Best glue for wooden spars?

[Seagreen]

Here is a thread that might help sort all the differences out especially the last one .

It's an old thread but covers all the concerns mentioned here.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?67683-cascophen-any-info

Mark

Having read this, i might just give Cascophen a go, to add to my experience if nothing else.

 

[Delfin]

As ever, a whole bunch of opinions and all of them different.

I've used Aerolite in the past, I think in building a mirror dinghy in my teens. What about Balcotan, or doesn't it have the flexibility of the other glues? I could always default to epoxy, but.. doesn't feel right somehow. Or is that just me?

Epoxy, probably not. Laminating a spar requires a fair amount of clamping, and epoxy loses a lot of strength as you smoosh it out of a joint. My preference would be polyurethane because it demands tight clamping to work. Just wet the joints before gluing, and as noted above, make sure everything fits well before clamping. Nothing wrong with Resorcinol glue either, which is the standard in the U.S. (I think.)

 

[DownWest]

Ahem... Main mast and topmast are 170 feet together on Lulworth. Something I had the time to work out when I was up there varnishing it a few years back.

Ahem... Quite right, memeory cells on vacation. T'was Cambria.
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[stav]

My choice would be cascophen but being mean if I was doing the job if I had the epoxy I would happily use it up. Cascophen is also used to make BS marine ply and other ply??? Good luck with some sticky pictures would be interesting to see.

 

[Seagreen]

... some sticky pictures would be interesting to see.

I'll certainly post some up here.

 

[westernman]

Epoxy is too brittle. The previous owner of my boat replaced all the spars which were glued with epoxy when the bow sprit started coming apart.

Resorcinol is the seems to be the standard glue for these things.

Oh, and don't put two pack varnish on it. It will fall off in a few years as well as I can show you.......

 

[Woodlouse]

Ahem... Quite right, memeory cells on vacation. T'was Cambria.
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Ah interesting. I knew her stick was shorter than Lulworths, but I didn't realise it was by that much. You'd expect a bermudan boat to have taller masts than their equivalent sized gaffers.

Back on the glueing of spars I do recall while working on Lulworth being told that her spars were stuck together with epoxy. I'd take that with a pinch of salt though as I believe the mast was built long before the restoration took place so those in the know would have moved on by the time I was being told things.


Going back to the OP, why not give Collars a ring and ask what they use for glue?

 

[DownWest]

Re: Epoxy being too brittle, there is an American outfit that sell one that is more flexable than most. Popular with wooden aircraft builders for wing spars. Now I need to remember the name. 3 something.
Since the item is laminated, recorcinol sounds the best. Easy to get good clamping on a yard. My spars are birdsmouth, so much more difficult.
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