Any epoxies out there that don’t require heat? Also advice on a build idea.

[ccase39]

I had one once that worked great. It came with a brown powder and you mixed it as usual. If I remember can correctly it didn’t require heat.
I had another brand I could just put in my car to get enough heat but for the life of me I can’t remember either.
I’ve started my wood bamboo backed ipe trilam and I’m going to try and run the belly up the fade. 66 inches NTN.  I have my boo parallel at 1/8 inch. My ipe core is 3/8 tapered down to 1/4 at the tips. I plan on maybe tapering my ipe belly lam from 1/16 or so riding up the fades (from handle to end of fade) and up to 1/8 at the tips. Figure this will give me plenty of room to tiller the belly. If all other measurements fall in line.
Any advice on this method? Should I taper the core down to an 1/8 as opposed to the 1/4?
This is an all wood bow. The limb width taper goes from 1.25”  at thehandle and fades down to 1/2” at the tips. Leaving a little wide at tips may give me a little room to fine tune.
It’s based on an edjucated guess based on several similar builds. At the very least a great learning experience. Any advice?
The reasoning for the belly taper being thin at the fades is so it will bend easier when I glue it up the riser. I know the belly lam is going to have to be very thin. Alternatively I could go with 1/8 inch parallel taper and just heat treat a bend in it at the fades.

[Del the cat]

Not an epoxy, but I use Resintite (aka Cascamite) on wooden bows. It's relatively cheap, long shelf life, long pot life.
Fine white powder, mix with water... instructions say apply to one surface, but I apply to both for bows.
readily available in UK... Amazon do it in US I believe.
Regarding method, I wouldn't do any width taper until it's glued up. Your other reasoning seems good to me.
Del

[johnminnitt]

Basically I agree with Del, I've used cascamite for laminating and handle-splicing wooden bows for many years, not had one fall apart yet.
The one exception - I had my doubts (maybe unnecessarily) about cascamite with a very oily wood like ipe, so I laminated that with lots of acetone degreasing and Titebond III - I've done a few like that successfully.

[PatM]

Where are you located?

 Many Epoxies cure without additional heat.  Several will cure as strong and with the same future heat resistance as many that do require heat.

 The glue you were using previously  was not an Epoxy but likely Urac or similar.

Checked your location in your profile.  You can surely get epoxy at a Marine shop there.

 If you want to try something like Cascamite, Aircraft Spruce has Cascophen.

[ccase39]

Where are you located?

 Many Epoxies cure without additional heat.  Several will cure as strong and with the same future heat resistance as many that do require heat.

 The glue you were using previously  was not an Epoxy but likely Urac or similar.

Checked your location in your profile.  You can surely get epoxy at a Marine shop there.

 If you want to try something like Cascamite, Aircraft Spruce has Cascophen.

That was it. It was Unibond. I tried to find Urac but it had been discontinued so I used Unibond I think per someone here’s suggestion. Never had a problem with it. Thanks for the info.

[ccase39]

Basically I agree with Del, I've used cascamite for laminating and handle-splicing wooden bows for many years, not had one fall apart yet.
The one exception - I had my doubts (maybe unnecessarily) about cascamite with a very oily wood like ipe, so I laminated that with lots of acetone degreasing and Titebond III - I've done a few like that successfully.

Perfect Thanks! I was going to use Titebond III after acetone this time anyway. That was was my next question.
How do those dimensions sound?

[PEARL DRUMS]

I used UniBond/URAC for years and had good luck. But, after buying Smooth On I realized I should have switched years ago. Its much thicker, makes a much smaller mess, fills gaps much better and spreads much better. I wont use anything else now. I should have listened to all my peers that tried to tell me to switch. 

[Eric Krewson]

Smoothone is a good glue but can't take heat like the old Urac could. I often glue on a handle section and could heat and bend it if it was glued with urac and it would never come apart, smooth on will come apart if heated.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I've never super heated Smooth On, but my friends have and said it will take whatever they give it? Not sure what to make of that.

[johnminnitt]

Basically I agree with Del, I've used cascamite for laminating and handle-splicing wooden bows for many years, not had one fall apart yet.
The one exception - I had my doubts (maybe unnecessarily) about cascamite with a very oily wood like ipe, so I laminated that with lots of acetone degreasing and Titebond III - I've done a few like that successfully.

Perfect Thanks! I was going to use Titebond III after acetone this time anyway. That was was my next question.
How do those dimensions sound?

They sound OK I think, though I have only done this sort of lamination with ELB's, so not a lot of experience with  risers and fade-outs. I wonder if there's be enough belly lam thickness for tillering near the handle?
Just as a comment - I would feel I was adding mass to the limb unnecessarily with dense wood like ipe for the core? The best ELB I did  a bit like this was an ash core with ipe belly and bamboo back, but I'm sure your combination will be fine. Good luck with it.

[Marc St Louis]

There is Cold Cure, I think it's made by System Three, and sets down to 35 degrees F.  I have some in my shop and have used it many times

[PatM]

You can get  West  System Epoxy  from West Marine in your location.  G flex and the thickened 610 in a cartridge. Both excellent choices.

 The 610 is thickened and toughened so it's very good for avoiding run out in your glue joints.  It's like a gel after mixing.  Skip the static mixer if you get it.  That's just a waste.

[Pat B]

I wouldn't recommend using acetone or other solvents as a degreaser for a glue surface. A freshly sanded glue surface is usually sufficient to allow the glue to adhere. Solvents do eliminate the surface oils but can draw more oils. out of the wood.
 If I use a water based glue like TB or Weldwood Plastic Resin I wash the glue surfaces with Dawn dish detergent and warm water and rinse with boiling water just before glue-up.

[GlisGlis]

I had one once that worked great. It came with a brown powder and you mixed it as usual. If I remember can correctly it didn’t require heat.

You may have used a Phenol Resorcinol type of glue
Where I live they are called red glues (tough they are usuallly brown) and are for marine use. they make a very strong bond for wood and are totally water resistent
I think they work better with heat tough

[ccase39]

Thanks for all the feedback. Went to storage to get all my clamps earlier today and they seemed to have disappeared. It was a whole bin of just about every clamp you can think of. There was definitely some money in there. I went and bought enough to get everything glued up tonight. I can’t wait to get a shop. Every time I go to look for something I haven’t used in a while it’s gone.
On a positive note I found more ipe so that’s good.