Need help with glueing cocobola

[Paul Muhlstadt]

Brother-in law gave me some cocobola from Hernes in PA. I'm making a box out of this stuff for him and was wondering what to use to glue it together. This is some nasty stuff but I have the pieces made and now I am worried about glueing it together
The box ends are 45 deg edges and I don't have any extra to remake it.
Can anyone help me out as to what glue to use??
Also, what finish will adhere to it.

Thanks for any help.

[Jim Crockett]

From what I've read you can use either PVA (yellow), polyurethane (Gorilla) or epoxy glue but you need to wipe the joint areas thoroughly with acetone just before glueup. Cocobolo contains oil that inhibits the gluing unless you clean the oil off the surface and out of the pores first.

Jim

[Larry Edgerton]

Jim is correct about the oil. I use West system, and I clean it with acetone "just" before gluing. If it is too long between cleaning and glueup the oils will migrate back to the glue surfaces. also in areas that do not show inside the joint I rough it up with a small course rasp so the epoxy has something to grab on to. Epoxy is a mechanical bond and a smooth surface with few pores on a wood like Cocobolo does not supply enough for the epoxy to grab on to.

I have not had any luck with PVA glue myself.

If the piece is inside I do not put any finish on it at all with Cocobolo, I just carfully sand it to about 800, and then take it to the buffing wheel. The finish, or lack of will be the best you can get with the natural oils, and will stay that way forever. I make door knobs/pulls out of it and they look good after 20 years in a commercial enviroment.

[Joe Scharle]

I've not had any problems with yellow glue. Some of the pieces in the house are 30 years old and are still holding. Acetone wipe down, the glue up. I don't use cocobola anymore due to allergy.

[Tony Bilello]

I also use yellow glue with an acetone or lacquer thinner wipedown first.

[Paul Muhlstadt]

Thanks everyone, I have a couple pieces left over so I will try both this weekend.

[Don Orr]

Also consider using splines on the mitered corners across the joints so you can get some side-grain to side-grain glue strength. Think about using a contrasting wood for a nice effect.

Look around this site for boxes, you will find a lot of nice ones.

[David DeCristoforo]

I always thought that "gluing cocobolo" was an oxymoron. I've heard it can be done...

[guy knight]

TBIII will work the best for oily wood i haven't had a failure yet using it on oily wood and FWW magizine rated it as excellent for oily woods

[Greg Wittler]

For Finishing, +1 on the Buffer plus for even more shine you could use somthing like mylands friction polish before buffing.

[Callan Campbell]

TBIII will work the best for oily wood i haven't had a failure yet using it on oily wood and FWW magizine rated it as excellent for oily woods

I agree, I've used it for awhile now with any tropical wood that I'm working with, no loss of hold or adhesive so far.

[Steve knight]

the acetone thing does not really work well. it tends to draw the oil to the surface faster. it's best to freshly mill or sand the surface and glue right away. I never tested with epoxy but I did with gorilla glue years ago. the joint was stronger if I did not use acetone. I think there was a write up in some mag saying the same thing.
I don't think most glues we can get really make a stronger then wood joint in cocobolo. the best glue I have found was hot melt poly the PUR gun. I glued lignum vitae with it and the joint was stronger then the wood. it was hard to believe. but holt melt glue is pretty limited in it's use.

[Larry Edgerton]

the acetone thing does not really work well. it tends to draw the oil to the surface faster. it's best to freshly mill or sand the surface and glue right away. I never tested with epoxy but I did with gorilla glue years ago. the joint was stronger if I did not use acetone. I think there was a write up in some mag saying the same thing.
I don't think most glues we can get really make a stronger then wood joint in cocobolo. the best glue I have found was hot melt poly the PUR gun. I glued lignum vitae with it and the joint was stronger then the wood. it was hard to believe. but holt melt glue is pretty limited in it's use.

West system disagrees. They have done extensive testing using sound scientific principals and as boat builders are familiar with oily woods. I used the method that they recommend and have had epoxyied teak railings outside in Michigan weather for over 15 years with absolutely no sign of failure. I have a cocobolo accented door at a bar that is exposed to the weather that has been opened millions of times over the years and again, no sign of failure. I followed their guidelines and the proof is in the pudding for me.

As a funny side note, the door mentioned weighs 475 pounds. It has an assist/closer but does not take well to brute force. I was sitting at the bar one day talking to the owner about a project when a customer and his girlfriend got in a tiff, he got up and stormed out, kicking the door. He broke his foot! I laughed my *** off.:)

Kick my work...........