I am making a IPE Entry Door. Does anyone have any suggestions on what glue/adhesive I should use to laminate 2 pieces of 6/4 to make 2 1/4" stiles and rails.
Thank you
Pete

Good luck with that. You will need a fork lift to hang the thing.

Epoxy resin works with ipe as long as you abrade the surfaces with 80 grit. Ipe is so hard that it comes out of a planer or jointer smooth like a piece of plastic. The epoxy will not stick to it. Do not thin the epoxy, it is not necessary.

@ Adam
Thanks for the reply. Yes I know the door will be heavy. Just can't afford any weak glue joints.

I have turned down Ipe doors before since, in my experience, I have never seen Ipe stay glued for more than a year.

First, there are several species that are sold as Ipe, and some appear to glue better than others - though I have never sen a glue joint last in the stuff.

Secondly, I watched as a competitor went out of business to avoid his liability on a large exterior Ipe job that was all glued with epoxy. $280 per gallon, and within a year, every joint had failed, even after extensive testing and assurance from architect and glue maker. They tried to go back and screw everything back together - it was a real mess.

If you proceed and prove me wrong, please let me know. I would love to be able to retract my opinion.

@David,
I will keep you posted. I have a few ideas that we are going to try. When finished I will let you know. I will take pictures and post. Thank you for replying.

Seconds before spreading the adhesive, wipe the surface (safely) with a solvent. Use the water drop test to determine the likelihood of success.

The surface should not be planed as a knife surface is usually burnished and will not glue. Use coarse sandpaper.

Excessive pressure will create too thin of a glue line. Epoxy never will work if the glue line is too thin...it must be thicker than with regular adhesives.

Use several, maybe four, metal, threaded at the end, rods running full width to hold the door together as the stress on the joints is too much for most doors. Use nuts on the end of the rods, countersunk, installed after gluing.

Get a waiver from the customer as success is not likely in five years from now. An ipe glued door is not the best use for this species.

Thank you for all the replies. I will take all this into account.

You have gotten good advice from very knowledgeable woodworkers. Heed it.
I don't know what your profit margin is but unless its more than 50% you will regret this job.

We have had luck with gluing ipe with gorilla glue. We built a deck about 12 years ago with all curved perimeter with several 3' radius corners. All laminations were sanded with 40 grit, wiped with acetone, water, glued and clamped as tight as possible. I checked on it last summer and it is still holding very well, slight separation at top of laminations.

The adhesive mentioned is a PUR. It cures using moisture in the wood. With such a dense wood, often there is not enough moisture.

This seems to be a perfect case for making a stave core door. We have successfully produced 1/8" ipe veneers up to 8" wide. These do glue perfectly well to fir stave cores using TB3. No delamination.