Woodchuck question: Epoxy or wood glue

[Federico]

Here's something Ive been thinking about. Which do you think provides a better joint, wood glue or 2 part epoxy. I got into the habit of using epoxy, but now am wondering if epoxy is so great why have wood glue. Have I been using the wood glue wrong? Benefits of wood glue, tips?

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

I use wood glue when joining wood to wood, when joining wood to steel, as in a knife handle, I also prefer the two part epoxy. The wood glue seems to work best with closer tolerances that require a thin layer of bonding agent, where epoxy is happy to flow into any voids and irregularities filling them solidy when it sets up.

Sarge

 

[firkin]

I'm with Sylvrfalcn here.

Used properly, and clamped-up you can almost always get a wood-to-wood bond that's strong enough that any failure occurs by the wood next to the joint breaking, not the joint failing. It's cheap, doesn't need mixing, smells less unpleasant, and is easy to clean up. Tried and tested, like your pitch!

Getting a good fit over a large area and clamping is key though. Making a lap or vee joint instead of a simple butt joint works wonders. If that can't be done, the epoxy might work better in some cases.

If noporous stuff like metal is involved, I have better luck with epoxy.

I'd have to be pretty darn short on space to consider ditching the wood glue....you moving into a compact refrigerator box or something?

 

[ddean]

The bit I've done works great with epoxy.
I don't recall any failures.
I've used epoxy almost excusively for more than 20 years.

I guess I'm too lax about the details (fit/clamping)
for wood glue to work well for me.

I've noticed that the local Woodcraft has a much larger display
for their epoxies than for their other glues.
Maybe their profit is larger for epoxy, so they push those items.
They sell filler material to epoxy larger gaps.

Cyanoacrylates (super glues) seem to be expanding into wood
and other specialty/hobby markets with special formulas for
specific uses.

Polyurethane glue is new to me, but it seems like it may
become my new favorite.
It's activated by water. Moisture in the joint specifically.
So, in a way, it is a two part glue.
Seems very strong & I plan to use it unless/until I find a problem with it.
Only two potential drawbacks readily apparent.
It foams up and increases volume shortly after activation;
And even a nice clean looking joint may drip glue.
The other problem is the warnings on the bottle incline me
to want to work under a fume hood.

 

[Yvsa]

Polyurethane glue is a great product, but I don't like it for glueing wood as it becomes porous in the joint when it's dry, or at least it does on me.
It is hell bent for strong even with the porosity, but when you're glueing a Flute together you want the joints air tight as any leakage will show up in the noteing of the Flute with muddy and flat tones.
And the porosity doesn't look very pretty either and on a fancy piece of wood work I want the smallest seam visible!!!!
I've found that the Elmer's Yellow Carpenter's Glue to be about the best available for glueing up wood joints.

 

[Federico]

Seems like a mixed bag so far on results. A luthier once told me that on more stressful breaks, where continuous pressure will be applied, eg. neck break on a violin, epoxy would work better than wood glue. Then again, he was talking hyde glue. Any opinions, ether way?