I got this 52" 45#@28" Red Wing Hunter for a great price about a month ago. After about 15 shots, I knew something was really wrong with the bow. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the lower limb was delaminating at the fade in the riser. I mentiined this on my thread " Red Wing Hunter Question" Ben and Backcountry suggested I try loctite 420. I inserted my .020 feeler gauge in the limb, and squirted loctite 420 in with a hypodermic needle, pulling the feeler gauge out as I squirted. After clamping overnight and shooting the bow about 200 shots today, I am happy to report so far, so good. Thanks for the advice.

I am going to try the same procedure this winter....I hope it works out as well...that 420 is good stuff

DDave

Good deal

Glad to hear you saved a great one!! REB

I'm going to have to loctite this crack in a wasp takedown I just picked up. Looks like overtightening of limb bolts.

I'm by no means an expert on the miracle of 420, but continue to be amazed by the stuff.

I've read that it will even penetrate a clamped joint, so opening up the lamination or crack is probably not necessary.

I too have been impressed with it's effectiveness.

The stuff is impressive. As the restorers/guardians of these vintage bow classics, it is fortuitous for us, that Loctite 420 came along at the perfect time.

Where do you purchase it?

Expensive stuff and darn well worth it. Industrial supply houses usually carry it-- places like Graingers.

Menards

Fastenal

Years ago, I used Loctite 420 a lot. It's very good. At 1/3 the price, Insta-Cure Super Thin is just as good. It wicks beautifully and lasts for months without refrigeration. I use it for small edge splinters in glass. Works fantastically well. If I had to repair a very serious structural defect, I'd play it safe and use the 420, but I believe Insta-Cure would hold just as well.

Joe

Some times loctite won't fix splits in glass.I chase out the split with a dremmel tool and laminate strands of fibre glass roveings in the groove I made. I then hand finish and polish.Color match can be hard at times though.I found it to be the best.You need good fibre glass skills. OSRj

I bought mine at Fastenal.

Thanks! I'll try Fastenal. They have a store locally.

Frisky, you'd better buy SEVERAL bottles of 420 to keep your old "HOLY GRAIL" together!!!

well frisky I hate to do it old friend (we both love Harry so much) but I gotta call bull shrimp on the instawhateveritis......no way dude I been at this gig a good many years and have tested every super bonder quick bond product on the market.None notta nothing compares to the gripping power of loc-tite.When used correctly they all work well but for my money and for my customers I have never ever used a lesser product to save a couple bucks not gonna happen at bd's.Of the more then 2,500 bows I have worked on I have never had one returned do to failing of the actual 420 product itself.Please please just don't do it man stick with the best by test 420.With that said if you guys are going to try any of the super thin super bonders do yourself a huge favor and go to your local drugest and purchase a 12 pack of these you'll have 10 times the control over the thin super bonders.Replace the end cap and toss the syringe in the freezer the 420 will last 2-3 weeks bd

Yep to the good BowDoc. I was tempted to go the cheap route since I am cheap, but shrimping on superglue is false economy. Fix it once and fix it right.

Agree that the hardest part of using 420 is finding a place to buy it. Second hardest thing is controlling the application. Use little syringes as The Doc advises...or learn the hard way.

Anyone know where to get Loctite 420 in Canada?

Skookum, last week, I noticed an inch long sliver on the edge of the upper limb of my Grail. I was out in a field at the time. When I got home, I took the Insta-Cure Super Thin and instantly fixed it for good! I opened the bottle in May and it's still like new stuff! As stated, it wicks as well as Loctite, is super easy to get perfect control of, and holds like a mother hugging a baby! It's been around since 1974, yet these old guys just don't know how to open their minds and try something better but cheaper in price!!!! Trust me folks! Use Insta-Cure for all surface splinters for a permanent fix.

Joe

hey diddly can you order from Grainger Supply ? and ship to Canada they normaly have lt 420 in stock bd

Hey bowdoc...checked and found out that Grainger in Canada is Acklands-Grainger...called and ordered for pickup on Monday...thanks for the tip!!

no problem bd

Here's the stuff you want to get for repairing the tiny splinters that sometimes occur along the edges of the limbs, especially in older bows. You put a tiny drop on the splinter and it wicks right in. You have to be careful, because it really runs fast! I've tested the repairs I've made with this stuff for over 2,000 shots and they're as good as new. Very strong bonding stuff! Costs about 1/3 the price of Loctite. Make sure you get Super Thin. The gel is not good for bow splinters. In fact, I don't use the gel for anything. If I needed to do a real serious repair and didn't have time to get Loctite, I'd trust this stuff to do the trick.

