glue ups

[Reed Gray]

I saw a video from Wood by Wright the other day and he glued some Ipe onto another wood for the sole of the plane he was making. I asked him about the Ipe being very oily and wouldn't that cause the glue joint to fail eventually. He responded that that was myth, and didn't really make any difference. Anyone know? I do like his work. I have lots of Ipe, lilgnum, cocobolo, ironwood, and probably a few others.... Not sure if ironwood is oily. I have heard of wiping the surfaces down with acetone to remove the surface oil, and of using the 2 part epoxies which do a better job of holding onto these woods. Anyone know for sure? I know you don't use the urethane glues, if for no other reason, if you ship it air mail, the bubbles will expand and the surfaces will delaminate. Had a friend who lost a bunch of expresso tampers that way when shipping them to Japan.

robo hippy

[Cameron Wood]

I use Ipe quite a lot for years, including a plane sole like you describe, & have not had any problems. Usually Tightbond, sometimes urethane, never epoxy.

Freshly milled surfaces, but no extra cleaning. The plane sole is on an old Japanese plane, which are often heavily oiled. Only been about a year, but good so far.

Edit:
Here is an outdoor kitchen that I made from Ipe over 20 years ago. The door frames were doweled, and the panel slats are screwed from the back. I think it was Gorilla glue, but don't remember for sure. Holding up well.

IMG_3953.jpg

[Reed Gray]

Where are the myth busters when you need them????

robo hippy

[Kevin Jenness]

I'll bust your bubble myth. A properly fitted polyurethane glue joint won't have any bubbles in it, much less delaminate at altitude.

Freshly cut surfaces on teak and the like glue well without special treatment. I avoid Ipe on general principles.

Ironwood covers a lot of species. The ones they call ironwood around here are dense but not oily

[Cameron Wood]

I failed to find any citation of polyurethane glue failing at high altitude. One paper seemed to reference it's use in a high altitude airship, but vague.

[Mike Henderson]

I used some lignum vitae as the sole of a wooden plane. Lignum vitae is known as an oily wood and it glued fine. I think I used Titebond - it was a long time ago.

There should be no bubbles in the joint of a urethane glued joint. Even if there were, if the rest of the joint was well glued, the glued part would be much stronger than the force of the glue bubbles.

Mike

[Mark Gibney]

I have used lots of ipe scraps over the years, and it glues fine with yellow glue, no issues. I made a table top years ago with ipe salvaged from a fence and the yellow glue held fine.

But like you I won't buy ipe new, it's incredibly destructive to our dwindling rainforests to harvest it. Much of this lumber is, I've read, illegally logged and making money for cartels.

[Tony Shea]

I use Ipe quite a lot for years, including a plane sole like you describe, & have not had any problems. Usually Tightbond, sometimes urethane, never epoxy.

Freshly milled surfaces, but no extra cleaning. The plane sole is on an old Japanese plane, which are often heavily oiled. Only been about a year, but good so far.

Edit:
Here is an outdoor kitchen that I made from Ipe over 20 years ago. The door frames were doweled, and the panel slats are screwed from the back. I think it was Gorilla glue, but don't remember for sure. Holding up well.

IMG_3953.jpg

Great looking outdoor kitchen build! I recently used Ipe for my deck build and am struggling with a finish that will prevent it from going gray. I also have some western red cedar on the deck that is very difficult to keep from going gray. I used some Sherwin Williams "stain" that is more natural in color which is not the best for protection but I didn't want to hide the natural color of the wood. Overall I have been very disappointed with the Sherwin Williams stuff and would like to find something that lasts longer. We finished the deck 2021 and have had to finish the wood every year. This deck does get afternoon sun and we live in Maine with harsh winters. I'm dying to find a finish or "stain" that is more natural in color which will last more than a year, which a year is being generous. I understand that stains do better when they have more pigment, therefore the more natural versions are not good at UV protection. But there has to be an outdoor "finish" that holds up better than the stain I've been using.

[Cameron Wood]

Great looking outdoor kitchen build! I recently used Ipe for my deck build and am struggling with a finish that will prevent it from going gray. I also have some western red cedar on the deck that is very difficult to keep from going gray. I used some Sherwin Williams "stain" that is more natural in color which is not the best for protection but I didn't want to hide the natural color of the wood. Overall I have been very disappointed with the Sherwin Williams stuff and would like to find something that lasts longer. We finished the deck 2021 and have had to finish the wood every year. This deck does get afternoon sun and we live in Maine with harsh winters. I'm dying to find a finish or "stain" that is more natural in color which will last more than a year, which a year is being generous. I understand that stains do better when they have more pigment, therefore the more natural versions are not good at UV protection. But there has to be an outdoor "finish" that holds up better than the stain I've been using.

Thanks. No clear finish lasts that long outdoors (well spar varnish does OK), especially on a dense wood. Something with more pigment does last longer, but on a deck wear tracks can develop which doesn't look great. Something easy to apply e.g. thinned linseed oil may as good as any. If you want to keep the color, just tell one of your grounds keeping staff to get to it every two months.

[Mel Fulks]

I only used Ipe once, on a deck ,did have to glue a couple of pieces . It was so long ago that I don’t remember what glue I used .
I do remember that a friend who had used it several times told me not to clean the pieces to be glued with acetone “because it has oil in it”. Think I used MEK. That was probably 20 years ago . I put some kind of liquid stuff on the deck , just once right after screwing it
all down . It’s not as dark as it was with the the treatment but I don’t know if I’ll ever get to re-coating it. It has small surface crack
lines showing…if you look for them , I haven’t in a long time. It is not at all splintery.

[Kevin Jenness]

If you want to keep the color, just tell one of your grounds keeping staff to get to it every two months.

Why didn't I think of that? Could solve a whole lot of problems.

[Edward Weber]

I'll add to the choir.
I've used all kinds of oily exotics and as long as you clean them properly as others have mentioned, you're fine.
I usually use Titebond 3 but that's just personal preference.
If you're concerned,
"For best results gluing exterior doors or exotic and oily woods, please contact our Technical Support Team at 1-800-347-4583. Read SDS before use. KEEP FROM FREEZING. KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN."

http://www.titebond.com/product/glue...c-b53970f736af