Urethane Gorilla Glue and Acetone Mix

[Mike Griffin]

I recently heard that mixing Gorilla Glue (Urethane Type) and Acetone to about the consistency of dope, will act as a finishing resin and a good way to cover woodgrain in balsa, such as on a profile model fuselage.  I had never heard of this and was wondering if anyone had tried this and what mixing ratio did you use and what kind of results you had.

Mike

[phil c]

Acetone will thin Gorilla glue, but will make it foam similar to water.
Unless it's a rush job I prefer a thin epoxy(west system or similar) with a slow hardener.  You can smear it on and use a heat gun to drive air out of the wood and suck glue in. A repeat or two will saturate the suface wood and any endgrain.  Wipe it off lightly and let cure.

[Dan McEntee]

   A part of Allen Brickhaus' finishing method was sealing the wood with a watered down slurry of vinyl spackling compound. Brush it on, let dry, sand smooth, repeat as necessary until satisfied. This should raise the grain at first, the fill it in. Then go over this with thinned finish cure epoxy. Brush on, blot off the excess, let dry and sand. Repeat as necessary. This leaves a nice, hard shell and with the popularity of spray can finished these days, it takes paint well. His whole system is explained in his Beguine Mustang construction article and several other designs he published.
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Mike Griffin]

Hi Dan,

Allan explained that process to me also and I used it several times and it does work good.  I think I put the Zpoxy on first and then did the slurry of spackling compound over that.  I might have reversed the process but it did work.  I was curious about the Gorilla glue because I had never heard of it until Tom Morris and I were having a conversation a few days ago and he was telling me about someone who buys from him using this mixture of Gorilla glue and Acetone.  I think I will experiment with it a little on some scrap balsa and see how it comes out.  I actually have never used Gorilla glue for anything so it will definitely be new territory for me.

Mike