Joe

Just received a 67 1/2 Super Kodiak ALL Black Beauty in the mail from ebay with the beginning of lower limb delam at the fadeout. Came on to the LW to get some advice on the best possible solution and LOW AND BEHOLD! -there was this great thread just posted! I didn't even need to start a thread!

I've got a bottle of fresh Loc-tite 420 for stress cracks but wasn't sure if it'd be good for a inter-lam/delam but now my confidence is good and I'll be able to sleep tonight!

My other old favorite bow (also a 67 1/2) is too heavy at 50# for my painful old shoulder so I just bought this one at 44# to replace it. I'm doing a full refinish on this bow and will obey Man Law when finished!

Thanks for posting Ken and thanks to my fellow Restorer's/Gaurdians of Vintage Bows for the confidence you just gave me!

CR

I've used insta cure for years building model airplanes and no offense to other posters but there are better formulations like ZAP but I wouldn't trust even that to anything structural on a bow. I'm only posting because after reading this thread I ordered 420 from Grainger's to try and save my sons molgabet we built together (saturate the hairline crack and wrap the limb). I hope it works as advertised at $36 per ounce!

I forgot. I did try Insta-Cure on major structural damage to my first bow. It had a huge split in the top limb. I glued it, strung it up and shot it. It's fine, lol, but it's a kids bow. I would use the Loctite if I had severe damage to repair on one of my good bows. What I'm saying is the Insta-Cure is great for the little splinters that are purely cosmetic. It permanently bonds them.

Joe

I have shot the Red Wing about 50 more shots since my first post, so far so good.

As far as cost goes, I look at it like this: even when you combine the price of the bow with the cost of the 420, I am still WAY under $100. I am happy. Plus I had a splinter raising on a '59 Polar I got in July so I repaired that bow as well. Joe you are right, that stuff is thin! I had one pretty hideous run on the Wing, but I carefully sanded the run with 220 grit sandpaper, buffed the area with 0000 steel wool and waxed it with some car wax and you can't tell it.

I have a small repair to make on a bow limb, and I have an unopened container Loctite 420. I saw bowdoc mentioned using small syringes for control, and that they would last a couple weeks in the freezer. What about the container itself. Should that be stored in the freezer after opening? How long should I expect that to last?

Store the container in the fridge...just about to put mine to work and it has been in there for a long time (way past marked expiry date)...I will let you know later today

DDave

The expiry date on mine is June, 2012...I opened it and used it sometime between then and now...it seemed to work fine just now gluing my fingers together rather nicely (okay so almost gluing them together)...gonna let it cure for a while and see how it did on the delaminated area...may not work to well as it was a larger area than I thought

DDave

I still have the bill from mine...I bought it at a BC Bearing outlet...anyone who carries a complete line of Loctite products should be able to get it

DDave

You can order it.

MSC Industrial Supply $27.00 per oz.

McMaster Carr $22.00 per oz.

(Plus Shipping)

Pdk, yes store the 420 in the frig after opening. If you don't it gradually thickens. May still under refrigeration but will take much longer. I had a couple of bottles that approached the viscosity of normal super glue, or maybe a bit thicker. Used them for other purposes with good results. How long, I don't know-months, for sure. If it took one per Bow repair I wouldn't complain. But I work on a lot of bows so not much gets tossed.

Well the massive limb delamination right in the recurve bend of the limb hat I simply poured full of 420, taped and clamped the best I could, actually appears to have been a resounding success...there are no visible gaps any more and the bow will shoot an arrow...having done some reading on the Loctite site I think I would use a different product another time for that large an area but there is no doubt the 420 worked...that bow makes no odd noises when drawn and it shoots an arrow downrange quite nicely...maybe not a permanent fix, but a great temporary one

DDave

Well, here's one side of the Super Kodiak 1967 1/2 delam at the fade-out. It looked the same on the other side and continued up into the riser but there the split became hair thin.

I injected Loctite 420 into the delam (with an insulin syringe) on one side and it did not drip through the other side, which I took as a good sign. I clamped it with 3 'C' clamps then I did the same on the otherside. I then did the same for the hair thin delams further up on the riser. I then marked where the delam had ended with a permanent marker so that I could see if it re-opened at all after I strung it up and shot.

So far I've put well over 100 arrows through it and it's held solid! My fingers remain crossed but my confidence builds with every shaft I shoot. It looks like hell right now with gobs of glue (I also filled several stress cracks with the Loctite) and damaged finish where the 'C' clamps were. I'll give it a complete strip-down and refinish with Birchood Casey True Oil after it spits out a few hundred more shafts!

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