• Happy International Mermaid Day! 🧜🏼‍♀️

Cold-mold advice & glues

Joined
Mar 21, 2015
Messages
437
Reaction score
19
Anyone ever done a cold-mold (wood layup) build? How did it go? Any advice?

I'm continuing my quest for a different approach to light canoe builds with less-than-perfect woods. I can currently get Eastern White pine in reasonable quantities for a half-way decent price. (US$1.50/bf)

I've been looking at various glue strategies, and a current contender for outdoor curved laminates is Polyurethane:

  • Dries/cures quickly
  • Okay with some moisture in the working environment (Actually requires moisture to cure - there are instructions for dampening surfaces that are too dry)
  • Almost as strong as epoxy. Stronger than the wood when used correctly
  • Fully waterproof and UV proof when cured, p;us higher temperature resistance than epoxy
  • Flexes a bit, but does not creep like the modified PVAs tend to do under shear load
  • Lower cost than epoxy, and since it doesn't require a "fat" glueline, I'd expect to use considerably less.
Downsides:
  • Really does not gap-fill at all. Every glued surface/joint needs to fit tight.
  • More toxic than Epoxy in its uncured state.
Does this make any sense at all?
 
Back
Top