Olga Ooze in the Glue-up

[SenterShot]

It seems that I smear on quite a bit of Smothoth On just to get absolute complete coverage--and then I get lots of glue oozing out everywhere when I begin to put the form in the laminating press. I probably used 8 ounces of EA-40. Is that way too much? I'm slathering it on both sides of all the lams, the inner sides of the glass, and back and belly of the riser. How many bows ought I be able to get out of a two-pint/1 Quart Smooth-on investment?

[2treks]

You are glueing up in the proper manner,all surfaces need to be glued, and you will/should get oooze out.
From your pint kit I would think you could get 5-6 bows if they are using 2-3 core lams and glass.
I have not measured the onces but if my math guess is close I use about 2-3oz. for a 3 lam longbow.
If I remember, I can take a picture later of what a glued lam should look like,as well as a cured glue up.

It is always better to have to much glue on the material than not enough IMHO.

CTT

[jsweka]

When I'm gluing up a longbow with four laminations plus back and belly glass I mix up two dixie cups worth of resin and two dixie cups worth of hardener.  This gives me plenty to work with without fear of running out and I do waste quite a bit.  But...I'd rather waste glue and insure the bow will glue up right than skimp on glue and end up wasting laminations.  Glue is cheap relative to laminations and glass.

[SenterShot]

Thanks guys! Two Tracks, yes, I would appreciate a photo, particularly if it indicates how thick the glue is.

Judging by the catfood can I mixed the epoxy in, I slathered about 8 ounces of goo onto 1.75" recurve. I ignored instructions to lop off excess lam & glass length, so I did glue up the full 72" length. I doubt, however those extra 8" or so used up all that much.

John, if you've got 3 oz Dixie cups, you're using 12 oz of glue total...that's more than I used! In contrast, TwoTracks estimates I oughta be getting a lot more bows out of my Smooth On. I'm kind of worrying over whether I need to order another batch before I start my third project. Urrrh.

Ooze-out on the baked bow ranges from a .25" bead to a 1/8" puddle covering most of my riser...plus a couple of pinkie finger sized glops elsewhere.