Agreed, I am given to sweeping statements, the buttering is mostly used, I believe, for open-pore woods (I did say plywood)and does soak in, needing topping up for the laminating. So, doesn't that confirm the importance of a (thin) fillet? The laminating coat is needed because the joint has gone dry as the butter coat soaks into the fibres? Bow-woods tend to be dense, not porous, but in the end grain of a z-splice the extra glue would be more important. wouldn't it? Like Mike said, different adhesives will need slightly different approaches so, for pva, cascamite and resourcinol, really good, tight joints, tightly clamped, are important, but, with two part epoxy,while a good tight joint is also really important, a loose clamp and a thin film might be necessary. For instance, the West 105 system directions specifically state the builder must avoid starving the joint by "wetting out first...and then must ensure they apply sufficient epoxy to ensure the joint is not starved...squeezing out a small amount by clamping with the force of a firm hand-grip"
