Identification of Glue type

[JimJ]

I have been restoring my Hartley TS18 built in 1974.

A lot of the frame joints were loose and could be pulled apart by hand. These were the joints in the beams located under the seats in the cockpit and in the timbers supporting the base of compression post.

The remaining joints in the rest of the boat seem OK.

The glue is light brown in colour and is easily removed with a scraper after application of heat from a heat gun. It emmits an unpleasant odour when heated.

Without heat the glue is extremly hard and equally hard to remove.

How can I identify the type of glue used in making joints?

[John Blazy]

Is the glue a transparent brown or opaque brown? Can you describe the smell at all? I don't have a clue, besides old epoxy (transparent)or resorsinol / plastic resin glue (opaque) but others may know. Scrape/saw as much out as possible and reglue with epoxy after thorough drying.

[JimJ]

John

The glue is opaque brown and emits a sickly odour not a chemical type odour.

I have cleaned and sanded all the joints before regluing. I also used a dowel on the joint to locate it instead of the nail/screw as before.

[Dave Fleming]

Well it ain't RR aka Resorcinol Resin cause that is Dark RED in colour. UF aka Urea Formaldehyde is creamy white or pale very pale tan in colour but being in OZ, it could be something else entirely.
Hard, Bad Odor as Heat breaks down the glue joint, maybe those clues will elicit a responce from The Chemist?

[ 03-18-2003, 06:12 PM: Message edited by: Dave Fleming ]

[John Blazy]

Sounds alot like animal hide glue or most likely, urea formaldehyde glue. Not sure if UF softens with heat, but hide glue does, and smells sickly. Don't use same glue to fix - use epoxy, or second choice would be polyurethane glue like Gorilla Glue if you have some brand like it down there. Dowel sounds good and serious screws (3") may be useful to lock up the other joints. I would drill holes in the other joints and inject polyurethane glue with a syringe (large ID needle or no needle) to prevent future problems.

[JimJ]

I have used epoxy in all the new joints.