Gluing Longleaf pine Heartwood

[fixmyboat]

Id be interested in hearing about anybodies experiences with gluing LLP heartwood. We are begining planking a Buzzards Bay 30 and nobody on the crew has worked with it before. It came up when contimplating edge glueing "nibs" on to the garboard to stretch the stock. Any info on working with LLP would be appreciated.

Thanx

[George Ray]

I suspect that old fashioned mechanical fastening and bedding compound would be best. If you must glue, you might try solvent to get the rosin out so something will stick to the surface but it seems like a swimming against the current kind of thing.

*************
Here is a thread on gluing heart pine.
http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/adhesives.pl?read=431671

Forest Service bulliten on Yellow Pine:
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/techsheets/SoftwoodNA/pdf_files/pinuspaleng.pdf

[bugeye]

Hi,
I've glued it quite a bit, and never had any trouble with it. In fact I've glued on planking nibs with it just as you're contemplating. Some longleaf is really gummy with lots of resin. When I've had to glue this, I've wiped it down with acetone before gluing it, but I'm not sure that it was even necessary. On the more run of the mill heartwood, I've just glued it up like anything else, again with no failures. Good luck, and enjoy using my favorite planking wood.

[Wes White]

I have glued it with epoxy, 5200, CA, and titebond (for furniture). It glues up real well without any unusual attention.

[pipefitter]

I have some old heart pine here that I can't imagine much in the way of glue sticking to it.It's nearly waxy with resin. You can light a 2x4 on fire in seconds with a paper match on it's endgrain.It puts off a thick black smoke like it has been soaked in kerosene.It's so hard you have to drill a pilot hole to pound a 16d galv into it and it makes the 28oz Estwing hammer ring when doing so.An old man had the boards and was going to cut it up for kindling so I traded him some large lighter knot for the boards.

[Bob Smalser]

When a tree gets hit hard enough with wind, especially a tall tree, it can bend so far that the growth rings in the sapwood seperate. These longitudinal, semicircular cracks along the growth rings can be quite large....up to 10 feet long and a foot wide....and they fill up with sap. As the tree grows and adds layers, these "shakes" become heartwood and the sap distills to thick pitch. These pitchy areas, sometimes called "fatwood", won't take glue, and they won't glue in Doug Fir...noted for its good gluing qualities....either.

[pipefitter]

Bob Smalser, would the fat pine boards I have be good for anything in a boat or anything at all? Seems a shame to burn it as it is tight grained,hard as a rock and a pretty dark color that you dont really see in LLP anymore.I also have some T&G roof decking of the same type of wood with about the same characteristics and age.

[Bob Smalser]

Bob Smalser, would the fat pine boards I have be good for anything in a boat or anything at all? Seems a shame to burn it as it is tight grained,hard as a rock and a pretty dark color that you dont really see in LLP anymore.I also have some T&G roof decking of the same type of wood with about the same characteristics and age.

We mill around the checks, and the remaining resin-saturated boards are the cat's meow for every outdoor application except gluing. An acetone scrub can often clean off the oozing pitch so as to take paint or varnish.

[djswan]

I have never been successful at glueing or expoxing heart pine on a large scale. I built a few houses out of the wood, that had once been a ship. The ship was reclaimed and made into a textile factory. Reclaimed the textile factory and built a house out of it. We were trying to make timbered glue lams for some applications. The wood said no way. It is very strong dense and hard. They were tapped for the sap. The sap will always ooze to the surface. The wood is still trying to protect itself. I see lots of old tap wounds in timbers we get. We run diesel on sawmill blades when cutting it. I haven't tried the acetone as prep for glueing it. It might work if you can seal it before the sap flows. I also haven't seen much ring shake in heat pine. I love heart pine and would build a boat out of it, if I didn't have so much Doug-fir laying around. Derek

[Charles Burgess]

Bob Smalser, would the fat pine boards I have be good for anything in a boat or anything at all? Seems a shame to burn it as it is tight grained,hard as a rock and a pretty dark color that you dont really see in LLP anymore.I also have some T&G roof decking of the same type of wood with about the same characteristics and age.

Makes a very good solid keel and deadwood material.

The funny thing about SYP is that when used as planking they almost glue themselves together after a few hot days.

For lengthening a plank, traditional scarfing works best.