What glue for an outdoor cutting board?

[rmwarren]

Doing some reading and it appears TB2 might work fine also. Apparently TB3 is "waterproof" i.e. soak it and it doesn't fail while TB2 is only "water resistant" whatever that means I've yet to figure out.

All I'm looking for is not having joint seperate due to exposure to humidity and temperature variation.

Thanks.

RMW

 

[rmwarren]

Richard that looks nice. Titebond III would be the logical choice but try a joint on some scrap to see if you like it.

I find that T III dries dark, I’ll use it on Walnut but prefer T original or T II on lighter woods. T III usually leaves a dark glue line I can see the others blend in more. YMMV test it first.

If you keep applying mineral oil, it usually doesn’t give the wood a chance to shrink too much. But you might want to make the plugs removable so you could tighten the rods.

Don’t forget about the bottom of it either for oil. When you cover it I’d leave some space to let it breathe.

Ron

Thanks Ron for emphasizing the mineral oil, maintenance is a great point for preventing shrinkage. This material spent ~10-ish years acclimitizing (being ignored in our crawl space) which may make a real difference in this situation.

I was considering leaving off the rear plugs for that purpose, you just convinced me.

RMW

 

[luvmytoolz]

I would definitely go TB3 over TB2 for this if it's going to get a fair bit of exposure. Not worth the risk for the tiny bit saved.

 

[Oldwood]

I am not a fan of the all thread rod. I have seen a few tops done with them that bow badly.  The wood will expand, and the rods restrain the expansion and the top bows up or down.

I don't think they are needed, if you get a good glue joint, and you will have a better chance of the top staying flat.

When testing new glue, I drive a chisel into the glue joint and attempt to split the wood on the joint. If it splits on the joint even if it pulls some wood, I call it a failure and try something new.

I used a lot of T2 for exterior doors, and it stood up well, but the doors were never subjected to any great amount of water. 

 

[rmwarren]

I am not a fan of the all thread rod. I have seen a few tops done with them that bow badly.  The wood will expand, and the rods restrain the expansion and the top bows up or down.

I don't think they are needed, if you get a good glue joint, and you will have a better chance of the top staying flat.

Hadn't considered that aspect, thanks.

RMW

 

[Oldwood]

There have been some failures of TB3 when exposed to a moderate amount of heat. I don't know how much heat the end of the block close to the grill will see, but it may be worth considering. David Sochar mentions that in the 3rd post in this thread. He had a lot of problems with doors failing when finished with a dark finish and southern exposure.
https://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/aw.pl?read=812140

With the PVA glues, I have never been able to starve the joint by over clamping, but with some of the resin glues it is possible to do that, so a test glue up would be wise to confirm your process.

 

[Packard]

TB3 has a longer open time than TB2, and for a glue-up with this many pieces, that would be an advantage.

 

[GoingMyWay]

WoodWorkers Guild of America had Bob Behnke, the Technical Service Manager from Titebond glue on a livestream a few days ago.  I learned so much in the approximately 1 hour video. 

Around 11:07, Bob discusses exterior projects and the differences between Titebond 2 and 3.  Interesting that the primary difference seems to be that Titebond 3 will pass a boiling water soak.

 

[rmwarren]

Great info, I'm learning a lot here.

Going further down the rabbit hole, seems like the waterproof difference between 2 and 3 aren't an issue for this use. I don't think heat will be either, the cart will sit beside the kamado but not close enough to experience much heat. It's also largely protected from the sun's heat due to the trees. Only rarely does the wood deck get so hot that I can't spend all day on it barefoot. Mostly the temperature variation will be to the downside, 80's summer into 20's wintertime.

The other section of the cart gets a concrete top and this'll host the little pizza oven when in use. The butcher block is a prep area, mostly with an intermediate surface i.e. I don't plan on carving meat directly on it.

Lastly I'll have a grill cover made with ventilation.

Seems like my concern about the glue joints seperating may be overblown, providing I get a good glue up. I'm starting to lean toward TB2 to avoid the dark glue lines and glueing up in sections of 3-4 boards at a time. I'll probably add the all thread but not crank the down and leave the rear open so I can adjust if ever needed.

Thanks for helping me think this thru.

RMW

 

[rmwarren]

I should have paid (at least some) attention to the specifics on Cascophen. Short story, it's incredibly hard but deep reddish-brown in color. Not a great option for maple...

[attachimg=1]

The dried excess glue has the look & feel of Bakelite, out of curiosity I'll see how it stands up to a hammer test. Defaulted to TB2 & glued up the boards in 2 sections then joined them together, over 2 days.

[attachimg=2]

[attachimg=3]

The rods were just used for alignment, although I'll probably install the all-thread and leave it loose in the beginning. There is a slight twist ~1/4" overall, I could have been a little more careful.

[attachimg=4]

Now to cobble together a surfacing jig and flatten it up.

A bit melancholy, the soundtrack for the weekend was the Jolly Mon, lots of memories dredged up going back 40+ years.

[EDIT] Sunday morning's sky from the shop:

[attachimg=5]

RMW