Panel Glue-ups with Epoxy

[Marty Schlosser]

A studio furniture designer and maker who I know and highly respect uses yellow glue for most glue-ups... but not for edge glueing panels, nor for gluing up laminations thicker than 1/4". For those applications he uses WEST System epoxy, and for panel glue-ups, also uses biscuits which he feels helps keep things together. His reasoning is that yellow glues allow creep, which on panels and those laminations, will show up as a slight rise along the line where the boards come together, a few months to a year from the time they're glued up. It's as though the boards seasonal swelling and contraction caused the finish to rise an almost imperceptible amount, right along the joint.

Once I had that discussion with my associate, I went home and looked carefully at the pieces of furniture I had made, some going back 30 years. Sure enough, I noticed that virtually all of them have experienced that same characteristic. Although there was no indication at all of glue failure on any of them, that ridge was there. I have since followed his lead and now glue up my panels using WEST System epoxy.

The reason for this post, is that in Fine Woodworking's latest issue, a test of glues showed that yellow glue made stronger joints than epoxy did. It didn't say anything about creep, however. As such, I'd be interested in hearing from others, as to what glues they use for panel glue-ups and how things have stood up over the years.

Cheers,

Marty

[Mike Cutler]

Marty.

I don't really believe in the "One glue only philosophy". I think each type of glue have their good points and bad points.

I primarily use Epoxy for a few reasons.

1. I am a complete disaster with Titebond. Titebond ends up everywhere when I use it, except for the ceiling. Nothing wrong with the product, just the user.:eek:

2. I like the flexibility of epoxy. I work in an unheated, unairconditioned garage, and epoxies can be adapted for use in varying temperatures very easily.

3. I like the adjustability of the open time on epoxy, especially for large panel glueups, with lots of clamps. No rushing, plenty of time.

4. Bob Smalser's article on gluejoint reparability really made an impression on me.

5. I like to work with the dense tropical hardwoods, and epoxy seems to be the favored adhesive by experts in these areas.

As for the article in FWW. I read the article in the bookstore and while it was interesting. It didn't change my mind about epoxy. I think the benefits, for me at least, outweigh the negatives.

None of the things I've made with epoxy have enough years on them to do a comparative test. The difference in strength, as reported, isn't significant enough for me to worry about. I have always maintained that a joint must have mechanical integerity first, and not rely solely on the adhesive compound used.

I just got done with some epoxy glueups with Macassar ebony. Laminations, edge gluing, and there will be some gross grain gluejoints as well. Hopefully, in 30 years I'll be able to offer a little more info.;)