Polyurethane Glue?

Re: Polyurethane Glue?

Barry Irby

If it foams like Gorilla glue, I would not use it. Years ago I used the foaming stuff to make some laminated redwood arches. You have to be READY and wear gloves and expect to get it all over yourself and your clamps and tools. I still find it on the clamps and floor. I would use Titebond III. The stuff in the caulking gun tubes (construction adhesive) will work well also and may give you a wider temperature working range if you need it. For that I would use PL400. Used hundreds of tubes when I was building houses and it works well.

Re: I Agree with Barry

Hank Knight

I agree with Barry: polyurethane glue is a horrible mess to work with. It gets all over everything and it's impossible to get off your hands if you want to keep your skin. Having said that, it works very well for outdoor use. It's tough and waterproof. In fact, moisture is the curing agent. I used it when I built my wife a potting bench out of pressure treated yellow pine. The bench has lived outside in the weather for the last 8 years and it is still solid as a rock with no glue failure. If you can endure the mess, it would work well for your application.

As an aside if you decide to use it, keep your pets away from it. Dogs, especially, love to eat it, and have been known to chew the bottle to consume the glue inside. Unfortunately, it often proves fatal for them.

Horrible!

Tony - Memphis

i had no idea about the dog thing. i don't have any, but that's a good thing to know. I have had a few four legged visitors to the shop.

i tried some on PVC lumber (Royal from Lowes?). It held pretty good. I was able to break the joint with considerable force though. Long story, but its all all I had at the moment. It worked well enough for my needs.

I know that some folks use it for veneer work.

I guess as most things, they work good for some stuff, not for others. I do think that poly glue is over sold for the most part. Seems to have a short shelf life too.

Re: Horrible!

William Duffield

The manufacturers would rather you ignored the potential adverse health effects of the diisocyanates that are basic ingredients of polyurethane adhesives.

https://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/Resources-and-Document-Library/Health-Effects-of-Diisocyanates-Guidance-for-Medical-Personnel.pdf

before you get your shorts in a knot...

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

To be toxic the toxic stuff has to get into you. I just read a CA Prop 65 warning on power cords, known to the state of CA to cause cancer. Indeed!

Toxicology ain't simple and when someone tries to make it simple, Prop 65 for example, misleading conclusions follow. It is pretty hard to get the toxic chemicals in copper wire into the blood stream in significantly toxic concentrations.

Urethanes, for example poly(urethane) varnish and foam brushes, are made from diisocyanates reacting with glycols. Given they react with glycols, it follows they will react with all sorts of stuff in the body. My daughter performs urethane reactions every working day, safely. The degree of hazard depends on what the isocyanates are attached to. Years ago an isocyanate attached to toluene was used to make poly(urethane) varnish. This compound was volatile. When varnish was spread on a floor some of this nasty stuff volatilized and users were exposed to it through breathing. When it became clear that this isocyanate could cause bodily harm with enough exposure it was banned from consumer varnish formulations. Too bad as it made the best varnish.

Varnish, and glue, is now formulated with isocyanates that are not volatile and they are too large to penetrate biological membranes like skin. It is unclear how one could get a toxic level into the blood stream to cause harm. But to be safe don't drink Gorilla Glue. It's known to the state of Ca..........

Re: before you get your shorts in a knot...

Hank Knight

It's not the diisocynates that are the problen for pets. The stuff foams and solidifys in their GI systems with unpleasant and fatal consequences.