Thread: Gluing Spotted gum

I have not used spotted gum but have edge glued Blackbutt, Blackwood and Jarrah with Titebond 3 without any failures by wiping the edges to be glued with acetone immediately before gluing. The acetone evaporates off quickly.

Others might have better solutions.

I have had no issues with TB3 on spotted gum, I wipe with Acetone first and have had it works every time.

Cheers Andrew

As AJ said, asetone wipe just before glue up. Lemon scented gum is even more prone to glue failure and is often sold as spotted gum.

Yet another for acetone. Use it liberally, wipe off and glue quickly. TB III may not be the best glue for this situation - doesn't it rely on a certain amount of moisture in the wood to set it off? That may be affected by the acetone. I usually use TB II.

Edit: Just noticed Andrew's post. Seems like it's OK.

Acetone for me too.

Also glue up as soon as possible after sanding or planing. I have not used acetone myself, although I agree with the other comments that it is effective. SG also requires very high clamping forces.

Regards
Paul

Tnx everyone
Just to close this out, does anyone use two pack such as Techniglue?
It seems the view here relates to oil being the problem- does the very dense grain contribute?
Do people believe it is a failure to absorb the water based glues?
Rgrds
Bob

I've done a couple of spotted gum glue ups and Titebond II seems to be the magic sauce. Freshly planed edges + thin layer of TBII on each edge + clamp until squeeze out then a little bit more. I had to redo my laundry countertop and the second time around went with TBII. Humid environment and splashed with water regularly, so about the worst it could be and so far so good. I've got a set of laminated legs that were going to be a BBQ cart that were glued up 5 years ago, no issues with the lamination with TBII.

The countertop was initially done with Purbond PU (polyurethane) adhesive. It seemed to glue up ok but after a few months sitting on edge in the garage, there were multiple glue line failures. It could have been user error as it was my first big glue up with PU. I've since used PU on blackwood and Tas Oak with no issues (Bostik AV515).

Techniglue was recommended by elanjacobs on these forums and the guy that sold me the spotted gum. My reasons for not using techniglue - I didn't have any and I had a gallon jug of TBII.

Maybe I've been lucky, but I've made a lot out of Spotted Gum, always glued with TB3, no acetone etc, and I cannot recall ever having an issue. Over the years I have also almost definitely left things after dressing and glued one/two days later.

Techniglue and poly will be work well. Techniglue is probably overkill plus it has a very slow drying time. Something like Unobond in a cartridge is easy to apply and very good for these sort of timbers. Fast drying time means you can quickly move on after clamping up to sanding and finishing.

No more glue creep on panels is nice, too.