it's great stuff, it does have a few drawbacks for your application.

Unlike Titebond and some other glues, epoxy works better with a fairly thick bonding layer. I haven't tried it, but I suspect that laminating a bunch of strips together and then clamping them is likely to result in a glue-starved joint. And if you don't clamp them, I suspect the thickness of the bond will look bad when you later shape the stocks.

Epoxy is also fairly intolerant of oil in the wood. Isn't ebony pretty oily stuff?

FWIW, I think I would try something like Titebond II first...especially before springing for the $$$ of epoxy...and see if it works satisfactorily.

Good luck.

[David DeCristoforo]

The only rosewood I have ever had problems with (as far as being "too oily") is cocobolo. Ebony is not really "oily" and neither are most roeswoods. You can glue them just fine with Titebond.