Epoxy for glueing backings, in Canada

[youngbowyer33]

From Nelson paint I can get a quart of unibond 800 for about $45 CAD, but shipping is a little more than the price of the epoxy. I want to use an epoxy instead of wood glue because I already have shrink wrap which I can use with the epoxy but I don't have many clamps (wood glue won't dry if it's wrapped in plastic, right?).

Does anyone know of any cheaper alternatives? How many bows do you think I could back with a quart of unibond 800? If it's like $10 a bow I can probably justify it.

[PatM]

  Unibond is not actually epoxy .   Where are you located? Epoxy is generally readily available in Canada.  You can also get smaller quantities at a reasonable price.

[youngbowyer33]

Shows how much I know! Ottawa, a big city centre. Most of what I could find online was the 5 minute stuff. I don't know how to tell if an epoxy will work for bows, that's why I'm looking for the name brand stuff. Will any sort of resorcinol glue do the trick?

[DC]

I use West Systems 105/205 but it's still going to cost about $50 a litre. You can do about 30 (a wild assed guess) bows with that. Paint supply stores, stuff like that. You have to be able to find it in Ottawa. I live in Campbell River and there's three places I can get it.

[youngbowyer33]

If I can get that many bows out of it I'm happy about that price. I'll take a look for it, thanks! Have you used it with ipe and bamboo?

[DC]

Bamboo yes, but I've never used Ipe.

[PatM]

You can get G2 Epoxy at Lee Valley tools in Ottawa.  Also The Chandlery( Boating supplies)  in Ottawa has Epoxy you can order online.  They have G flex which Lee Valley no longer seems to carry.

[youngbowyer33]

Pat you're doing all the research for me! Thank you!! I feel somewhat less lost now that I have some leads

[PatM]

I used to live in Ottawa.

[youngbowyer33]

Oh I see. Well that's helpful

[GlisGlis]

there are many types of epoxy resins but they usually bond very well with wood

used bicycle tyres are really useful for clamping woods
they can be used with glue too. It is true that they will not let water evaporate but wood will absorb enough humidity to let the glue set

[Stick Bender]

The problem I had with unibond 800 is it seems to go bad quicker then most epoxy  I had a can that set for about a year never opened and when I did it was bad I later learned you can store it in the fridge to make it last longer , the last 3 bows I have done I used smooth on EA-40 it's bullet prof epoxy , using epoxys it's exstreamly important to have good even clamping pressure other wise you could have weak spots in the glue up gaps,etc. or to much pressure and a starved joint, I have friends that use the rubber band method that swear by it , I have only used presure strip clamp method & currently using the fire hose method , smooth on can be room temp cured or baked it's great reliable epoxy !