Gluing up a neck blanks. Help

[Toddler]

Sorry, I know that's a vague topic, but I got my quartersawn paduak and bubinga re-sawn. I now have several pieces and once I find a nice 1/8" thick contrasting board to use as the center, I'll be gluing it into a couple of laminated neck blanks of:

Paduak,Bubinga,thin center board,Bubinga,Paduak.

I want a center board as much for a contrasting strip down the center of the neck, as for the width. The Bubinga and Paduak will have their grains reversed for stability.

The boards have been planed and sanded with 120grit on a drum sander. They are beautiful.

I have titebond 3 glue and several clamps.

So a few questions:

1) is titebond 3 a good glue choice? I considered a polyurethane glue like the elmers or gorilla, but since they expand I thought they might make an ugly line between the boards.

2) do I need to prepare the sanded surfaces in any special way? Should I rub them down with denatured alcohol because the woods are oily? should I wet the surfaces with water to stand up the grain and then sand it again?

3 and 4) what would be a reasonable wood to use as the contrasting center strip?

And, since it's going to be only 1/8" or so, do I still need to worry about the grain orientation. It needs to be strong enough not to crack or split.

Thanks for any advice,

Todd

 

[DaveO]

Regular PVA glue would be fine, if you want a longer open time try TB Extend glue. But for the best lamination without any risks of glue line creep I would recommend a plastic resin glue. It wouldn't hurt to wipe your glue surfaces down with acetone to remove any oils, although I've glued both woods without any issues in the past. For your center strip I would recommend Maple, the contrast would be nice, it's readily available, and fairly stable. I wouldn't be too concerned about the growth ring orientation as long as the grain is going the same way.
My .02, Dave

 

[dtomasch]

Yeah, what he said:rolf: For a neck glue up, since it will be under constant stress I would definitely use PPR glue. I use it for curved stair handrail lamination an notice very little ''spring'' when removing clamps. Maple, for sure, for the center strip. And pictures;-)

 

[rbdoby]

I agree with Dave. Just be sure to use cauls to even out the pressure from the clamps.

 

[Toddler]

Acetone I can manage. Thanks, but I hadn't heard of a plastic resin glue or a PPR glue.

Also, Maple sounds like a good plan and I'd thought it a likely choice. Any particular variety?

Thanks,

Todd

ps)yes to cauls, thanks.

pps) I found this looking up plastic resins and resorcinol glues. What about epoxy mixes?
Wood joints and adhesives

 

[woodrat]

A long, long time ago I ran a guitar repair shop in Denver Co.
The glue we used for everything except frets was Franklin Animal hide
glue. It worked extremely well.

The nice part of the glue is if you need to get it apart, you can heat the
joint and it can be worked apart. It is water soluable(sp) so you can thin
it down and inject it into a tight spot such as small cracks etc.

I can't even begin to recall the number of broken necks I repaired with
that glue. Even did repairs to some necks twice but they were not
broken in the same place as the original repair. This glue is stronger than
the wood and does absorb into the wood pores to make it even stronger.

Hope this has shed some light for you.


Woodrat

 

[Toddler]

I don't want to be able to release the glue. That would be like the neck cracking along it's length. But it does sound like almost any glue will be strong enough.

What is Creep? As it relates to glue. Do the joints move after the glue is dry?

Todd