Tite Bond II......or.......Gorilla Glue

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I've got Tite Bond II or Gorilla Glue on hand, which would work better for gluing my Osage/Rosewood riser together?
Or do I need to buy something else?

Need advice.

Thanks,
SEMO

[William F. Adams]

Titebond II would be fine (III is better in some ways).

Gorilla Glue is too brittle and would fail.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Thank you for that response. That's kind of what I was thinking, but needed someone to re-affirm that. I like the Tite Bond II, it worked great on my Osage Longbow limb repair and I've seen no signs of it cracking or peeling at all. Even though it's yellow when wet, it dries almost the same color as the osage.

[walkabout]

i agree, titebond is the better choice. gorilla glue doesnt have great reviews when it comes to making bows. TB3 dries darker than TB2 but it is waterproof, which imo is great assurance that it wont fail in rainy weather if the bow isnt sealed well enough.with so many variables this is one i like not having to worry about.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

That's good info to have, but I'm not all that concerned with it's waterproofing abilities with the TB II cause I don't hunt when it's raining or threatening rain anyway, at least not with a bow.
Too many other things can go wrong when it's raining.
I also seal everything very well, so even if I got caught in a rainstorm it would more than likely be fine until I got out of the weather and got it dried off. My main concern is it's strength for holding my laminates together and the general concensus seems to be that the Tight Bond will do the job fine, so that's what I will go with.
As a matter of fact, I will probably get this glued up today or this evening.

Thanks for the help guys.
SEMO

[AZ_Shooter]

Gorilla glue is super tough, but it foams as it sets which makes it brittle.  Use TB II or TB III for the bow, and the Gorilla glue to fix your wife's flowerpot after the stray arrow takes it out.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by AZ_Shooter:
Gorilla glue is super tough, but it foams as it sets which makes it brittle.  Use TB II or TB III for the bow, and the Gorilla glue to fix your wife's flowerpot after the stray arrow takes it out.

Oh yeah, that's happened a time or two!    

I planed down my rosewood and osage then glued it up with Tite Bond II last night. I'm going to let it cure for a couple days before I even mess with it. In the meantime I can start working on my limbs. They are already roughed down to the general shape and I've already chased the ring on one of them, the other one needs some more shaping but it shouldn't take too long to get them trimmed down into shape.

Thanks to all of you for the good advice. Keep your fingers crossed for me that this turns out alright. I've got a real good idea how this is supposed to look and I just hope that it turns out like I have pictured in my head.

~SEMO~

[Living_waters]

SEMO something to file away for later reference. Gorilla glue will actually get in between the fibers of grainy wood like white oak and elm and expand and separate the fibers. TB2 or 3 works fine for risers and it is a lot cheaper.  I was buying it by the gallon (most economical), but I found that the 3 seems to loose a little as it get older.  

Let us know how it turns out.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Yes it does expand quite a bit, I've noticed that on other projects and I wasn't too impressed with that characteristic of it. I'm glad I went with Tite Bond, wish it were the more waterproof version, but I already had the TB II on hand and I don't hunt in the rain anyway so I think it will be just fine.
I've got most of my other chores caught up today, so maybe I can actually start working on this some more in my free time...Whew!
Sometimes it just seems like there aren't enough hours in the day?

[Randy]

Semo, Please post some pictures of the glue joint and the finished product. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Quick question on the TB II & TB III glue. I thought I read when TB III first came out, years ago, that the main difference between it and TB II was that TB III was Waterproof. I also thought I read at that time that most guys preferred the TB II. Has that changed? I still use the TB II for most of my projects. Thanks,  Randy

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I will post some pictures, I've just started on cutting my angles for the limbs. It still looks like a big block right now, but the glue joints look nice and tight. I guess I'll see how they hold up pretty soon when I start roughing it in?

As far as the TB II or III, I guess it all depends on who you talk to?
The back of the bottle says the TB II is water proof, but so does the III. I think the TB III is just suppose to be more water proof than the TB II? Not sure, but the TB II is what I have on hand so that's what I went with.

[Living_waters]

Here is some help.
TB1 Bond Strength:
Room temp - 3,600 psi - 77% wood failure
150-degrees - 1,600 psi - 10% wood failure

TB2 Bond Strength:
Room temp - 3,750 psi, 72% wood failure
150-dgrees - 1,750 psi, 6% wood failure

TB3 Bond Strength:
Room Temp - 4000 psi, 57% wood failure
150-dgrees – 1,750 psi, 6% wood failure

Smooth on EA-40
3,400psi (ASTM D638-84)(not for sure about the validity of this seems low)

What I find amazing, I just read an article in Fine woodworking where they did a pretty extensive test on wood glues and the type1 PVA's came in #1 (tb 2&3 waterproofs) even on oily exotics like IPE the type 1 PVA  and yellow PVA (tyoe1 and elmer's) out performed  the slow set epoxy. And actually they tested the IPE joint both clamped and snug, still the epoxy failed. So at least on IPE the gap fill theory of epoxy may be put down.
Most places I have read is that TB3 does better on oily woods that are wiped good with acetone first.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Do you know what those failure number percentages mean, represent, or how they arrived at those results? I mean, say 72% wood failure..does that mean that it failed 72% of the time, or does that mean that the wood failed and Not the glue?

Please explain if you know how they got those figures. Thanks.
Good info BTW....that means that you can't go wrong with Tite Bond wood glues if I'm reading it right?

[Randy]

Thanks for the info guys. I make selfbows, so not much gluing involved. Maybe someday I will try to glue billets together to make a bow. The glue is a concern I have when I get to that point.  Randy

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Hey Randy, I'm in the same boat. This is my first laminated riser bow so I'm still a virgin myself. I'll get some pics and post on here shortly.

[Living_waters]

The test fine woodworking was trying to reconstruct was a joint bond, which I assume it was the same. There numbers represented a shear glue or wood failure or both.      I assume by looking at ASTM description of joint bond shear, the % wood would be adhesion failure since that is what the test was titled.

[shamus]

Urac-185.

Tite Bond II can work, I've been told, but I'd go for a stronger sense of certainty and use Urac.

Make sure your glued-on riser sits on a raised step of wood, and not at the fade outs.    More on that here.