I'm a novice woodworker trying to make replacement doors for a large shed.I've made the stiles and rails with half laps.Unfortunately a vernier caliper has left lots of indentations in some of the half laps.I'm thinking of using Araldite to glue the half laps,since it would fill the many indentations.Does that sound like a good idea? Thanks.
Slow setting Araldite to make a door?
- Thread starter Thinny
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johnnyb
Established Member
Not a bad plan. Its a great glue but expensive.
Hard to judge size and issue without a photo. Can you post one?
How deep are the indentations? and is it so bad that the surface area which needs to be glued is now much less as a result? I doubt it. I would go with a D4 glue like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-D4-Wood-Adhesive-adhesive/dp/B001OXA4GM/
and the moisture from the glue will likely swell the indentations back out.
If you want peace of mind - do the iron and damp cloth trick.... get a damp cloth. Put it over the dented parts, and put a hot iron on it. The steam will swell the dents out.
How deep are the indentations? and is it so bad that the surface area which needs to be glued is now much less as a result? I doubt it. I would go with a D4 glue like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-D4-Wood-Adhesive-adhesive/dp/B001OXA4GM/
and the moisture from the glue will likely swell the indentations back out.
If you want peace of mind - do the iron and damp cloth trick.... get a damp cloth. Put it over the dented parts, and put a hot iron on it. The steam will swell the dents out.
Polyurethane glue has excellent gap filling capabilities. The most well known is Gorilla Glue but there are other brands on the market,
+1 for D4
Sgian Dubh
Established Member
True, it does foam and fill gaps, but the foam is weak adding nothing significant structurally, so not a good choice if strength is required.
Epoxy resin adhesives do have gap filling and strength giving properties, so might be okay for Thinny, but the two tube Araldite option is a poor choice. Better would be something like the West System's or Epodex's epoxy resin plus fillers options.
Another decent gap filling adhesive would be a urea formaldehyde. Cascamite is one brand name, but I'm not sure if the recent troubles with that brand have been resolved satisfactorily. Prefere is an alternative brand available through Adkwik who provide a range of adhesive types. Slainte.
HOJ
Established Member
I have returned to using it now, with no issues or problems, just make sure it's under the Ureka brand and not Polyvine, as I've seen some still on sale.
Using an epoxy glue is both expensive and unnecessary. The indentations will have no effect on the strength of the joint but certainly they can be steamed out . It's more important to use a weather resistant glue like Titebond 3 that has a reasonable open time to allow assembly. No experience with D4 but check the open time. You need at least 20 mins.
Open time on the everbuild D4 is closer to 10 mins, maybe 15 max, in my experience.
Titebond 3 is my favourite glue, but I use it so infrequently a bottle goes bad, and it’s not the cheapest…
Yes, Titebond is an expensive brand across the range and I only now use regular PVA for indoor use. I used Titebond Extend to glue up some boards once and they fell apart after an hour in the clamps - lesson learnt.
HOJ
Established Member
I'm curious as to how your vernier caliper has created indents, what timber are you using?
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How did you damage the half-laps with a VERNIER CALIPER? (And what state is the VC in now?)
Stevekane
Established Member
Toolstation are/were selling D4 but I noticed that the bottle has a Use By Date and toolstation sold me a bottle that didnt have very long to go before its expirery, that coupled with it being a 1ltr bottle might be a problem. im still using it out of date and it seems okay though. Gorrilla Glue, which might be on sale at Lidl, Ive used several times and it seems to work fine, even if its going off in the bottle Ive found that as long as you can get some soft glue out its still seems quite usable,,just be careful with its foaming up.
Steve.
Steve.
I went off polyurethane glue after a report in ' Fine Woodworking ' showed PVA to be marginally stronger for joints. However my local kitchen supplies outlet sells two German made polyurethanes one with a 5 min cure time and another with a one hour cure time. I use the one hour type for complex glue ups . Joints slide together unlike with PVA which can cause the dreaded jam ups . A little forethought on which glue to use will prevent a really bad day .
The problem wasn't the softwood timber studs I was using,it was a case of very small metal jaws and me not noticing that I must have been slightly twisting the calipers.On reflection,if I just glue up as things are,it will probably be 90% as strong as without the damage,which should be OK.
This is what I've used when it's gone pear shaped:
https://www.westsystem.com/products/six10-thickened-epoxy-adhesive/
https://www.westsystem.com/products/six10-thickened-epoxy-adhesive/
Shed doors should really be constructed with mortise and tenon joints. I did read that half lap joints are surprisingly strong but only if they have clean surfaces. A router is far better than multiple sawcuts for that. A rough surface will lead to glue failure no matter what glue is used. Steam out the indentations and make sure the two surfaces are perfectly flat before glueing up.
