whats the best glue for ivory

hillscues

hillscues

American Craftsmanship
Silver Member
hi every body this darrin from hills cues. my question is glueing an ivory butt and joint gennerally i use a two ton slow epoxy ive used west system and it seems a little thin when i do ferrules i use super glue gel that seems to work and hold great. my problem is having but caps come loose. im not threading them on they are sleaved. just useing two ton. im really looking for the best glue and i dont want to use super glue gel on a cue. please help any suggestions would be great.
 
Darrin, if the two ton doesn't hold you're doing something wrong. Maybe too tight a fit and it's scraping the epoxy off when you install it?


hillscues said:
hi every body this darrin from hills cues. my question is glueing an ivory butt and joint gennerally i use a two ton slow epoxy ive used west system and it seems a little thin when i do ferrules i use super glue gel that seems to work and hold great. my problem is having but caps come loose. im not threading them on they are sleaved. just useing two ton. im really looking for the best glue and i dont want to use super glue gel on a cue. please help any suggestions would be great.
Click to expand...
 
Darrin,

Maybe you're already joining your butt caps like this? If not i would look into it it provides a lot more glue bond area and is a lot stronger......Dave
joining2.jpg
 
Another thing that helps hold Butt plates on is to cut some grooves around the tenon to hold some extra glue. Two Ton is fine for gluing Ivory. Make sure both the tenon and Ivory have plenty of glue on them before joining.
 
im not threading them on, they are sleeved.

Why not thread them?
 
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luckily this was not a customers cue this was a cue that i was finishing a while back, i took the last pass on the lathe and then started to finish sand, and the ivory butt cap came loose and this one had no grooves, ive always fit ivory a little loose. since then i have been cutting grooves in the cap and on the tenon and scratching the surface with 80 grit i havent had any come back. just finished one a couple days ago and thoght i hope that this is the best glue for the job, that is why i started this thread. nice picture nbllo1. the tounge and groove method is the same mothod that i used on my four arms along with a connecting pin. on a butt sleave you would have to go .625 tenon becouse my rings are .750 ID looks good but a little more work though.i am set up to thread with the router i think this will be my next step to insure that they never come loose thanks for all the tips to and letting me know two ton epoxy is ok on ivory
Thanks got to run its friday night off to the pool hall...:)
 
I think your biggest enemy is the wood shrinking slightly. If you don't have a very tight fit, and this happens, you end up with a loose part. Since I started making all non-threaded a press-fit, I've had no problems with them coming loose. No gouging, scraping, roughing or other "tricks" used. Threads can come loose the same way, I've repaired lots of threaded joints that have come loose, and even some threaded buttcaps. The more oversized the tenon is, and the tighter the threads are, the better, in my experience.
 
HI Darrin, I have always had good luck with the 2 ton Devcon. I take a file and make some grooves so the epoxy can properly adhere to the ivory. Ivory does have a tendency to absorb a bit and you should definately be generous with spreading it on both parts you are joining. Also make sure you mix the epoxy for a good 3 or 4 minutes. Hope this helps...
 
hillscues said:
hi every body this darrin from hills cues. my question is glueing an ivory butt and joint gennerally i use a two ton slow epoxy ive used west system and it seems a little thin when i do ferrules i use super glue gel that seems to work and hold great. my problem is having but caps come loose. im not threading them on they are sleaved. just useing two ton. im really looking for the best glue and i dont want to use super glue gel on a cue. please help any suggestions would be great.
Click to expand...

Darrin, I would not use super glue for anything but tips. West System, slow is good to go for all the above applications. Like some of the posters have already said cut small groves on the tenon about 1/8 inch apart depending upon the tenon length. Also take a round file or other tool and spin the piece in your lathe, and make circular groves inside the piece being glued.

Also remember with west systems you can let it sit for a while before application to thicken up for ferrules or other applications, you can also get the West systems fast hardener for ferrule or like some others have said Devcon 5 min will also work well for this application, but never super glue.

By the way, the West Systems fast hardener is 205!!!

Have a great day
 
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