Adhesives for Use with Bamboo Plywood
Here's some info about the dimensional stability of bamboo plywood, and advice about adhesive choices. April 27, 2011
Question
I have a client that has a 1.5" bamboo counter top that was not installed properly. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of glue I could use when I reassemble it.
Forum Responses
(Adhesive Forum)
From contributor U:
Are you trying to glue sections together or trying to glue it down? You can glue sections together using yellow glue, like Titebond II. You could also use Epoxy if you like.
From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
Some bamboo moves twice as much as wood does, so maybe this high movement is what caused the problem.
From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
I did not complete my thought. Because some bamboo moves so much, you should probably avoid water-based adhesives, such as TB. It would also seem to be a poor choice for any application where it could get wet.
I tried to find info on TB's web site about using it for bamboo and could not find any info. Contributor U - do you have any info or is your answer based on your experience? I also was surprised that the bamboo manufacturers indicated that they used an environmentally safe adhesive for making panels, but I could not find specifically what adhesive they were using. Anyone have that info? I would think that it should be formaldehyde free, but "should be" and "actual" can be different as we have learned with other products, such as toys and food, being brought into the USA.
From contributor U:
I have made bamboo cutting boards, doors, drawer boxes, display cases, furniture and a few countertops. I have used Titebond II for the joinery in each of those. If you want to get more information about bamboo countertops you should probably contact Totally Bamboo. These folks have done just about anything you can think of with bamboo, and I would consider them the real experts on using it. By the way, there are some companies like Decorative Specialties now making cabinet doors from bamboo plywood.
From contributor U:
I don't think dimensional stability is an issue with the bamboo plywood. The biggest problem that I have had with the stuff is inconsistent thickness. I think this is due to poor manufacturing processes.
