Glues

[John Terefenko]

Today I tried gluing a simple pen blank using holly and blackwood Gabon. I was gluing the small pieces end grain to end grain. I tried at first to use System 3, 5 min epoxy but I did not work the blank for about 5 hours. That came apart very easily. Then I tried CA and that too came apart too easily.


My question is what glue do you people use to glue 2 woods such as these??? I was sceptical to use TitebondII because of the exotic oily wood. I cut the pieces on a tablesaw so the cuts were sweet. Maybe they were to smooth and I should have roughed up?????? I glued them basically right away after cutting.


Any help or suggestions is appreciated.

[John Keeton]

End grain glue ups are going to be fragile regardless of the glue you use. I don't do pens, so I don't know exactly what you have in mind, but I would think the joint would need to be supported on a tube and could not be machined standing alone.

[Greg Just]

I have glued up end grain using TB2 for pens with no issues. Are you using clamps? perhaps with oily woods, you should wipe with alcohol first. Also, a little hit with 120 sandpaper will give the glue something to bite into. I let mine dry overnight before drilling. Good luck,

[Donny Lawson]

Use a little acetone and wipe it down first. That will help remove the oil then add titebond II. Clamp with light pressure. You don't want to squeese all the glue out.

[Bernie Weishapl]

i agree with the wipe down acetone, sand with 100 or 120 grit then glue with titebond II. The key in my mind is 24 hrs drying time.

[Wally Dickerman]

When glueing segmented pen blanks, with any wood I've tried, Titebond original has worked just fine. No failures that I know of. A pen joint has the support of the tube so the thin endgrain joint is strong enough.

When I do segmented bracelets I've used a number of exotics and have had no problems using Titebond original. I've tested endgrain bracelet joints using Titebond. I let the glue set up for an hour or so, then put the piece in a vise and whack it with a hammer. Takes a pretty hard whack to break the joint. Much more than any stress in a bracelet or pen in normal use. I'm sure that if the glueup was left for 24 hours the joint would be even stronger. Actually, I always let segmented work set up for at least one day. More is better.

When gluing oily woods such as some of the exotics, if the cut is fresh there is no need to use acetone or solvent.

[Jim Burr]

It looks like you have two different densities and really different woods. CA will work in most cases, but remember the difference. In your case, depending on the shear...CA is fine. Devcon makes a great 5 min epoxy that can help with adhesion. Again...think about what you are combining...Holly is very porous and ebony (and all hardwoods) is incredibly dense. The wood isn't the problem, it's the attachment method. Something else to think about...just because I love pens...sanding will be an issue, black dust on white porous stuff...think about it. That to can be fixed.

[John Terefenko]

It looks like you have two different densities and really different woods. CA will work in most cases, but remember the difference. In your case, depending on the shear...CA is fine. Devcon makes a great 5 min epoxy that can help with adhesion. Again...think about what you are combining...Holly is very porous and ebony (and all hardwoods) is incredibly dense. The wood isn't the problem, it's the attachment method. Something else to think about...just because I love pens...sanding will be an issue, black dust on white porous stuff...think about it. That to can be fixed.

See my problem is I need to get the pen drilled before I can insert the tubes and yes the glue for that is epoxy because it is metal to wood. That will give all the stength I need. But I need to get to that point. I will try the titebond and then just douse the entire blank with CA and then drill. I have no worries about the black and white dust issue. I have become pretty efficient with my skew when it comes to turning pen blanks and probably may not even need sandpaper. I will be finishing with a few layers of a CA finish. More to come. Hopefully I will get some time this week to get in the shop to try again. Thanks all for the replys.

[Andrew Meyer]

You can't glue end grain and expect it to have any strength. Every wood joint that works is side grain to side grain.