Best glue for high heat environments?

Ryan Mooney

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A buddy of mine has a pub that also has a pizza oven. I've been doing a relatively steady business repairing de-laminated pizza peals for him (its kind of marginal because they're only $25 ea new but it only costs me a couple of minutes and a squirt of glue to stick them back together).

The problem is that the peals are stored near the oven (due to time and space constraints) and are also in/out of it every couple of minutes during peak times so the heat is causing the original glue lines to fail They are mostly made of some sort of light white wood (lighter peals are easier to handle on an 8 hour shift without fatigue) and built up from relatively thin strips partially for dimensional stability and (I'm sure) partially for cost.

I've been using Titebond III because I have a jug of it that needs using and it seems to be holding up quite a bit better than whatever was originally used (unknowium).

But was wondering what the general consensus would be as to what glue would be "best" if you were intentionally picking one?

I see some high temp metal epoxies but wasn't sure how well they'd handle wood (i.e. are they to brittle).

Not necessarily going to change here but I was also thinking of making some for gifts to relatives and might spring for something a bit better there if it looked worth while.
 
Fascinating, I'd pretty much written hide glue off as an option. Normally for kitchen gear I'd say hide glue is a no-no but here they really don't get wet at all (thankfully they don't fit in the dishwasher) so that result is really interesting.

I was using TB III under the (?misapprehension) that the more waterproof version might have more complex/secure cross-linking.

The other option under consideration is Weldwood PRG resorcinol which I'd like to try for other reasons anyway.
 
I think you are talking about the long handle paddles used to put in or pull out pizza's from the oven. Is the problem the wood handles de-laminating from the steel? I have used high temp silicone on metal. You can find it in different temperature ratings. 400 degree is a "normal" high temp silicone and you can find it up to 800. The 400 degree kind can be found at a big box store near the wood stove or heating appliance section. I have bought it in red, black, and clear colors. It might be worth a try and a caulk tube of it is less than $10
 
I am thinking that you may be outside the wood glue environment. If the peels have been used in the pizza oven under the pizzas they may have a good level of oil saturated into the wood.

I would guess a good heat resistant epoxy, after a thorough cleaning with DNA.

Problem is - heat is a great way to soften adhesives, to break the bond.

JBWELD - seems to be a good choice.
 
I think you are talking about the long handle paddles used to put in or pull out pizza's from the oven. Is the problem the wood handles de-laminating from the steel? I have used high temp silicone on metal. You can find it in different temperature ratings. 400 degree is a "normal" high temp silicone and you can find it up to 800. The 400 degree kind can be found at a big box store near the wood stove or heating appliance section. I have bought it in red, black, and clear colors. It might be worth a try and a caulk tube of it is less than $10

Yeah they are just used to slide the pizza in and out. I don't believe that they are actually _in_ the oven long enough to matter, but looking at how they're storing the darn things right next to the oven they get kept at kind of a constant moderately high heat all day long (say 150F or so..).

The join is wood-wood (the peals are all wood). A single piece of wood peal has two problems; it tends to warp (it would be challenging to find a quarter sawn piece ~30" wide :D), and it would be expensive.

If the join was metal-wood (wood handles) I'd be looking at mechanical fasteners (as well or instead of). I haven't ever seen high temp silicone for wood-wood, it ?seems? like it would be overly flexible?


Leo, I don't see a substantial amount of oil in the wood. They do tend to heavily dust the peals with flour to ease sliding the pizza on and off so I don't think that's a significant contributing factor.


I really need to take a handful of glues and do stress-fail tests here :)

On the plus side the peals I last glued up with TBIII have been in use for about 2 months with no failures .... yet ... :crossed:
 
OK I had to look up pizza peels to know something..........Funny, I work with commercial kitchens and have seen the things but never knew what to call them.

Resorcinal is an epoxy type glue that can tolerate somewhat higher temps.

Another way to skin the cat. Loctite corporation makes just about every kind of adhesive. They have something like 20,000 products and some real cool and funky stuff. LOCTITE 29348 Adhesive Hysol is a urethane based adhesive that also might tolerate higher temps. If neither of those work I would give them a call and ask a few questions.

Some of their adhesives are real fun. I can't remember the correct number for this certain glue but it requires refrigeration and when you apply it to a crack in wood it smokes and makes little crackling noises. I have a friend who uses it to fix cracked longbows. They never crack or break where the glue has been used.
 
Paul that LOCTITE 29348 is quite the looking stuff. Priced appropriately as well I see :eek:

I'm wondering if the glue your bowyer friend is using is perhaps loctite 420 which seems to have some favor as a bow repair glue
http://www.loctite.co.uk/loctite-4087.htm?nodeid=8802625814529

It's almost like if there was some kind of material that could handle heat and not fall apart...

I know its crazy isn't it... who'd have thought :huh:

On the plus side the wooden peels are a bit purdier which may or may not have had some impact on the situation.
 
One of my clients has a similar set-up. There seems to be 2 dozen peels stacked up near the oven. I was under the impression that the pizzas were served on the peel. But I don't recall knife wounds in the wood. So maybe the pizzas are cut and re-peeled and served? (now that phrase seems like it might have political overtures)
 
I dunno if that long handle at the table would be very a-peeling :D

At the place I'm working with they just use the peel to slide them in and out of the oven and then they go onto the round metal trays for serving at the table. If I was going to serve them on peels I think perhaps a shorter handled serving version would be better (more of a serving board).

2 dozen is a lot of peels, they must make a goodly amount of pizza!
 
maybe you could get a wood grain anodized on some aluminum or stainless to make them hardier and still pretty:)

We're competing with $25/per unit here.. The only reason I'm messing with them at all is because I can trade for beer :D

I sort of started the "better glue" less for them and more for me as I've been thinking of making some fancy ones for some family.. and wanted them to last as well.. but I sure ain't paying for anodizing there (yeah sure you're family but you're getting glued up leftover wood :rofl:)
 
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