Inside and outside stems

Johnson in Des Moines · Tue Aug 23, 2005 4:17 pm

I soaked the strips in water to make them more pliable so I can bend them without breaking them. My question is will the epoxy still harden when the wood is wet????

Post by **Patricks Dad** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 4:23 pm

You should let them dry before gluing them together with epoxy. Clamp them to your stem molds and let them sit a few days until they are good and dry and then apply unthickened epoxy, let it soak in, apply thickened epoxy and clamp them back on your forms. Put something (e.g., packing tape) between the inner and outer stems to avoid gluing them together.

KenC · Post by **KenC** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:10 pm

I laminated my inner and outer stems with ordinary yellow glue, instead of epoxy. I still let it dry thoroughly before gluing, although it supposedly would be a little more forgiving toward a bit of residual moisture. It worked well. Of course, the outer was attached using epoxy.

The inner is well coated with epoxy, and the outer is covered by 3 layers of glass, so I'm not concerned about moisture getting in to weaken the glue joints.