Glue for teak bungs

[Bill]

I have about 100 teak bungs to glue (into teak). I have used varnish before, but it crystallized after 3 years. Anyone know of
a clear waterproof glue to use? Thanks, Bill

Morning Light, CD28
Maine

[Bob G.]

I used Gorilla Glue. You can get it in any local hardware store. You use it with water, and it works great on any wood project.

[Dalton]

I use west system epoxy. Another trick for filler is to save any teak saw dust and mix with epoxy for teak filler.

[David van den Burgh]

When I refinished Ariel's bowsprit I simply coated the bungs with cetol and set them. That seems to be holding up just fine. I know others set bungs using varnish, too.

David

[Kurt]

I've heard that only varnish should be used to install bungs...because when it comes time to remove them again epoxy or polyurethane would make them very difficult to remove...possibly damaging the surrounding wood.

[John Vigor]

Bill, glue the little buggers in with five-minute epoxy or ordinary unfilled epoxy. Take no notice of the varnish brigade. Varnish is no better an adhesive than fly spit because it soaks into the bung and the wood, leaving nothing to grip the bung. Varnish, even if applied in sloppy overkill, will shrink and crystallize. Varnished bungs will fall out in time, no matter what the wise skippers in their Greek fisherman's hats tell you. Use epoxy, I say, and don't worry about ever having to get those bungs out. The whole darned idea is to keep them in place so you never have to remove them. And even if they do need to come out some time or other, that's for the new owner to worry about.

John Vigor
CD27 "Sangoma"
Bellingham, WA

[Marc Theriault]

Bill,

When i did the woodworks on my Alberg i glue half the plugs with Cetol and the other half with epoxy (West System). Cetol was a big mess, the sceal was not perfect and i got discoloration with the water.

It was a test, like you, i was told to use varnish for be able to remove the plug but in fact you don't want to touch them again.

Last year i redid it because i couldnt stand it, it was too ugly. I used epoxy.


Marc

[dasein668]

Varnished bungs will fall out in time, no matter what the wise skippers in their Greek fisherman's hats tell you.

Varnish works just fine if you are finishing the wood bright with traditional varnish. 10 coats of spar varnish over top will keep the plugs in just as long as the varnish is maintained.

If you are leaving the wood raw, I agree, varnish is not appropriate.

[mashenden]

Having owned a wooden boat for 8 years, I would never have considered varnish. Its a sealant, not an adhesive. I could see the logic if planning to finish it bright since the top layer would also hold it in and it would not discolor, but never on a deck.

Epoxy is too much hassle to mix with a finite working life. Again, not my choice.

Regular woodworking glue in today's world is waterproof, strong, readily available at most home improvement stores and easy to use. That is what I used and it held great.

That said, I was not overly concerned about ever getting them back out again, either.


IMHO.

[Dalton]

With a hundred bungs to do, mixing a few tablespoons of epoxy at a time is no sweat. A couple 'a drops of part one and a drop of part 2. Coat'em and a gently smack'm with the hammer and they will become one. Just like we learned in shop or whomever about lamination. The new joint is stronger than the original. Gently chisel the muffin top left off, then sand and finish. And If you ever need to get at the screws again the drill will not discriminate between the old and the new and the process is the same again.

[Carter Brey]

One word about bungs. I recently had to replace quite a few on my boat's toerail, and the 25-year-old wood was worn down to the point where there was, in some places, less than a milimeter's depth from the surface of the hole to the screw head.

The chisel method was total crap in these cases; I would epoxy the little guys in, praying they would set before they fell out, then next day give 'em a tap with the chisel. Out they would pop. There simply wasn't enough support. A lot of work and time expended for nuthin'.

For these problem child bungs, I turned to a different technique: after they had set, I would apply my Black and Decker Mouse finishing sander directly to the top of the bung with very gentle downward pressure. With patience, the bung would wear away to the level of the toerail. No lateral force, you see.

Gorilla Glue is great except for the fact that it dries to a light yellowish color.If aesthetics don't enter into it, or you're so incredibly skilled that no exudate shows around the bung,I recommend it as a quicker alternative to epoxy. Otherwise, a-Westing we will go.

Best regards,
Carter

[Dalton]

Carter:

You are, of course, right again. When it gets that thin a little more finesse will certainly be needed. One might be abe to back the screw in question out, drill a bit, and set it deeper in that instance. I've been there a few times with my old Alberg 35. Hopefully on Colleen Marie, our RH36, I won't be there for a few decades. However, I do have a coupl'a loose bungs in the bent wood trim on the bulkheads that need resetting. A westing I will go indeed.

