Titebond III

[ameritas]

Could a longbow be built using only Titebond III?

[Roy from Pa]

Maybe, but if you are going to spend time and money building a bow, why not spend a few extra dollars and buy a better glue?? URAC 185 is one of the best wood to wood/boo glues. Smooth On is another great glue and will work on glass and wood..

What type of Longbow are you wanting to build? Wood, glass, you want to back it?

[ameritas]

The question is from someone who has never built a bow. My recurve and longbow are both backed by glass one old and one new. Both have held up very well. Looking at building a longbow style of bow to mimic my existing longbow 68" straight with a shelf, would like to get it close to 55lb. with old style not backed with glass.

[Pat B]

I've built many backed and multi-lam bows using only TBIII and never had a glue failure.

[wood carver 2]

TB3 will work well. I have used it with success, BUT, the mating surfaces have to meet as perfectly as possible. No gaps. TB3 will not fill any gaps. Urac and Smooth On are better at gap filling.
Dave.

[LittleBen]

I use TBIII exclusively, I also only make wood bows. TB3 has its drawbacks as mentioned above. I stick with it because its strong and very safe. Cleans up with water, and I make too much of a mess to use glues that don't remove easily.

I've built a few small sailing dinghies using wood and glass and epoxy and learned enough to know I hate epoxy and I would revert to tb3 whenever possible (above the waterline)

[AkDan]

Roy...is urac still easily available?   Talked to a bamboo fly rod buddy said they wont ship to alaska and it sounded like they were not making it anymore?  Some of the stuff he received (from family) was thick compared to normal?!?!?

I'm looking for glue for both bbo's and bamboo fly rods, they cross over nicely.  Think I'm going to give unibond a try if I cant get urac.  Epoxy on boo fly rods makings things sluggish.

[Steve B.]

I'm confused as to what kind of bow?

[Roy from Pa]

Far as I know it is Dan. I get it through a buddy who has a trad shop. However three rivers doesn't list it anymore so maybe not. I haven't bought any since last year so I might be out of luck.

[macbow]

Urac 185 is still available but for,how long?
The distributed is looking at getting a,similar replacement.
I just got a couple of kits from Mike at the Nocking Point.

[Pat B]

Weldwood Plastic Resin is a urea glue like Urac but is in powder form that you mix with water. I have used it on a few bows with good results. I learned about the Weldwood Plastic Resin from a guy from Italy that could not get Urac. Alby made beautiful high performance bows and the Weldwood Plastic Resin is all he used.
  Also Plastic Resin is cheap! Less than $10 for a one pound bucket of the powder, enough to build many, many bows...and it cleans up with water.
 I got it from Ace Hardwear but anyone that carries Wledwood products should be able to get it if they don't already have it.

[fujimo]

an awesome revelation!!!
for all of us that love urac so much.
just gotta try and find some in canada now.
 geuss it doesnt go stale like the premixed urac would with time- sounds perfect!!

[Pat B]

Weldwood Plastic Resin is in powder form and as long as no moisture gets to it it has a long shelf life.

[ron w]

Pat B, will that resin fill small gaps or do the surfaces need to really ,really good? Say for a Bamboo backed bow with some reflex......

[Pat B]

It has gap filling properties just like Urac. Once mixed you can't tell the difference between the two.

[wood carver 2]

It's good to know that Weldwood can be used in bow building. I used it to build a duck boat and it's easy to work with. Plus it's dirt cheap.
Wayne, I haven't looked for it in some time, but I found it in one of the big box stores before, and I think also at Home Hardware.
Dave.

[ron w]

Thanks Pat.......      

[razorback]

I like the idea of the weldwood, so I looked it up. A reviewer on one site said that Dap does not make it anymore so any you find would be out of date. only saw this in one place so I called Dap and the customer rep said that THEY DO still make it. it is rescorcinol (sp) that they no longer make. Have to get some and try it out on a bbo that I have been sitting on for a while.

[AkDan]

There's another one on the market, urea water mixed glue called pro glue   http://www.woodcraft.com/category/2005350/pro-glue-veneer-bond-dry-resin.aspx

I'm looking for something to fill the void of urac (no longer made) for doing both bamboo fly rods and bbo stuff.   Epoxies turn a nice boo rod into a kinda mushy experienced....still nice but not up to par though it works well on bbo's.  

I'll have to do some digging on the wb stuff and see what I can come up with from the other side of the fence.

Unibond is supposed to be Nelsons urac replacement.  Supposidly the only difference is the mixture ratio.  So far I havent heard good or bad from either side on it.  

Either way with the all powder form the shelf life is promising!  and water is easy to get even if I have to melt it   .   Had -5 this morning, already walking on the beaver ponds!

[akgator]

I just saw Pro-Glue mentioned for the first time on another site. I looked it up and it is supposed to be great for gluing veneers. One of its big selling points is that it dries hard. I wonder if that means it is also brittle and not meant to flex as it would in a bow building application.