MIMF

Resorcinol is no longer available in consumer quantities (I can still get enough to build an airplane). I need to glue some cedar 2x4s into longer pieces to repair my deck railing (the longest cedar 2x4 I could get was 8’). So, I’m going to do a scarf joint or something like it with a couple of steps—I will be able to make the surfaces fit very well. 20 years ago, I would have used resorcinol. Will polyurethane glue do the job for me? Is there a better option? Without gluing, I will have to cut the cedar into shorter lengths so that the joints land on posts. That will waste too much expensive wood.

Bob,

Have you tried checking to see if there is an EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) chapter near you? That might be a way of obtaining a smaller amount of resorcinol. I know the group here were very outgoing and helpful back when my wife had her RV-6.

Bob Gramann wrote: ↑Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:08 pm
Will polyurethane glue do the job for me? Is there a better option?

You need a waterproof glue and the PU fits the bill. I used Gorilla Glue to repair a handrail on a driftboat 2 or 3 summers ago. There's a scarf joint in there somewhere. It sits out in the rain all winter and gets used several times a week half the year. No problems so far. If not PU then Tightbond III. Or epoxy if you want to play with measuring cups.

I used gorilla glue with W.R.cedar for an arched arbor at my previous house. Scarf joints all over it. It held up perfectly for at least 8 years of New England sun, rain, snow and wind. Then we moved so I don't know what's happened to it since.

Thank you all. Polyurethane it is. Gorrilla glue is easy to get.

Make sure and wear gloves. If you get it on your hands it turns black and you cant get it off. You have to wait on skin cells dying and falling off and it takes weeks. If it is still wet acetone may get it off. I once asked on a woodwork forum how to get this stuff off your hands once its dry and was told 12 inch disk sander and 60 grit. He wasn't kidding!!!!

The job is done. I wore gloves. I got none on my clothes. I first tried a somewhat complicated joint—two angles bracketing a straight line. Even though I cut the pieces simultaneously, it didn’t fit nearly as tightly as I wished and required some adjustment. For the rest of them, I used a simple scarf joint—easy to cut and clean up with a plane, and a guaranteed perfect fit. I hope it lasts like Marshalls‘s and Bob’s joints.

I repaired a beam on a gazebo, that got broken by a falling tree, with PU glue rather than replacing the beam. That was 12 years ago and its still good!