Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[ebb]

[TONY, this post has grown like mushroom...Tell me to remove it and I will... Really!]
Nobody has ever glued Ipe successfully. Nobody on the woodforums knows how to use Resorcinol
much less how to spell it. Wouldn't attempt gluing pieces together longways.
But why we can't have a rubrail with one strip riding on top of another and mechanically bolted to the hull - it won't matter at all.
In fact you can plan for the future renewable by just replacing the outer piece, leaving the thru-bolted stuff in place!
Bed the bottom strip onto the hull and the second strip on top, both with butyl tape. Bolt in the first, screw on the topper.

Another unknown is whether Ipe eats stainless (acidic) so I'd use bronze - carriage bolts for the inside rail.
Somewhere I've gotten bronze flat-head cut-thread screws that have Frearson heads. Deep, sharp phillips' crosses that uses one special driver for all screw sizes. Frearson cross won't slip the driver bit. Could break the screw. Exposed bronze will patina, lose their bling, and disappear better than s.s.
[EDIT. Jamestown has them, you'll find them cheaper elsewhere.]
Bronze, being softer, will require careful predrilling, a generous hole for the threads and a separate chase for the body, plus a chamfer for the head. Tube butyl might work as a driving lube and guarantee removal later. Jamestown has a special lube with a trick name. I'm looking for oval head frearsons.

Make the 8 to 1 scarf joints diagonal across the face of the strake. So that when we're looking for it, it will be staring at us. Don't want the other scarf that ends up looking like a fish head on top with the thin point exposed. The joint will be a good fit. I would butyl the scarf joint as well, clamp the hell of it to squeeze 95% of the rubber out. And use the same surface screws close to the joint to keep it together.

We have choice of white, gray, and black butyl tape. If we varnish I guess go with black. Against the hull, if white, go with white. Between layers go gray especially if you're keeping the rubrail natural. But we will be squeezing nearly all of the compound out of the joints.
We want to slightly cove out the back of the strakes that bear on the hull to capture the bedding compound. Do it to the one on top too. And chamfer all holes going thru the rail to hold compound so they won't capillary water. Tube rubber can't keep the water out better than butyl, so find ways to keep butyl in the joints. The only downside with butyl is that it stays sticky forever, so if any seam is exposed it will collect hitch-hikers.
You may like tube butyls better, they are a thinner consistency, easier joint squeeze out, compatible with b.tape in my experience, and also tend to skin over better than the tape material which doesn't. Not all tube butyls are created equal. If interested let me know.

That is my methodology for putting Ipe on litlgull. However WEIGHT should be considered. Here are some for durable/moderately durable softwoods. Boardfoot weight (12X12x1 OR 7.5'L x 2"W x 3/4"H - as rubrail example) - DougFir 2.75lbs, SCypress 2.8lbs, YellowCedar 2.7lbs, PortOrford 2.5lbs. Mod durable/durable hardwoods: Elm 3.1, Honduras 3.5, Philippine 3.9, Yellow Pine 3.5/4.2, Teak 4.1, White Oak 4.2, IPE 6lbs.
A 2" wide, 3/4" thick, 7.5 foot long piece of Ipe weighs in at SIX pounds. That's amazing. And may be too much weight to add to a boat on its deck and ends. Mahagony looks like the right wood for the job, capped with a bit of Ipe ! ! ! [Boardfoot of Aluminum = 13.75lbs. Potatoes 4lbs. SeaWater 5.3lbs.] Of the softwoods AlaskaYellowCedar or PortOrford are nice dense woods to work with, and may be available in your neck of the woods.


RESORCINOL makes a dark purple glue line. Your ipe joint will be tight, maybe it will just disappear. Make up an 8to1 scarf test piece and glue it under controlled comditions. Maybe you're the chosen ONE! And prove to us it can be done!!!
High pressure clamping, strict mix proportions using the gram scale, The right temp - AND add a bisquit or a spline of 1/8" Ipe in edge slots joining the two pieces with the purpose of getting absolute register, less slippin and slidin - and addin more glue surface.
Scrape the faying surfaces - taking thin micro shavings off - just prior to gluing. Right! Literally just befor glue up. Use only denatured alcohol to do a final de-oiling, defingerprinting.
Wouldn't use strong solvents like acetone & toluene which imco can draw oil out of the wood onto the surfaces, actually contaminating them.

If you are in a testing mode I would try Titebond III, for the hell of it, just to see if it works. White Oak too,
Doubt it. Wouldn't use it for the rubrail on the hull. TitebondIII would leave no visible glueline. But it may also get squeezed too thin to be glue.
Rather than a glue, Resorcinol is a chemical reaction, which is why it might not work on a strange wood as dense, oily & acidic as Ironwood.
I'd check it out anyway. Imco none of those 'white' glues are any use for hardwoods anyway. Gorilla Glue is not an option. All my opinion.

Ipe creates dirty, sticky, pervasive, toxic dust. http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge.../..._with_Ipe.html There are two/three more articles [Type Ipe into Search: "Gluing Ipe in Harsh Outdoor Environment" imco ONLY Gene Wengert really knows what he is talking about!]
/ www.Earthpaint.net Blog http://www.earthpaint.net/blog/how.....cal-hardwoods/ Persuasive opinions!
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