Smith All Wood Epoxy Question

[Jorge Fernandez]

Hi,

I'm going to use the "Smith All Wood Epoxy" from LMII to glue an ebony fingerboard

with a mahogany neck.

In the "instructions for use" you can read:

"Apply to both surfaces to be glued. On dense woods which will absorb essentially

none of the glue, assembly maybe done immediately. On softer woods or beveled

lap joints where end grain is being glued, there may be considerable absorption

into the wood. It maybe necessary to let the separate pieces sit, wetted, for much

as an hour or more to ensure that one does not have a glue-starved joint after

assembly and cure."

Then my questions are, mahogany is considered dense or soft? I think it's soft,

then I've to leave some time the glue applied onto the mahogany, then apply it

onto the ebony and immediately clamp the pieces together. Isn't it? How did you

do it?

Any advice is welcome before I make a mistake

Thanks!

[Jon]

Mahogany is not soft, but not dense. The directions apply towards gluing end-grain. You are not gluing end-grain to end-grain or anything crazy like that (this is never done in luthiery as far as I know) so the directions do not apply towards your project. You will be fine gluing the pieces together like any other wood glue.

[GGW]

I like using this stuff just because the setup is slow. I found that it stays very workable for a one to two hours. I put it on each surface and leave it for an hour, checking as it goes. Then when you mate the two pieces, you've got good absorption. I wouldn't worry about how prorous a wood may or not be. If you leave it the hour, the wood will absorb any epoxy it can and if not, it's still good. The danger of applying the clamp too soon is that there may be squeeze out and not enough glue. Try not to clamp overly tight as well.