One of the canal pluggers makes a beautiful plug out of two pieces of poplar glued together.

I cant for the live of me remember the name of the epoxy/glue that he uses.

I have a stack of cut and grooved poplar and maple 1.5 inch square by 8 inch long blanks that I need to glue together so I can start spinning em this week.

Any suggestions?

if it were me, i'd use West System Epoxy made by Geugon or any other marine grade epoxy used for boat building..... you can get it at West Marine.

yes....west is best.....only problem is you need to buy the pumps [2]for



both cans..one being the hardner the other resin.....the hardner#206 is for all the different resin's that they make.

I have been using Franklin Titebond Weatherproof carpenters glue for 3 years. I have had no glue failures to date. It is designed for exterior applications, including outdoor furniture. I used is for years before using it to make plugs. There are several joints in a bench that had been outside on my deck year-round for 5 years without failure. That convinced me that this would hold up in a plug which hardly gets saturated at all.

It is easy to use, easy to clean up, and sets up to turn overnite. In the past I had used various epoxies, and until I found the Franklin Titebond Weaterproof (they also make a regular carpenters glue which is not what I am recomending for plugs), I struggled through the mess and smell, with epoxy all over myself and my tools. Now I groove one half of the blank down the center with a 1/16" thin kerf table saw blade, coat the inside of each blank half with Titebond glue and clamp them. Drill out the kerf with a 1/8" bit after the 2 sided blank has set up for a day or so and you are ready to turn.

It is available at virtually any lumberyard including Home Depot. And inexpensive, less than $10 a quart compared to buying the west system, at least $50 for resin, hardener, two pumps, cups and mixing sticks. Then there is the Acetone or lacquer thinner for clean up.

Sometimes simpler is better.

Your could try polyurathane (spelling) glue. Its waterproof and easy to find.

found the Franklin Titebond Weatherproof and picked some up. Will glue a couple tonite and see how well they set up.

there is also that yuppie Gorilla glue.. that might work.

I would avoid any ureathane glues,,they foam up like crazy and when you scrap off the dried foam there's nothing but a chitt load of small air holes to fill.

Recorsinal (spelling is wrong I think). You mix it with water and it is completely waterprooof.

welwood use to make a two part glue,,one can of a red powder and u mixed water in with it..........came out drk. red...waterproof,easy sand,,,,,used a ton of that stuff...don't know if they still make it,,,,,,,,,great stuff.

I see that Titebond now makes a type III glue that is more waterproof than type II. I will be trying this in my next batch of plugs. They have tests that include 3 immersions of 4 hours each and 4 bakings without delaminating. It looks to have great promise.

had a chance to some of that type 111 before it got on the market shelves, grey in color..seems to dry fast and is quite sticky on the fingers, should be good.

I have used marine epoxy to glue up poplar blanks. it works better than waterproof glues or urethane glues because it seeps into the wood, you can sand it when it cures and it doesn't expand or contract at all.

urethane glues can leave a ridge line at the seam that can be impossible to get rid of.

you don't need pumps to measure the epoxy mix, just use some small clear medicine cups. mix the epoxy with wood flour to get a consistency that won't run out of the joint.

I have been using minwax hardener to seal the wood and it doesn't have any affect on the epoxy.

right now I'm using Raka epoxy because I have some hanging around but any marine epoxy ( West , System3 etc. ) will do.