Replies

1. 
   reinvent | Nov 17, 2003 03:09pm | #1

   For interior use 'carpenters' glue is fine. You just want to give it a good 24hrs to set up. Also regardless of what type you use it should have a long open time. However getting it clamped properly is a whole differnt matter. You dont want to have any voids. A gape that you can only slip a single piece of paper into is too much. If its a compond curve you will spend more time making a good clamping jig than you will on actually shaping the hand rail. I also recomend doing a dry run to avoid any hang ups you may encounter. Sometimes putting the whole glue up in a vacume bag and then putting the bag in the curved clamp form works well.

1. 
   England | Nov 18, 2003 05:58am | #2

   Thanks for your reply. It is an interior application but I was hoping you could recommend a brand of glue with a long open time. I don't have any compound curves but I'm concerned that Tite Bond or equivalent would set too fast.

   John

1. 
   GJMID2 | Nov 18, 2003 06:16am | #3

   I have been able to use regular yellow glue by doing the glue up in stages. It seems there is no advantage in racing to glue a complete railing in one operation---once you have a partial railing glued & dry, it is an easy matter to complete, since you have an exact form to finish the glue up. I still clamp each step to the original form and bag the whole works--usually two steps will be enough but difficult jobs could use 3 or more steps.

1. 
   England | Nov 18, 2003 02:09pm | #6

   Thanks for your advice. I had never considered doing this in stages. Makes a lot of sense.

2. 
   reinvent | Nov 18, 2003 07:30am | #4

   The woodworkers supply catalog has titebond glue in an 'extend' version for $21 a gallon

3. 
   DougU | Nov 18, 2003 07:31am | #5

   england

   There is an extended yellow glue, doesnt last a lot longer but any bit more is always good.

   Doug

   edit; didnt see the other post about the extended glue before I posted.

   Edited 11/17/2003 11:35:55 PM ET by Doug@es

2. 
   vineyrdbuilt | Nov 18, 2003 06:23pm | #7

   England,

   Stairwell railings take a beating.  Make sure your joints are tight.  Use gorilla glue(polyurethane).  It is rock soild and in my opinion is  superior to yellow glue. Dampen one side of the joint to help the glue cure.  If the joint is tight and clamped for 24 48 hours, the joint should never fail.  You may also want to consider using joint tighteners/screws to help maintain strucural integrity also.  Good Luck....... 

3. 
   goldhiller | Nov 18, 2003 08:38pm | #8

   You might want to read this entire thread before deciding.

   http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=28413.1

   Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
4. 
   hammer1 | Nov 18, 2003 11:23pm | #9

   The brown powder plastic urea resin gives the longest working time that I am aware of. I find polyurethane a mess to work. After recently removing some stair treads that I used it on I am not very impressed with its power. I used to build York spiral stairs and at that time we used urea resin.

5. 
   silver77 | Nov 19, 2003 02:02am | #10

   I would use plastic resin glue, also known as marine glue. It has an open time of 4 hours,

   sets overnight, strong, easy to sand and  IMHO perfect for glueing up rail. I use it for

   bending rail and door glueups because of it's open time.

   silver

6. 
   DaveHeinlein | Nov 19, 2003 03:05am | #11

   I agree about the urea resin glue. Aliphatic(yellow) glue stays somewhat plastic, and when glued under stress like a hand rail or any curve, will have a tendency to 'creep'. Plastic resin glue will not do this, and it has a pretty long open time.

   I would stay away from the polyurethane glue also.

7. 
   NCLaquer | Nov 19, 2003 03:11am | #12

   I can swear FHB magazine did a cover story on handrail bending.  no?  I can look it up when I get home.

   .... I found it on the FHB arcives:

   Making a Curved Handrail
   With the stairs as a form, laminating commercially available bending rail is easier than it appears
   By John Griffin
   

   But it doesn't specify the volume.  It was a cover feature... so it should be no trouble to locate.

    

1. 
   dgarrison409 | Nov 19, 2003 01:34pm | #13

   I didn't see it mentioned, but we have always used the titibond liquid hide glue. It has a long open time and seems to be plenty strong when cured overnight. The only problem we ever had was some of the glue lines swelled a little over the course of the first year. We had to go back and do a little touch up on maybe a hundred feet or so out of 400'  installed on that job. However, this is in a building that is only occupied 6 weeks or so out of the year and has very little HVAC the rest of the time.

   We have made our own clamps for doing bender rail which could save you a boatload of money on a one-time job. Basically just a pair of 1/4 x 6" carriage bolts and two blocks of 1x2 with holes near the ends. We cut a little slot from one hole to the edge so that they can be slipped on and tightened quickly. I'll try to remember to take a photo of one today.