fixing a board

[Mike Steinhilper]

A guy told me how he fixes a board that has split along the grain starting at the end. He said he used Titebond II, spread it along the crack with a screwdriver, then blew it into the cavity with compressed air. Clamp and good as new. I was wondering if anyone here has tried this....

[Aaron Frank]

I've done this, but in reverse. I had a table apron that developed a a slight split, beginning at the tenon and going about 3 inches, with the grain. I took a screwdriver and gently wedged it in the crack at the tenon end (slightly opening the crack). I then took a tooth pick and dabbed glue into the crack. Once I had a fair amount in the crack I turned the vacuum on and sucked glue deeper into the crack by placing the nozzle close to the back side of the crack. I then removed the scredriver, clamped the board, and wiped off the couple of drops of glue that had squeezed out.

It worked like a charm. Today the crack isn't even visable.

Good luck.
Aaron

PS: Compressed air or a vacuum aren't neander, but they do fix the problem. :D

[Bob Smalser]

A guy told me how he fixes a board that has split along the grain starting at the end. He said he used Titebond II, spread it along the crack with a screwdriver, then blew it into the cavity with compressed air. Clamp and good as new. I was wondering if anyone here has tried this....

You usually aren't gonna fix diddly without also fixing the reason it cracked. ;)

Often it's overdrying that causes cracking, sometimes it's seasonal movement impeded by improper mounting. Repairs won't take without rehydrating or soft mounting. But sometimes it's merely a defect in the board, and those are easily repaired.

For repairable defects, especially cracks that might reappear with seasonal movement, Titebond is a terrible choice as it can't be glued over should the board crack again. Much better is marine epoxy dyed to match the wood and worked into the joint using a heat gun. Mild heat thins epoxy to the consistency of gasoline, allowing it to seep to the bottom of the crack and penetrate the wood. It also can be reglued using epoxy if the repair fails.

[glenn bradley]

Assuming the board is now stable I use different methods; a toothpick, syringe, or the vacuum method stated is I need to get into tiny places and there is an exit point to suck from. I have had no problems with such repairs and so defer to Bob as to re-repairing. As Bob states, if this is due to wood movement that is still going on or will re-occur (seasonal), it'll be back.

[Mike Steinhilper]

That all makes sense. I think the wood is now stable since it's a very old board. I guess I'll just give it a shot.

[Greg Crawford]

Bob,

I've seen you mention marine epoxy several times. I've used 2 part epoxies for years, but they never specified "marine". What's the difference and how do I know exactly what I'm getting?

[Marcus Ward]

I'm pretty sure Bob is referring to Gougeon bros. West System epoxy. It's the bees knees as far as epoxy goes. Get a quart of resin and a smaller can of hardener with the pumps for proper portioning - it's not 1:1, and you can do wondrous things with it. You can add various types of filler material and come up with stuff thicker than peanut butter that'll hold anything you stick in it. I started using it fixing my racing boats, now it gets used on all kinds of things.

[Bob Smalser]

I use the term marine epoxy to refer to epoxies marketed to professional boatbuilders and gunsmiths instead of what's sold in grocery stores and big box stores for household repairs.

West System, System 3, Acraglass, Marinetex, Smith's etc.

There is no comparison in strength and versatility. Dyes, hardeners regulating open time, and various thickeners are available for marine epoxies. The heat gun techniques I use with marine epoxy usually don't work with household epoxy.