# Bonding question for Bubinga in high stress application. EPI?



## Resbum (Mar 8, 2010)

I'm trying my hand at making a rifle stock. I found a piece of 4/4 Bubinga that I want to use. It has good grain and no sap pockets, so it's a good candidate for laminating together to get the 2 1/2" I need.

I've never put a lot of research into adhesives before, but this is going to be my all-purpose rifle that I keep for the rest of my life so I'm putting extra effort into doing it the best I can.

From all I've read over the last week Emulsion Polymer Isocyanate (*EPI*) adhesive would be the best choice to laminate the three pieces of bubinga together. I need something that will handle the stress of rough turning the blank, that bonds well to exotic hardwoods, is pretty much weather proof, is proven to last, can handle both large temperature and humidity changes, can handle repeated shocks from the 30.06 recoil, can be cold press clamped, and has an invisible glue line.

EPI adhesive fits all of those requirements.

The problem is I can't find it anywhere in the U.S. in retail quantities, and I've put a large amount of effort into finding it. Correction, I found one source and they wanted $192.50 for the (two) quart mixture. I did find several sources for it in European (UK) websites.

Questions:

Does anyone know where to get retail quantities in the states?

If not, does anyone know where I might be able to get some from a non-standard source?

If I can't find any, what are peoples recommendations for an alternative adhesive for my application?

Any other answers to questions I may not be thinking of or asking.

I really need to find something to use by Thursday. Thursday afternoon I'll have access to a vacuum clamp and all the mechanical clamps I could dream of, and I'll be able to leave it clamped through Sunday. I'm not going to get a better opportunity to do it.

I'm getting kind of desperate here.

If you do recommend an alternative could you please try to justify your choice meeting the requirements I've listed above. I'm learning about adhesives as I go along.

I greatly appreciate any input people may have.

Resbum


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Have you looked here?*

http://www.adhesivewarehouse.com/
:blink: bill


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## Texas Sawduster (Apr 27, 2009)

*Hhhhmmm*

Well, since I have not come across this type of situation as of yet, I don't have anything to offer except the traditional glues. I have some Hondoura Mahogany in short lengths and wanted to make a rifle stock as well. I have not investigated adhesives/glues as of yet. Let us know how this works for ya.


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## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

For what it's worth, standard wood glue will do all the things you listed above as necessary features. If not that, then any 2 part epoxy (MAS, System 3, whatever) will also work just fine. Other than recoil shock, standard wood glue and epoxy go through the environmentals you listed pretty regularly, and I suspect you'll find there are plenty of stocks glued up with yellow wood glues, all over the place.


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## phinds (Mar 25, 2009)

I agree w/ Frank ... don't see why you need some expensive specialty glue. I do think, however, that you should use TiteBond III instead of just plain old yellow, because of it's better properties outdoors. Also, be careful to not overclamp and squeeze out so much of the glue that you weaken the joint. I made that mistake when I first started --- thought that tight clamping meant a good joint but I overdid it.

Paul


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## Resbum (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks Woodnthings, Tex, Frank, and Paul,

Tex, I'll let you know the outcome.

Frank and Paul, thanks for the input. I was keeping epoxy and Titebond III as my alternatives. I found a supplier who said he may be able to get me a "sample" quantity of the EPI. I thought that was pretty decent of him to try. It appears the EPI is pretty much an industrial adhesive and generally sold in "Large" quantities. 

If that doesn't work out I'll be using the Titebond III. I spoke with one of the engineers at Franklin today and he gave his absolute support of Titebond II or III for my application. It turned out he was also the engineer who developed the clamping pressure numbers for the Franklin EPI I want to use and he helped me figure out how many clamps I'll need for the square area of my blank if I can get the EPI from the supplier.

Resbum


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## IdaCurt (Jan 5, 2010)

I use bubinga in bow building and use a product called Smooth-on epoxy,it's two part and works very well for high stress situations.

here you go http://www.binghamprojects.com/proddetail.php?prod=4063


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## Resbum (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks for that very good info IdaCurt.:thumbsup:

Resbum


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## IdaCurt (Jan 5, 2010)

Your welcome,I never had a glue line failure using Smooth-on.

Prep mating surfaces very good with acetone as bubinga has natural oils.


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