bentwood lamination glue

[craig carlson]

Hi,

I'm attempting my first bentwood lamination project. What are my options for adhesives? I would like to use a Urea-Formaldehyde glue as specified in my plans but it looks like that I can't use it (or its not recommended for use under 65 degrees F.) So what other options do I have? This is for some dining chairs and I don't want to wait 'til April for the temps to come up to snuff.

Tanks,
Craig
Sebastopol,Ca.

[Steve Cox]

Epoxy will work as will Unibond 800 which is sold for vacuum pressing. Epoxy will give noticeable and dark glue lines and the joints need to be a bit more sloppy than for other adhesives in order to not have a glue starved joint. Unibond can be purchased with three different colored catalysts so you can get close to your wood color. Weldwood would probably be my first choice even though it has a dark glue line also but it has the temperature limitations you have already mentioned. I have used it down to about 58-60 degrees with no real problem but it's not guaranteed at that temp.

[Jamie Buxton]

All the ureaformaldyhydes I know want to see 60 degrees or so. You can get that by taking the clamped part home with you in the evening. You can also get that by wrapping the clamped part in an electric blanket, and wrapping that with a moving blanket.

With a fast hardener, epoxies can cure at lower temperatures than ureaformaldahydes. For instance, check the temperatures on West Systems hardeners. (http://www.westsystem.com/) Of course, you'll be paying three times as much for epoxy as for ureaformaldahyde.

[sascha gast]

i use weldwood, works great, is cheap, doesn't go bad, easy to mix with water. hardens like a rock.
i love working with it.

sascha

[Bill Arnold]

... I'm attempting my first bentwood lamination project. What are my options for adhesives? ...
Craig,

I just finished vacuum-pressing some bentwood lamination parts for a quilt rack. The parts are a 29 1/8" inside radius, so I made the form 28 7/8" to account for a little spring-back. I used regular Titebond and the parts look great. I left each set in the bag for 6-7 hours. You can see some photos in this thread:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=15632

Regards,

[Steve Wargo]

If i"m veneering a panel I'll often use Titebond Extend, but if it's something that is a little more critical then I reach for the Unibond. It's available at VacuPress. No affiliation.

[Tim Farrell]

I have been told (although I have not yet used this) that URAC is a great adhesive for bentwood laminations.
http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/browseproducts/URAC-185-Laminating-Glue--Quart.HTML
I know David Marks from the TV uses this stuff.

Let us know what you decide and how it works out, please.