Light colored glue for bent wood lamination?

[david kramer]

I'm doing a bent wood project in beech. I've successfully used Dap WeldWood in the past, but it leaves a dark glue line. Any suggestions on an alternative glue that has a lighter color? Something that doesn't creep and with a 30 minute open time would be great.

Thx
David

[Eiji Fuller]

epoxy will work. it does tend to soak in a bit making the glue line very visible until you finish with a solvent based finish. a water based finish and it will show pretty good. Coat both sides as it is easy to get a starved joint with epoxy

[Matt Day]

I used regular Titebond on my first bent lamination project that I recently finished. The legs are maple and I'm happy with how it came out.

[Eiji Fuller]

If you do use titebond it will spring back more than plastic resin or epoxy

[Jamie Buxton]

The knock on PVA for bent lamination is that it cold creeps. Non cold-creeping glues include epoxy and urea-formaldehyde. (Plastic Resin is brand of urea-formaldehyde now marketed by DAP Weldwood.) Urea-formaldehyde and epoxy both meet your need for a light color, and for a long working time. UF is about one third the price of epoxy. I generally use Unibond 800, a urea-formaldehyde from www.vacupress.com. When I need epoxy -- for say a metal-to-wood lamination -- I use West Systems. I get it from West Marine, a boating place, but some woodworking catalogs sell it. System Three, which is sold by Woodcraft, is essentially identical.

[Justin Bukoski]

+1 for West Systems epoxy. Perfect stuff for bent lams.

[Chris Padilla]

veneersupplies.com has 3-4 different colored glues that should work very well for bent laminations.

Use the light cold press veneer glue (http://www.veneersupplies.com/products/Better-Bond-Veneer-Glue-Color-Light.html) for your application. This stuff dries rock hard like plastic resin...no creep.

[Jamie Buxton]

veneersupplies.com has 3-4 different colored glues that should work very well for bent laminations.

Use the light cold press veneer glue (http://www.veneersupplies.com/products/Better-Bond-Veneer-Glue-Color-Light.html) for your application. This stuff dries rock hard like plastic resin...no creep.

Chris, do you know what kind of glue that BetterBond is? There is a BetterBond URL, but no web site to back it up. Joe Woodworker doesn't say. And while he says that the glue doesn't creep, I'm skeptical about Joe Woodworkers claims about the glue when he repeats that tired old misconception that other glues require 150 PSI to bond properly.

[Chris Padilla]

Jamie,

http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/battleofthebonds.htm He seems to be of the low-pressure camp to me. ???

Other than that, I can personally substantiate nearly all of the points he makes on the Better Bonds glue except what kind it exactly is. I used it for all my veneering on my Tansu (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=92396) and I'd use it again in a heartbeat. Great stuff.

[Jamie Buxton]

http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/battleofthebonds.htm He seems to be of the low-pressure camp to me. ???



That's exactly the table that raised my hackles. He asserts that "other glue" requires 100-250 psi. That's an assertion that doesn't jibe with the experience of any seasoned woodworker.

A few years ago, Fine Woodworking ran an article that made the same assertion. It was discussed (and dismissed) here on SMC. There were so many indignant letters to the editor of FW that they eventually had to publish a retraction.

[Richard Dragin]

Whithout knowing anything about the laminations in question we are just guessing at what is the best approach.

I find mixing large amounts of epoxy problematic in that it tends to flash faster and mixing smaller amounts during a multi-layer lam glue up is also a pain.

I use Titebond I for maple lams and spring back hasn't been an issue. Sam Maloof used white glue for years and I think most of those are holding up OK.

I plan on giving Uni-800 a try as I have only heard good things about it.

[Frank Drew]

David,

I think that the key to invisibility is a thin glue line, something that might be hard to achieve with either epoxy or Resorcinol. If your bent lamination is going to need a glue with a long open time, I'd go with something like Weldwood's Plastic Resin glue; experiment a bit with your beech, but I think you can get good, strong results with a mix thin enough to give you a virtually invisible glue line.

[david kramer]

Thanks for the advice everyone. As I said, i've used WeldWood in the past. It's good stuff, but I find that it leaves a discernible glue line. It's tough to get good clamping pressure across a large, curved surface.

I'll give Better Bond a try. I'll glue-up something small and after it's dried, I'll put it in the sun and see if it creeps.

[Chris Padilla]

I plan on giving Uni-800 a try as I have only heard good things about it.

It is good...pricey...and finicky about temperature. I think the environment needs be 65-70 degrees minimum so it is not a winter favorite.

[Brian Penning]

Whithout knowing anything about the laminations in question we are just guessing at what is the best approach.

I find mixing large amounts of epoxy problematic in that it tends to flash faster and mixing smaller amounts during a multi-layer lam glue up is also a pain.

I use Titebond I for maple lams and spring back hasn't been an issue. Sam Maloof used white glue for years and I think most of those are holding up OK.

I plan on giving Uni-800 a try as I have only heard good things about it.

As Richard said, Sam Maloof used plain ol' white glue. Has longer open time than yellow glue.
I've used it several times with no problems.