Sunday 21 October 2012

Resin Glue.


I've been making a batch of 10 smoothers and jack planes. The picture above shows the squeeze out from polyurethane after gluing on the lignum vitae soles, no other glue would be suitable for this very oily wood.
Up to now I've used Titebond yellow glue for gluing the plane sides on, this works well but can creep slightly over time which makes the glue line detectable with your finger tips.
 

When I trained at the Barnsley Workshops their glue of choice was a powdered resin glue such as Cascamite and I know Alan Peters used this a lot on his furniture. It dries rock solid with no creep at all, but is is more fiddly to use requiring accurate mixing, 30 gr of powder to 15 gr of water. Digital scales come in very handy for small amounts, they just require sneaking in and out of the kitchen when the wife isn't looking!


After about 30 seconds of mixing here is the result ready for use. It has a much longer open time than yellow glue which is nice but it takes longer to fully harden especially if it's cold. Also whatever is left has to be discarded.


This is dried glue line on the inside of a smoother, thankfully I sealed and waxed the interior before glue up, so the beads just popped off with a sharp chisel.


I had noticed that James Krenov used resin glue when he made his planes, here are some of the glue beads left on the inside of one of his planes.


Here is a shot of the whole plane, he made this when his eye sight was fading, not pretty but very comfortable to hold. Handling a few of his planes helped me a lot with my plane designs, although I don't think I would sell very many if I left them straight from the band saw!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your info on the glues David, when I trained in High Wycombe they were really big on cascamite, but I have not used it for a long time. You have inspired me to stock up! I am also very inspired whenever I see a real Krenov, Rob Stoakley brought me his excellent example to look at last weekend, but I was not allowed to make any shavings mind you! :( What is the wood by the way? looks a little like Bocote perhaps?

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  2. Hi Berin, I'm impressed with it, it dries rock hard. In exchanges with James Krenov he said the wood was Manzanita, it seems darker than Bocote and feels harder as well. I've never heard of it. All the best, David.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks David, never heard of it either! Fantastic planes as always, any new designs coming out in the near future? Kindest regards, Berin.

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    2. Hi Berin, I do have a few tools on the drawing board but the first will be my version of the Stanley No 81 scraper, a great tool! All the best, David.

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    3. Yes a great tool, I picked one up from Tony Murland based on your reccomendation and got the Hock Blade for it, unfortunately my Cocobolo base was too thin so I will have to start again on that restoration! Look forward to seeing your (all wood?) version, all the best, Berin.

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    4. Hi Berin, The sole plate is about 1/4" thick on the No 81, Lignum would be best if you can find it, Bob at Timberline in Tonbridge has plenty. Yes my version will be all wood. All the best, David.

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