Ski Builders Forum

Has anyone tried polyuranthane ( gorilla glue) glue as a replacement for epoxy as a core glue to reduce weight. As the glue is resonably waterproof and the final ski will be covered in epoxy aswell. any info will be great

do it.

Your core glue doesn't need to be waterproof. It's only purpose is to hold the core together until you get the board laminated. Your glue choice should be dominated, then, by other useful properties, like open working time. Polyuerthane glue has a nice long open time, and is perfect for this. I use Gorilla Glue for mine... buy it when you see it on sale... you can never have too much.

mitch wrote:Has anyone tried polyuranthane ( gorilla glue) glue as a replacement for epoxy as a core glue to reduce weight. As the glue is resonably waterproof and the final ski will be covered in epoxy aswell. any info will be great

I've had the same thoughts. I've used gorilla glue in other applications. One thing I like about is if you dampen the wood very lightly and then do the glue it, the glue expands to fill any voids. I haven't used it in core making yet, I've been using Titebond II exterior glue.

I'm thinking of making a laminated wood ski using gorilla glue. I don't know if it will stick to P-tex or not. Probably still need to use epoxy for that stage of construction.

skidesmond wrote: One thing I like about is if you dampen the wood very lightly and then do the glue it, the glue expands to fill any voids.

Yes, it will, but it is _not_ structural.

Polyurethane glues are very versitle and come in many forms.

Gorilla glue is approx. $1 per oz and so it is pretty expensive. As a truly structural adhesive it is moderate.

A quick Google search can give you results for other types and brands of PUR glues some that are specifically purposed for structural uses and some that are the exact product as Gorilla glue yet half the cost.

We have and continue to use Polyurethane glue for a wide variety of our products including horizontal lamination of skate decks. The skate decks were/are very strong yet Poly glue is not a cross-linking adhesive and does not have the shear strength as say Titebond III or Multibond SK8. We have a video on our myspace page of people focusing some boards made with Gorilla glue. You hear one guy say that the board is making him look like a fool for trying to break it.

Bonding to UHMW: I wouldn't reccomend it. Pur glues work best on pourous materials such as styrenes and woods. We tried flame treating some scrap sidewalls and bonding with Gorilla glue. The results were not favorable at all. Epoxy won out hands down.

Mike

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