Boat Buzz

Greeting from The Flamingo!

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Can someone give me some advice on gluing teak. I was gifted some t&g teak that I want to convert into some steps and cabinet faces. To do so, I need to glue the boards. Is there some special technique to gluing this oily wood?

Thanks..

SkiperBob & Crew

Bob,

With the right glue there's no problems at all.

Just sand or saw-cut to clean wood. No solvent-cleaning is needed, and actually interferes with getting a good bond. Cut and fit everything so all the wood pieces fit without bending or clamps to "pull it into shape", and use my Tropical Hardwood Epoxy. High clamping pressure is counterprodcutive. Use bungee cords to hold things together, and if you must use clamps put an inch of soft rubber under the clamp face.

It glues teak just fine, mixes fifty-fifty, has a nice long pot life and will be pretty-much cured in a couple of days. It's designed to dissolve the oils of oily woods because it's made largely from those oils and natural wood resins. There isn't any other epoxy product made that way. I originally developed it for Don Philbrick, who made post-war Philbricks here in Oakland, California, on the San Francisco Bay, for some decades. Don's gone to the big boathouse in the sky, but Russ Donovan runs Philbrick's now, and if anyone on the list has one they can get authentic work done by Russ, who worked beside Don for the last five years or so.

Anyway, back to glue.....

You can order it here at the Smith & Company factory store, 1-800-234-0330. Jamestown also carries it, as does the Rot Doctor, who now has a warehouse in North Carolina. House of Hardwood in Los Angeles has it. Depending on which coast you're on, and what latitude, you ought to be able to get two day delivery from someone.

Hope that helps.

Steve