Bamboo Tips - Tips Area
Glues - Preferred Glues

< Home < Tips Area < Glues < Preferred Glues

There was a question about the best glues to use for various jobs.  Here are the responses:

I like 1 hour epoxy for reel seats, and Urethane Bond for ferrules.  I'd use the Ubond for reel seats too, if it didn't foam up and cause such a mess.  (Harry Boyd)

I use URAC on the rods (NOT with the stock crushed walnut shell hardener, however), TiteBond on the grips, slow cure 2 part epoxy on the reel seats and Ferrule-Tite & pins on the ferrules.  (Bob Nunley)

I use Epon epoxy for my rods quick set epoxy for reel seats and golf shafting epoxy for ferrules.  (Steve Trauthwein) 

I like URAC for the cane, Urethane Bond for the ferrules, and plain ol' yeller carpenter's glue for both cork and wood spacer.  (Bill Harms)

I use Probond polyurethane for ferrules.  I've had no failures yet, although I did with the epoxy that I used previously.

My reel seats are cork with a Garrison style cap and ring made integral with the grip and glued with Titebond II.  (Bill Lamberson)

I'm using URAC for the boo, and Probond for reel seats and ferrules.  Harry had mentioned the mess on reel seats using the Probond.  I take some masking tape and tape it around the part of the reel seat that will be up to the cork. I actually make a "tunnel" out of it to hold the excess glue while it foams.  After it is dry, I trim it easy as pie.  (John Kenealy)

URAC, no walnut flour for the blank, Ferrule-Tite and a pin on the ferrules, fast set epoxy  for the cork  and fast set epoxy for the RS - the DLSB seats get a pin in the cap too. Pins in the ULTB seats on the steelhead and salmon rods.  (AJ Thramer)

I've had real good luck with the following glues:  Reel seats and tip tops, Flexcoat 5 min. epoxy;  Cork rings, polyurethane (Gorilla Glue) but seal the top and bottom rings with masking tape as the Gorilla glue foams out or I will use Titebond II; Ferrules, Golf Smith Epoxy - the same stuff they glue on the heads of golf clubs with.  Good luck...(John Long)

I have been using Ferrule-Tite pinless for the last 6 years and have had only 1 failure which I attribute to a poor wood to metal fit. I figured Granger didn't pin so I wasn't going to start. I like 5 minute epoxy for seats and tip tops and Ferrule-Tite (hot melt glue) for ferrules. (Marty DeSapio)

U-40 Rodbond for reel seats, Epon 826 resin with Epicure 3164 for ferrules.  (Martin-Darrell)

There are Three UF glues I can get here in Australia and both work really well.  One is made by Towns/Sellys but there has to be an equivalent everywhere and is a three part mix plus water making it a 4 part mix I guess. One is the resin, one a crystalline hardener and the other is melamine. You mix it up then add a little water and it makes the most amazing bond that compares well to resorcinol in boat use which is where I've used it mostly. It sets fast though. This is called Selly's 308 High Strength Glue.  All this stuff comes in sealed tins and seems to last for ever on the shelf but deteriorates fast once opened.

The other one is what Borden UK makes and only comes in a 2 part liquid.  This is really nice to use because it's very easily measured and you can vary pot life by adjusting the amount of hardener used. If you can get the liquid give it go.  I've asked Borden a few times by email to send me details and there doesn't seem to be anything on their site about it so I can't give any more detail.  I keep this in the fridge and get about 12-18 months from it. I need to buy quite a lot of it so throw a lot out unfortunately but I do like it and it's great for general work.

I can also get Cascamite which in this form is a white UF powder made from residue of skim milk production. It used to be called cold water glue because that's what you mix with it to make glue. It comes as a white powder and you basically mix it to what ever consistency looks good. I wouldn't use it in anything submerged for longer than a month or so but I built a dingy using it 4 years back, it sits unprotected from the elements and local kids, gets hauled around behind my sloop, dragged up and down the beach and generally treated like a red haired orphan and keeps on keeping on so it's not bad glue either.  This is actually my general purpose glue most people would use PVA for.  I like it because it's pretty cheap but strong and cures faster than PVA.  It's more work to prepare than opening the top of a PVA bottle but mixing it isn't that bad.  It wont bond at all to some rain forest timbers at all though oak etc is fine. I used it once to make splines from nodeless sections and it worked OK but was a lot of trouble later on at the straightening stage using Epon for the splines. I should try it for the whole rod but it cures far to quickly during the summers here even if I keep it all in a tub of iced water, once a thin layer is on the splines it starts setting up. If you ever wanted to make a large laminate I'd recommend this stuff.  (Tony Young)

What's you favorite commercially (retail) available glue and why? (David Gerich)

Titebond III or Titebond II extended.

Availability and ease of use and cleanup. 

Down side is the short working time.

If I ever had a failure due to the glue, I'd probably go to T-3 epoxy.  (Terry Kirkpatrick)

I use G1 epoxy. Available at Lee Valley Tools. It's made for stress applications like golf clubs, skiis etc. I like it because it's clear, goes on thin and you have about 45 min to brush it on and bind it before it even starts to harden. The West system  epoxies look like they might be good as well.  (Ken Paterson)

Thought this article might be interesting to some.   (Duke Normandin)

I for one would like to thank you for sharing that. That is the best, most informative article on glues and their properties and use applications that I've read since I started making rods. More in depth than I've seen in articles on glues as it pertains to rodmaking and the nice thing is that everything they discussed about how it applies to bowmaking also applies to rodmaking. EXCEPT, of course, I don't plan on veneering any of my flyrods with rattlesnake skin anytime soon.  (Will Price)

You're welcome! I also found another site that dealt with vintage piano restoration and the proper use of top-of-the-line hide glue. However, like a dummy I forgot to bookmark the site. I was quite informative, and to me an eye opener. I'll try to backtrack to that site and then pass it on as well. (Duke Normandin)