White glue or contact glue for deck planking?

[Captain Al]

My instructions call for contact glue in laying down the planks over the precut plywood subfloor (deck).  I have worked with this stuff on scrap pieces and it is kind of tricky and a bit messy to coat such narrow and thin surfaces as are the planks.  I've devised a "jig" to lay them all out side by side and clamp down the ends on a piece of cardboard, allowing me to coat all 15 planks at once.  When dried I would then place them one by one onto the deck which poses no problem in coating.  I am wondering though if anyone has used plain ole white glue for this purpose?  It would be much easier to coat the surfaces and any excess is more easily cleaned up.  Only drawback I see is that the planks could slide a bit when being laid down.  But this could be solved easily enough.  Any suggestions or comments?

[druxey]

I'm personally not a great fan of contact cement. Volatile fumes require respiratory protection, no wiggle room in laying the wood down, and so on. Plain ole white glue does it for me. If the pieces to be joined are thin, water content can cause warping, so dampen the unglued sides of the wood to balance out this potential issue.

[russ]

I use yellow carpenter's glue. It is a water based glue and has always worked for me.

 

Russ

[Moonbug]

I use the same as Russ. I purchased a standard size container of carpenter's glue, and so far it has lasted for two builds and sets relatively quickly.

 

- Bug

[janet bode]

I use TIMEBOND contact glue which gives me time to adjust the plank, i just gently lay the plank in position before fully pressing down,

 even then i can still make slight adjutments. As  the regards coating the planks i lay a strip of masking tape on a peice of spare wood

then just briskley coat the plank then immediatly lift up and lay it somewhere where it cannot stick to anythink. Sometimes it helps if you

very slitley thin the glue, but do not overdo this, the masking tape is renewed for every strip but you can lay several strips at a time

you can do a number of planks a time.

                                           regards:janet B

[Modeler12]

It seems that Timebond is a British product. I have never used it, but when I search it on the web, it sounds interesting. Janet, what do you use to 'thin' it? The rubber based contact adhesives I am familiar with require 'spirits' like acetone.

 

I also have used carpenters glue not only for modeling but lots of furniture I have build over the years. I bet I must have used several gallons by now.

[Captain Al]

Thank you all.  You've renewed my faith in carpenters glue.  I am right now waiting to look at the results of a test I did a couple hours ago with the white glue -- actually I also have the yellow stuff by Elmers.  I have a feeling it is going to bond just fine.  Thank you Druxey for the tip re dampening the planks....they are extremely thin.  I would think a good way to do this is to do the planking then swipe the whole thing once or twice with a damp sponge.  Thanks again.

[grsjax]

I have used white glue and carpenters glue.  Both work well.

[Ulises Victoria]

Yellowish wood glue works great for me.

[mischief]

Tandy Leather now sells a safe contact glue,however,the Cow glue  "Elmers" is great stuff

[janet bode]

Janet B

           As regards thinners for TIMEBOND contact adhesive you can buy it from good stocked hardware stores,i get mine from a store in Bournmouth

U-K the shop is called INEXSSES usually when  i vist Bournmouth i usually buy 4 tins so i have plenty in stock. I have seen other makes sell the thinners,

in using it if you thin the glue too much it just soakes into the wood and is not effective so do not overdo the thinners.

 

                                            Regards Janet B

[dewalt57]

"DITTO" on the Elmers yellow glue, fast dry time and permanent glue job, rubber contact cement glue can have a limited life span and come apart down the road with time.  Works for me!

 

AL

[jud]

Have used a lot of contact cement on leather, it holds well and is flexible when set. I have let one surface dry and left the other piece wet and quickly placed the parts together. That allowed for some shifting of the upper part if needed. Then rubbing like heck with a door knob or a shaped and polished wood rub stick will get a good bond with leather, modified a bit it should also do well for wood. Also have done it by the book on leather and ply board. Doing it that way I inserted wax paper between the pieces which allowed me to shift everything around until all was lined up. When properly placed I slid the paper back a short way and pressed that small uncovered area together and then clamped or rubbed, that small place well. Doing it that way you end up with an anchor to hold the upper piece in position as the wax paper is slowly removed from the joint as you pull the wax paper from the rest of the joint. Wax paper and planking should work well together, but I think I would use the good old white or newer yellow wood glue instead of contact cement. The contact cement I use is Barge Cement, buy it and its thinner by the gallon.

jud

Edited September 5, 2014 by jud

[bogeygolpher]

I use carpenters glue (PVA).  To keep the plank in place while the glue dries, I place a very small drop (about the size of a pin) of Super Glue (CA) on each end before placing the plank on the deck.  I then rub my electric plank bender over the plank a few times to heat up the plank and accelerate the drying of the PVA.  It's the same technique I use for planking the hull.

Edited September 6, 2014 by bogeygolpher

[shihawk]

Have used the method of coating both surfaces and letting it dry slightly but didn,t heat it , be carefull i finished up with quite a few springy planks ,maybe i just haven,t perfected the method yet but will think twice about using it for long planking again . Used titebond II Am not a fan of super glue ,no time for proper alignment .

Edited September 6, 2014 by shihawk

[Perls]

Hi All,

 

I've posted this idea a bunch of times on various forums. It's an old finish carpenters trick. Spread a thin layer of Titebond or Elmer's carpenter glue on one of the pieces to be glued and let dry. Spread another thin layer on the other piece and press together less than a minute.. You get a tight glue joint with finger pressure and it binds like contact cement but still gives you a little bit of work time to align the joint. It even works with end grain. Give it a try, experiment you'll be glad you did.

 

Best,

Steve

[Perls]

bogeygolpher brings up a good idea. When building model planes, I often apply a thin layer of yellow glue (Titebond) via small paint brush to both mating sides of the wood, i.e. balsa wing sheeting (where the ribs will attach) and the top edge of the wing ribs. I let the glue dry. Then I just place the wing sheeting over the ribs and, using a small ironing tool, I apply heat where needed. The heat activates the glue and I get an instant bond. I would think this technique could be used for planking and other wood bonding while building a ship.Fair Winds,Joe

Hi Joe,

 

I've actually used that technique for years when attaching veneers and appliqués to various kinds of substrates while furniture building. Usually I've attached large, highly figured, veneers and have used a household iron to heat everything so it didn't occur to me to use this idea for ship building. But I really like your idea of using the kind of iron Tower Hobbies sells for use with mono-cote etc. I'm definitately going to try it.

 

Best,

Steve

[robnbill]

I have found that PVA works well for me when laying decking. It dries quickly enough but still allows for time to move the pieces should I need to. I certainly use CA, or epoxy but for decking I have found PVA to work well.

[testazyk]

In addition to all the good reasons listed here for using PVA, it also wipes off cleanly with a wet rag so that you don't get any marks on your deck after you varnish it.