I am have been trying to glue some silk down on the back of a couple of bows of mine and have been using Titebond 3.After it dries I can pull it right off with a couple of my fingers. I haven't used Titebond before but I am sure disappointed so far. I clean the back of these Osage bows with Denatured Alcohol and I still can't get the silk to stick very good. I am wondering if I haven't got a bad bottle of Titebond.What other glue could I use to get this silk to stick to the osage.I am going to put a snake skin over it also. Dean
I had the same problem when I tried to glue some rawhide to the back of a redoak kids bow...
The rawhide just pulled right off.
Are you soaking the silk in water before applying the TB? I usually apply a coat of glue to the bows back and let it dry also (sizing they call it).
Is the glue not sticking to the silk or the wood?
If it is not sticking to the silk it might be because of a sizing that is used on the silk from the manufacturer. You may need to wash the silk first. Also, with any cloth backings I like to totally saturate the cloth with water(sometimes with a mild detergent) and ring out the excess. This will allow the cloth to accept the water based glue.
Any carpenter's type glue will work...TB, TBII, TBIII, Elmer's, etc.
I have tried it both ways. Dry and wet with no luck. But I was not putting a coat of glue on the bow and letting it dry first or was I washing the silk. I will try that and see what happens. The glue was sticking to the silk but not the Osage. Dean
I've never had this problem.There was a time when I backed bows and used everything with mostly elmers.Sounds like your just not letting it dry enuogh.Other than this I don't know.Pat and Dano covered the rest.
Sounds like Dano and Pat got it. The water(damp silk) will extend your working time also. I have been told that the tblll likes to start setting up sooner than others, just what I was told.
The only thing that I might ad is to sand the bows back with 150-180 grit first, might need something to bite.
Chuck
If none of this works, get a new bottle of glue. I have never had TB glue that wouldn't stick to wood.