Larry Gipson
05-10-2013, 6:37 PM
I found an older glue thread and found some great posts by Bob Smalser regarding Titebond III.
I only wish I'd found this thread sooner. I've glued up some white oak planks to make a thicker board, then found cracks where the glue didn't fill in. I ran the glue-up through the jointer and table saw before the cracks were apparent and, of course, the glue was already cured.
I had no idea Titebond III joints weren't repairable. These PVA glues create a plastic when cured and tb3 will not stick to plastic. I called Franklin and their chemist (Bob) confirmed that this is the case and only a CA glue will stick to the tb3 film. I was also told this CA glue bond was far weaker than if the tb3 had actually worked as planned. I bought some Titebond CA glue and tried bonding some oak with a cured tb3 coating. It seemed to work, but a quick yank with the test board in a vise was all it took to separate the CA bond. I suppose the good news is that the Titebond Ca glues come in thick, medium, and thin viscosities which can be mixed to create any intermediate viscosity you'd want. The bad news is that it's a brittle glue that doesn't really adhere well to a tb3 film.
This has me re-evaluating my glue choices. I've purchased West Systems 105 for the remainder of my assembly.
The purpose of this post it so see if anyone has made further progress in joining tb3 coated surfaces. I saw from the other thread that PL Premium Construction Adhesive can be used, but it's pretty thick to be used for filling a crack. I'm still in contact with Franklin on this, but so far none of their products seem to adhere to the tb3 film. Their best advice is to separate the boards at 150F, clean them, and start over.
Thanks
I only wish I'd found this thread sooner. I've glued up some white oak planks to make a thicker board, then found cracks where the glue didn't fill in. I ran the glue-up through the jointer and table saw before the cracks were apparent and, of course, the glue was already cured.
I had no idea Titebond III joints weren't repairable. These PVA glues create a plastic when cured and tb3 will not stick to plastic. I called Franklin and their chemist (Bob) confirmed that this is the case and only a CA glue will stick to the tb3 film. I was also told this CA glue bond was far weaker than if the tb3 had actually worked as planned. I bought some Titebond CA glue and tried bonding some oak with a cured tb3 coating. It seemed to work, but a quick yank with the test board in a vise was all it took to separate the CA bond. I suppose the good news is that the Titebond Ca glues come in thick, medium, and thin viscosities which can be mixed to create any intermediate viscosity you'd want. The bad news is that it's a brittle glue that doesn't really adhere well to a tb3 film.
This has me re-evaluating my glue choices. I've purchased West Systems 105 for the remainder of my assembly.
The purpose of this post it so see if anyone has made further progress in joining tb3 coated surfaces. I saw from the other thread that PL Premium Construction Adhesive can be used, but it's pretty thick to be used for filling a crack. I'm still in contact with Franklin on this, but so far none of their products seem to adhere to the tb3 film. Their best advice is to separate the boards at 150F, clean them, and start over.
Thanks