Bonding glass to a wood base is commonplace for those in the awards and recognition industry, but many ask this question: What’s the best method for bonding a glass award or gift to a wood base?
The answer lies in the fact that you are trying to bond two different materials together. Glass expands or contracts very little, and wood expands and shrinks dramatically depending on humidity levels. Bonding these two very dissimilar materials calls for using an adhesive that has plenty of flexibility.
Without flexibility, the bond joint will always break loose. There are three glass-to-wood bonding methods that work:
- Using clear silicone caulk: However, the recommended 24-hour curing time often rules this method out as impracticable.
- Using a clear adhesive with a hot glue gun: This method is faster than the first, but it is difficult to get a completely clear bond joint, and the bond flexibility is quite a bit less than with silicone.
- Using good quality double-sided clear tape: In my opinion, the 3M VHB (very high bond) tape in an 0.030″ or 0.5mm thickness is tough to beat. This tape is quite expensive, but it’s a tape used to permanently bond aircraft wing panels together. When you use this tape to bond glass to wood, we suggest that you do it accurately the first time, as it’s not coming apart.
