Glue Type Que.

[Stan Smith]

Hi All. I finally completed the chalice. I'll post pics when it's finished. The chalice is ambrosia maple. I'm giving this to my church to use for communion. I'm going to use WOP and realize that it will have to sit for a month before use. The symbol for my church is a chalice with a St. Andrew's cross on the side. I've made one out of bloodwood and am ready to glue it on. I won't bore you with the details of making and fitting it. The chalice is not finished yet. I have put some WOP on the bottom section and it applies and cures nicely. The bloodwood will be glued to the top chalice section. I'm not sure what glue to use for that. I did sand the chalice to 400 grit on the lathe and I want to be sure that I use a glue that will last. I'm also hoping, make that praying, that the glue I use will not ooze out of the joint.

Also, should I use a different finish on the bloodwood? If so which one?

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions. At this point, I feel like I'm walking on eggs.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Is the cross being glued onto the surface of the cup, or inlaid? I would look to epoxy, especially if it is surface glued. Some squeeze out is likely inevitable, but you can clean it up quickly.

I can't think of any benefit to using a different finish on the bloodwood.

[Stan Smith]

Is the cross being glued onto the surface of the cup, or inlaid? I would look to epoxy, especially if it is surface glued. Some squeeze out is likely inevitable, but you can clean it up quickly.

I can't think of any benefit to using a different finish on the bloodwood.

Thanks Grant. If I didn't hear from anybody, I was planning on epoxy. Yes, it's being glued to the surface. I'm pleased (actually surprised) with the fit.

Do you happen to know if bloodwood changes color over time? Seems I read somewhere that it holds its color unlike purpleheart.

[Grant Wilkinson]

I have a few bowls where I've used bloodwood for feature rings and none of them have changed yet - 2 years or so.

[Stan Smith]

Thanks again, Grant. I was concerned about which epoxy to use. I did read that some such as 5 min epoxy may not bond well with oily wood. It does seem that the bloodwood is a little oily to me, but not like lignum vitae. Some were recommending West. I went to their website but most of their products were large quantities. I did find a repair kit product that was just 4 oz bottles, G/Flex Epoxy 650-8. I bought some from one of Amazon's partners. Now I'm waiting for it to come. WOP works fine as a finish on the bloodwood. I decided to finish the cross before gluing thinking that it would be easier to wipe off any squeeze- out.

I've been to Ottawa once for a day, beautiful city. I spent a lot of time in the museum. Cheers!

[John K Jordan]

Stan,

if the cross and chalice have enough depth, consider making some shallow holes in each and glue in some short wooden pins (or even some short sections of machine screws). Both the inside of the holes and the pins can be roughened or the holes can even enlarged a bit inside to give the epoxy something to grip. This way, you will have a somewhat mechanical connection instead of relying on the epoxy bonding to possibly oily wood. If there is not enough thickness to drill, you might still scratch or cut narrow grooves in each part, perhaps with a Dremel, to give the glue something to grip.

I often join woods that are notoriously difficult to glue using these methods.

Another "creative" way to join two things is sew with leather or wire, but this has to be planned for in advance and would not look right on every design. I did once use small brass brads with rounded heads, points removed, held with epoxy in holes drilled slightly oversize. Polished and lacquered they looked like gold.

JKJ

[Stan Smith]

Stan,

if the cross and chalice have enough depth, consider making some shallow holes in each and glue in some short wooden pins (or even some short sections of machine screws). Both the inside of the holes and the pins can be roughened or the holes can even enlarged a bit inside to give the epoxy something to grip. This way, you will have a somewhat mechanical connection instead of relying on the epoxy bonding to possibly oily wood. If there is not enough thickness to drill, you might still scratch or cut narrow grooves in each part, perhaps with a Dremel, to give the glue something to grip.

I often join woods that are notoriously difficult to glue using these methods.

Another "creative" way to join two things is sew with leather or wire, but this has to be planned for in advance and would not look right on every design. I did once use small brass brads with rounded heads, points removed, held with epoxy in holes drilled slightly oversize. Polished and lacquered they looked like gold.

JKJ

Thanks so much for that info, John. Initially, I briefly though of using a pin nailer, but though the pins would show, so I rulled that out. A friend once told me that uses very small brad nails to help hold items in position so they don't slide around while the glue is drying. I think they may have been 3/4" brads. He cut the heads off with dikes after nailing into one side. I'm mulling over cutting some grooves with the dremel as you suggest. The chalice is not oily wood that I can see, it's ambrosia maple that's dry.