Dalton

[Jeff G]

Teak is an oily wood by nature. Before setting the bungs I clean the counterbore and bung with a little Acetone first. Then I use carpenters wood glue (outdoor formula) or polurethane glue (Gorilla Glue). The bung should set slightly proud of the surface. I use a flush cut saw (a realy flexable backsaw) to cut the bung flush. The chiesel technique causes too much tear out. Especially on the, not so deep, holes as Carter can attest. You can find a flush cut saw at www.rockler.com.

[mashenden]

The deck on my x-wooden boat was nailed down .

After 25 years, it was getting thin and bungs were popin'.

To make the bung hole deeper (snicker) in the deck, I used two incrementally larger bung hole cutters. The larger was used to cut teak bungs and the smaller bung hole cutter, luckily was the perfect size such that it cut the deck hole to the size of the bung, while also cutting around the head of the nail. I would drill it out then punch the nail in further then use waterproof wood glue to keep 'em put.

While this a true and helpful story to someone in the same predicament, I really told it so I could use this subject title and make immature innuendos. But that's me.

Matt A

[Oswego John]

Hi all,

I thought that I'd offer my two cents worth on the subject, for what it's worth. (considering inflation)

I'm well retired now, (busier than ever). For well over half a century I (we) have been using two part resorcinol glue with excellent results. It has NEVER failed us.

A few years ago I was at Lake George in the Adirondacks in upper New York. By chance, I noticed a runabout, a 1932 Dodge Water Car, a true rare classic. It just so happened that we had done wood work on this boat many years past. Curiously, I checked out the area of repair that we had done work on. The resorcinol, after all those many years, was holding as well as the day we had put it on.

Sometimes you may envy anothers woodworking skills and wish that you could improve your own handiwork. In regard to working with bungs, (all my life I have called them wood plugs), there are a few simple rules to acquire a near perfect project.

The first thing that I do is to ascertain the exact location, screw size and number of holes needed. I lay a piece of masking tape on the top of the wood at each screw location. This tends to prevent wood fibres from splintering and helps attain a crisp edge around the upper surface of the hole.

Using a sharp pencil, I make crosshairs on the tape at the location of each hole. I then drill a pilot hole through the wood that is wide enough to accomodate the diameter of the screw shank that is being used.

If at all possible, a drill press is desirable to use for drilling these holes. If it is impossible or impractical to use a drill press, the holes can be drilled by free hand. The drill bit should be as close to perpendicular to the wood being drilled as possible. Any deviation from perpendicular will result in the resulting hole being oval in shape. When drilling free handed, it is best to have a helper eye the drillbit along the x-x axis while you eye the bit from the y-y axis.

Allowing for the diameter of the screw head being used, determine the plug size to be used. Again, with most drill presses, there is a mechanical stop which can be adjusted to allow the proper depth of the hole for the plug. Drill a hole or two in scrap wood to check on the hole depth. After checking on the condition of the masking tape, drill the plug holes, enlarging the existing pilot holes. If drilling freehand, wrap several turns of vinyl electrical tape around the shank of the bit at the desired depth and drill the plug hole until the tape touches the wood surface.

I prefer to use a beveled, high speed type bit to drill the plug holes rather than a flat bottomed forstner type bit or a spade bit. The reason for this is because most flat headed wood screws have a beveled base where the screwhead makes contact with the wood that is being fastened. The beveled hole pretty closely matches the beveled screw head. If you should screw the beveled screwhead into a flat bottomed hole, you wouldn't have the contact area and the bevel of the screw could act as a wedge and possibly contribute to splitting the wood.

I have said many times that there is no such thing as scrap mahogany or teak. I use these pieces of "scrap" to cut my own plugs, shims, etc. The use of various thicknesses of "scrap" as plugs results in a very common mistake that some woodworkers make when dealing with wood plugs.

If you use a dowel to plug a hole, the dowel has a constant diameter throughout it's entire length. A wood plug is beveled. The end of the plug against the screwhead is narrower than the outer exposed part. Because of the manufactured bevel of the plug cutter, the outer diameter of the plug will be different, depending on the thickness of the "scrap" you are cutting the plugs from, i.e. 1/2", 3/4" or 1" thick stock.

The depth of the plug hole in the wood being secured has a bearing on the fit of the plug. Ideally, I feel that the diameter of the plug, when even with top of the wood, should be equal to the diameter of the plug hole. Some people apply some sort of adhesive to the plug and insert it in the plug hole. After it has set up, they remove the protruding excess by one means or another.

To strive for near perfection, sometimes it may be advisable to remove some of the bottom of the plug to ensure a snug fit rather than remove most of the top end at a later date.

I can't imagine why one would set plugs in a temporary fashion for easy removal at a later date. The idea is to prevent moisture and dirt from invasion of the wood. If a plug should have to be removed at a later date, use the tape and crosshairs method. Drill a small pilot hole dead center and then use a forstner flat bit to remove most of the plug, the balance to be removed by a Dremel type tool.

Sorry to be so longwinded,
Have fun
Oswego John