Gluing Exotic Woods

[Marc Moran]

Hi all!

My question is not can they be glued but what are others experiences with the longevity of the glue joint. I purchased a custom butcher block from an outfit in PA several years ago and the owner said he gets a lot of requests for Ipe but said he couldn't get satisfactory results bonding the pieces together. Not sure exactly what that meant and I don't know if he did testing or he he had failures after installation. I've always shied away from the oilier woods for that reason. Also, using epoxy seems like a hassle.

Marc

[Neil Brooks]

I've wiped down edges, on oily wood, with acetone, prior to glue-up, and haven't seen outcomes that differ from "less exotic" woods.

Found a good article (http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Gluing_Ipe.html) on Ipe, specifically !

[Larry Edgerton]

Ditto what Neil said......

I do the same. I have Teak newell posts that are outside and have been for twenty years glued as he does, glueing surfaces cleaned just before glueup with acetone. I used epoxy, but others use other glues with some success.

I have used a fair amount of Ipe but I have never tried to glue it, can't help you on that specifically. It doesn't seem to be as oily as teak, but it sure has a tight grain pattern.

Larry

[Mike Cutler]

I like the tropicals, but the gluing is something that has to be thought about .

Like Neil stated, I too wipe the glue area down with acetone just prior to gluing.
I personally use epoxy resin, pretty much exclusively. It's not really a hassle to use, but it's certainly not as convenient or inxepensive as Titebond.
I've done glueups with Bocote, Jatoba, Bubinga, Wenge, Padauk, Brazillian ebony, Macassar ebony, Mopane and haven't had any failures yet.
I have an small Ipe glueup that was edge glued for fun about 10 years ago. It was supposed to be a table top, but I never made that project. It's been in an unheated garage, left outside all summer andused on the BBQ, and right now it's a temporary flat surface on top of an undercounter freezer in our kitchen while I remodel the kitchen. Our house is heated with a woodstove also, so it's seen a lot of different environments.
I would hazard to guess that if the guy building the butcher block out of Ipe is using an epoxy, he's over clamping the joint. You have to force yourself to not clamp an epoxy joint or the epoxy becomes starved. Epoxy takes only enough pressure to have the materials meet.