I was lucky to receive a whole lot of real old what looks like redwood t&g boards. They were covered with mold and dirty, but after cutting off the t&g and the ends, and a few light passes through the planer, they looked beautiful. They were stored flat on a cement floor and don’t have warping problems at all.
I cut cut a bunch of it up to make a bookshelf and started gluing pieces up. The glue doesn’t hold at all. They were sufficiently clamped. Enough glue was applied. I let the glue set for about four hours (very hot day in Hawaii), but when unclamping they fell apart immediately.
my neighbor said they might be so dry because they are so old that they just sucked up all the glue or that the mold that was growing it on them could have affected the wood internally even if you can’t see t, but he was not sure.
What do do you think? Should I just try again now that they have a layer of dried glue on the edges to be joined, or just switch to epoxy? Or just ditch the wood for this project. I spent an entire day planning the layout, cleaning up the wood, cutting it to size and setting up several glue ups. Got real frustrated with it.
Also note on what is to be the top, I put a strip of mango between the redwood for decorative purposes and that piece is strong. It’s the only one that held and was actually clamped up for the shortest time.
Thanks.