Shopsmith Forums

I use Titebond III for most of my wood working but did not consider it for use in gluing the pen blank to pen tube. Would seem that there would be very little "penetration" into the brass tube. Enlighten me on this.
Regards,
Dwight

drl wrote:I use Titebond III for most of my wood working but did not consider it for use in gluing the pen blank to pen tube. Would seem that there would be very little "penetration" into the brass tube. Enlighten me on this.
Regards,
Dwight

And what kind of 'glue' does 'penetrate' the brass tube????

I have been using Gorilla glue for some time and have been happy with it. I have just tried the CA Gorilla glue on the tubes. It seems to be working well also.

Point well taken. Poor choice of words on my part. Instead of penetrate perhaps adhere would be better. Usually wood glue is not used for gluing metals but that is what happens when you read a label. Titebond does not say it could or could not be used with metal. I may give it a try. After all CA glue is used as a finish in pen turning a lot and that's not on the label either.
Regards,
Dwight

Titebond III is a wood glue, and for that reason I wouldn't use it for gluing brass tubes into wooden pen blanks. If you want an expert opinion on the subject, call the technical support folks at Franklin International -- (800)347-4583. Alternatively, you could do a test using Titebond III for gluing some wood to metal and see how it works out. I'd say either epoxy, polyurethane or CA would be a better choice.

I've used polyurethane on a number of pens with good results. To introduce some moisture into the process (which helps cure the polyurethane), I put the brass tubes into a bowl of water before applying the glue, making sure that a small amount of water stayed on the tubes as I applied the glue.


Here's a photo of a pen of ebony I made about a dozen years ago, so I know that the polyurethane glue will hold up at least that long.

[ATTACH]8601[/ATTACH]

Just a question about gluing the acrylic blanks. I've been using the CA on
them and was wondering if anyone here had any other recommendations. I
haven't had any problems but am always looking for a better way to do things.

I also agree that Gorilla Glue works the best for wooden pen blanks. I have
had a few failures with CA.

Thanks for any input!!

Bergdahl

i use two part epoxy on acrylic blanks and gorrilla glue for wood blanks.