Smooth On for Bamboo or Hick Backed

[bigcountry]

Anyone use smoothon for Bamboo or Hickory backed IPE or Osage bows?  I have some left over that Kanga sent me and don't want it to go to waste.  I have two bows I need to glue up.

[Moen]

Yes i have.. BBI and BBH`s with no problem. I use 60 grit sanding paper before glue up. I also use West System epoxy, with no failure.

[soopernate]

Yeah you will be fine...

[bigcountry]

At what temps did you cure em at?

Would URAC be a better choice as far as strength and gap filling?

Would 130F be enough?

[Diamondback59]

ya it ll work why go to all the trouble tb 3 works just as good and a whole lot easier  brock

[bigcountry]

Originally posted by Diamondback59:
ya it ll work why go to all the trouble tb 3 works just as good and a whole lot easier  brock

I have used TBIII twice.  I had glue creep.  I talked to Dean Torges about it, and he said he didn't recommend it for IPE. I know Richard Scaffold uses TBIII and loves it along with other friends.  

Have you ever used Smoothon? What temp did you cure?

[Moen]

My heatbox give me 130-150F.

[OkKeith]

Mark,

My hot box gets about 120 unless the shop gets really cold overnight. I put bows in 8 hours (or over night, whichever) then shut the box off and let everything cool down slowly.

As far as Tightbond goes, it is a little slipperier and can let things move around if the bow is not wraped tight or bound to the form snuggly. If I use TB I go with the TB1.

I read somewhere (may have been written by Torges) that the only difference between TB1, TB2 and TB3 is its waterproofness. The article said that the additives make the glue less strong. It went on to say that if you're gonna put a weatherproof coating on the bow (poly- or the like) waterproof glue is a moot point and why sacrifice glue effectiveness for a waterproof quality you don't really need. Besides, the TB1 is usually cheaper.

I use the Smooth-on because I can doulble the Part-A to Part-B and get a little more heat resistantance for when I shoot in the 110 degrees of an Oklahoma summer. May not matter but haven't had one come apart yet.

Used to use Urac, but I'm not big on the glue line it leaves. May have been my own lack of skill (probably), but using the toothing plane left tooth markes at the end of riser laminations that I could never figure out how to get rid of. The Smooth-on seems as fool proof as anything. Then again you know how ingenious us fools can be.

OkKeith

[bigcountry]

Great information Keith.  I apprecate it.

[razorback]

Would love to hear anymore info on the TB products. I have those and not the epoxies so if they can be used for glue-ups  that would be great. Can anyone coroborate the the great info OkKeith posted above. I always have trouble trusting a single source for information, those pesky teachers ruined it for me  

[kiltedcelt]

Iive  used Smooth-On for bamboo/ipe and it worked just fine. I always wipe the ipe down with denatured alcohol right before the glue up and I prep my bamboo by grooving the gluing surface with a sharp-toothed jigsaw blade. I glue my blanks up at 150-F for 6 hours. In the debate about TB versus Smooth-On, I've heard that TB will work just as well in wood-to-wood as Smooth-On but ONLY if the mating surfaces are completely and totally flat. Smooth-On is better if you have any irregularities between the two mating surfaces. I also use Smooth-On to glue on field points and to glue on nock overlays. In both of those instances I don't cook it, but just let it cure for a full 24 hours before stressing the joint.

[OkKeith]

Tony,

Take a look at this link. About as excellent an article regarding glues for bow making as you will ever find (my opinion, other's as well I bet). Written by the "Dean" of bowmaking (hope he doesn't mind the pun).

 http://www.bowyersedge.com/glue.html

This is where I read the info about Tightbond.

OkKeith

[razorback]

Thanks OKKieth,
I will check that out. I hope you don't think I was doubting you, just looking for multiple sources.
Tony

[bigcountry]

Thanks OKkieth.  I see Dean has addressed Smoothon also.

[OkKeith]

Tony,
No problem. "Crede sed proba"... Trust, but verify.

Mark,
Sure thing. Good luck with the bow build.

OkKeith