Re: Resorcinal

Posted by CLC on Dec 21, 2005

>>>>>>>>>>The centerboard, dagger board, lee board, rudder- whatever can be glued together with Resorcinol glue. It needs closer fits and good clamping, but it's a totally waterproof glue.

:>>>>>>>>>>>>

Allow me to second Charlie. I've used a lot of resorcinal, especially in laminating applications like rudders and daggerboards. The main difference compared to epoxy is that you need a lot of heavy clamping pressure---60psi is the number I recall for resorcinal. No gaps allowed, either; it's a terrible gap filler. Different chemical and bonding mechanism.

There are compelling arguments that in certain applications, particularly laminated spars, daggerboards, and rudders, that resorcinal is actually stronger than epoxy. (WoodenBoat did a seminal article on this in the late 80's.) Because of the need for very tight carpentry (no gaps) and high clamping pressure, it's ill-suited to amateur boatbuilding. But for simple projects like laminating the rudder and daggerboard on an Eastport Pram, it's easy and ought to be at least as strong as epoxy.

(Boiling a glued wood joint used to be the standard for strength and longevity. Epoxy generally fails this test; resorcinal doesn't. Some old Yankee boatbuilder, Pete Culler I think, made the acerbic remark, "If you plan to boil your boat, don't use epoxy.")

Don't know where you're likely to find resorcinal these days. You used to be able to buy it in hardware stores. There was a dusty old hardware store on Concord Pike in Wilmington, Delaware, where as an 8th-grader I would buy resorcinal to laminate the skateboard decks that I would sell---in kit form---to my buddies.

In Response to: For Mullman- by Charlie Jones on Dec 20, 2005

Replies:

• Re: Resorcinal by Mike D on Dec 21, 2005
• Re: Resorcinal by SDH on Dec 24, 2005