Backing question....

[Stingray45]

Alright I have another question on a different topic. Recently I took a nice straight grained piece of Ash and glued it on to a piece of hackeberry for a backing. So far the board is 1-3/8" x 66" x 7/8". My question is about the backing, on one of the limbs there are a few small glue lines on both sides of the board. Close to the end, the other limb all the way through the middle and probably about 2/3's through the other limb there is no noticeable seem other than where you can see the change in grain because of the two different woods, so I'm happy with that. However on the other limb I want to get the glue lines out. I had heard on here before I think that you can take a heat gun and re-heat the glue and then clamp the area to get out the glue line. I used TB III so I'm wondering if any of you guys know if that's possible or do I need to try something else like cleaning the glue line and squirting in epoxy or super glue or something of that nature. Thanks and appreciate the advice.

[adb]

Could you post a pic? Reheating and clamping is not something I'd do, but I don't know if it's possible. Hide glue yes... TB??? I don't think so.

With TB3, you need to get your gluing surfaces very flat, matching perfectly, and use even clamping pressure. I use a thickness sander to make my backing strips and lams, and then use rubber inner tubes to provide even clamping pressure. A good glue line should not be a line at all... it should just look like the two pieces of wood are touching each other. Wide gaps with TB will not be as strong a joint as it could be.

[Stingray45]

Hey adb. I did use a rubber inner tube but this must have been a small area where I didnt get the pressure quite right. I'll take a picture when I get home this evening and post it. The lines on each side are about 2"-3" long and probably 1/32" or so wide. I thought I had heard on here or another site that you coudl reheat TB III so thats why I was thinking of just reheating that section to get the glue warmed up and liquid again and then I would just put a C-clamp on the area to let it dry nice and tight.

[half eye]

Stingray,
      All I ever use is titebond, think if ya heat up enough to make it let go it's all done. Ya can get the two apart but the glue wont "reconstitute" for ya.
      One little trick I use is that I wrap the lam together with shrink-wrap or "saran-wrap" then put the rubber bands on. That way the titebond stays wet longer and gets really good penetration. When I wrap the bands I do it like a barber pole and after about 8 hrs. I cut razorblade slits in the saran wrap (between the bands) to let out the excess "squeeze out" and allow the surface to set up. Very raely have any bad joints that way. Takes a little longer to have everything set up good.....but I believe the results are worth a little time. JMO
rich

[adb]

When gluing any backing with TB3, either wood or rawhide, I sandwich the backing material between the belly wood and another piece of wood. I put wax paper between the clamping board and the backing, so it doesn't bond to the backing. I usually use a clamping board of about 1" thick, and the same width as the belly wood. I also use rubber inner tubes, as they provide much more even pressure, and they're cheap! Before I strated sandwiching the backing material, I found my glue lines were poor, as the pressure on the backing strip was not even. I think this may be your problem. TB3 says to leave for 30 minutes, but I don't touch my glue ups, or unwrap them for 24hrs.

[Stingray45]

Would you guys recommend heating the TB III, removing the backing, sand both sides down and then reglue?

[adb]

You'll probably ruin the backing getting it off, but you should be able to save the belly wood. TB bonds at the molecular level, and won't be easy to get apart, even with heat. Give it a try, what do you have to lose?!