Some things in woodworking seem so simple after you actually do them. Such is the case with this new Starbond 30 minute, 2 part Epoxy Glue. For woodworking projects I am building, often times I am wishing I had a glue that was super strong, but that could give me a much longer time before it started to bond ... or what we call "Open Time".
I have been using the 5 Minute, 2 part Epoxy for many years, it works well for projects where I need a bond to form within a few minutes and it's easy to use ....
The 30 minute version is just as easy to use but has a very long open time which for some projects much more advantageous ... such as, when you have a complex project like a sitting stool with angled legs and multiple rungs on all 4 sides, getting these all aligned and squared with a glue that is setting up in a couple of minutes like many PVA glues is near impossible, anyone cutting thing strips to make some sort of a bent that often requires some adjustment during the process. There are many singular needs for very slow hardening glues in joinery when using Biscuits, Festool Dominos, Mortise and Tennon joints, even some simple lap joints and certainly with more complex doweling glue-up as I and demonstrating in the video.
I selected the Dowelmax Doweling jig for a reason ... the dowels, even when dry fit snug and using PVA with these, even with just one dowel can sometimes be a bit of a struggle and with multi dowels even more so, so this was a perfect test for the Starbond 30 minute Epoxy.
To start off with, I used the PVA glue in one single hole as shown below, which is now empty. When I put the PVA glue in the hole, coated the lower part of the dowel, drove it in with a small mallet, wait less than a minute, and tried to pull the dowel out, is is nearly impossible. As you can see in the video I needed to "lever" it out.
The second hole I use the same method but with 30 Minute, 2 part Epoxy, and again drove the dowel in with the mallet, but the difference was I could pull the dowel out and and re-insert with just hand pliers, even did it twice. THEN ... waited 20 minutes and STILL Pulled the dowel out and re-inserted it again ....
... and below is how well that Epoxy Glue bonded, even after pulling the dowel out and re-inserting it after 20 minutes. The dowel was so well bonded after 24 hours is actually broke away the maple wood that all these tests were made with.
Below is the finished results of comparing the PVA glue to the Epoxy glue and you can see my writing on the wood to show with side was which. Remember .. this was the glue-up where I pushed all 5 dowels in with my hand, then actually pulled all 5 dowels out again and re-inserted them, and still the bonding was stronger than the maple wood and the Birch Dowels I was using ... super, super strong !!!
Another observation along the way that I noticed, I used somewhat less Epoxy glue than PVA, I didn't really measure, but I would guess the volume of epoxy glue was something approaching half of the PVA glue I used, and still I had squeeze out at the joint.
So, would I use this on every Dowelmax joint? Good question. The Epoxy is more expensive than the PVA, BUT ... you also use a lot less of it. I love how easily the dowels fit in and that if leaves me LOTS of time for any re-alignment, which normally with the dowelmax is minimal if any, joints just seem to align perfect as long a dowels are seated and joint is tight. Off hand, I am going to say that any dowel joint with more than 2 dowels, I would definitely use Epoxy ... and I might even change mymind on that !!!
I love the Dowelmax jig, it's fast super accurate and highly flexible for almost any joinery job and now the Starbond 30 Minute, 2 Part Epoxy is perfect gluing partner ... an awesome match !!
Colin Knecht
