I'm building a Maple entry door (trad mortise and tenon, frame and solid wood panels) and have decided to use Epoxy for all my glueing purposes (joinery, panel edge joints) after doing some reading both here and on WoodWeb about overall strength as well as temperatures that different glues can withstand in exterior door conditions. I've used TB I, II, and III in the past for most things, but haven't built an exterior door before and decided to go with West Systems 105A and 206A (slow hardener) but am unsure about some of the nitty gritty of working with Epoxy.
This door is actually going in the clients' sunroom that will be part of a new insulated wall I've built that will be part of the air sealed envelope of the house. It will see direct sun, have different humidities and temperatures on each side and will have weatherstripping, a threshold and a sweep, but see no actual wet weather as it's in a sunroom / greenhouse type room.
My questions are mainly about what to expect compared to PVA glue.
- On edge (panel) glue ups (or on shoulders of M&T joints for that matter), how do you efficiently get rid of any squeeze out? I usually use a card scraper / chisel after about an hour or so, before the glue has completely hardened and get as much off as I can, making the final glue line clean up easier and more successful with less torn potential torn wood fibers. What's the process with Epoxy?
- I've read a bit about how Epoxy is structurally gap filling (to a point) but am unsure exactly how much slop to build into the tenons. I've currently got the rail and stile mortise and tenon joinery done and dry fit, but have cut my tenons as I normally would which is a fit that doesn't need to be struck with a mallet to be fit, but is tight enough to hold the pieces together if I lifted up and suspended the joint in air. I fear this may be too tight for Epoxy and starve the joint, but really don't have practical experience enough to know. What's your rule of thumb for joinery and Epoxy?
Any tips and words of wisdom regarding using and working with Epoxy in this application? I kind of hate using a clients' project as a learning curve for a new procedure, but sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles and you adjust accordingly and do the best you can with what you know.
Thanks for any advice!
-Phillip
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