Glueing cocobolo, Is it possible?

[Bob Hallowell]

I use lots of cocobolo for my pens and wine toppers, and have used ca on them just fine.
I bought 8bd of 4/4 the a month or 2 ago for some jewelry boxes and decided to maybe use some of it for some peppermills. I would need to glue it to other woods and everything I have read about cocobolo says you can't glue it. Has anyone else had success?

Thanks,
Bob

[Lars Thomas]

I've only gotten CA to work.

[Dennis Peacock]

Bob,

I've read where scrubbing the wood with Acetone prior to gluing helps get the oils out of the way and allows the glue to take hold. I'd probably use a plastic resin glue, Unibond 800, or polyurethane adhesives to better my chances. The drawback with plastic resin and Unibond is that you will have faint glue lines at the joint. Maybe someone else here with "experience" in this topic will jump in and help clear the water for all of us.

[John Hart]

Here's a quote from Wood Magazine -- "Although cocobolo grips screws well, gluing poses a problem. Because of oils and silica in the wood, you should wipe all joining surfaces with lacquer thinner or acetone, and then glue immediately. And, we give slow-set epoxy the nod over other adhesives."

Personally, I'd clean it thoroughly with alcohol then thin my epoxy a tad with some alcohol so it goes deeper into the wood.

But hey...I'm not very smart and fail often....so listening to me is like.....well...you know.....not very smart.

[Charles E. Martin V]

Ether would work even better, if you have a source.

[terry miller]

I would do as stated above as well the only thing I would do differently is I would sand the joint lightly with some rough grit sand paper to give it a tooth for the adhesive to bond with as well.

[Mark Singer]

Apply glue right after milling or sanding....epoxy or Gorilla...I hate Gorilla

[Jason Hallowell]

I agree with all of the above comments. I have used cocobolo extensively, and I have had good success using all of the tips that have been posted already. The oils will seep back to the surface faster than you think, so wiping with acetone should be done just before glueing. I have used gorilla several times, but prefer an epoxy. I use west systems epoxies because they are thinner than most, and if used right don't leave a noticeable glue line. I also sand the pieces, but don't go any coarser than 120 if the joint will be visible (also to minimize glue lines). There are several oily woods that require similar treatments, but cocobolo is one of the worst. Good luck.

[Gary DeWitt]

I've never glued it myself, but according to a magazine article I read, following all the above tips and using 30 minute epoxy, a joint was made that tested out stronger than the wood, I.E. a successful joint.

[Reed Gray]

One down side to the urethane/guerilla glue. I have a friend who sent some stuff to Japan air mail. Exotics glued with guerilla glue. The long time at altitude caused the air bubbles in the dried glue to expand, and the joints failed.
robo hippy

[Chris Barton]

I have used both urethane and epoxy to make successful glue joints in cocobolo. I wouldn't try CA or PVA...

[John M. Cioffi]

All the Cocobolo pens I've made so far were glued with thick ca & are still perfectly in tact. This was before I knew of the oily-ness of this wood. I then tried the Gorila,poly glue & had very good results,as well.
Go figure....
One thought though; when drilling the blanks, if the wood gets too hot, the blank will blow apart. I try to cool the drill bit after a few blanks.
John

[Jeff Borges]

I have made chessboards with cocobolo inlays and stringing. As mark said, glue right away, and I use Gorilla glue with no troubles. Remeber though the inlays were somewhat trapped in my application, but I have several close to ten years old with no delamination.

[Doug Littlejohn]

I made this serving tray for SWMBO over 5 years ago and it is still as tight as the day it was made. The sides are solid coco, 3/8" thick.

Yes, you must do a real good wipe down with acetone just prior to gluing (like no more than a few minutes) and I use poly (Gorilla) glue (epoxy wood also work). As my wood was only 3/8 thinck, I was greatly worried about joint strength so I put in a spline and 2 angled keys making a mechanically tight and locked joint.

Other coco I have glued has been just the acetone wipe and poly (Gorilla) glue and been just fine.

All of the other hints are also true, don't sand real smooth for the joints, etc.

Here are some pics, first is the overall tray:



close-up for the handled side with miter joint:



and lastly, close-up of the mitered joint showing spline and keys:



Almost no glue lines, not bad for first ever joint with splines or keys.

Sherwood

[Bob Hallowell]

Thanks for all the help guys,
I glued it up last night with poly glue and turned the bottom of the pepper mill a little bit ago. My power just went out so I will finish the top later and post some pics.

Bob