Wood adhesive may seem like an unlikely place for a venture capital start-up. But Cincinnati-based Bioformix has decided to start there, bringing Nexabond 2500 Instant Wood Adhesive to market late last year.

Bioformix describes Nexabond is a high viscosity, water-free adhesive for assembly of materials that require uniform stress distribution and high strength. But in layman’s terms, it’s a Super Glue for wood.

The intellectual property behind Nexabond stems from a high-powered team of scientists who originated at Dow, Loctite and other chemical companies.

So how does this glue behave differently? It is made without any solvent – water is the solvent in white glue. That means components glued with Nexabond achieve high bonding strength in minutes, since there is nothing to evaporate.

But it also means wood joints don’t swell, eliminating long dry times before finishing. On the plus side, this means Nexabond 2500 can bond even oily woods. And to a large extent, it either reduces the need for clamping.

But in practice, this means you may be cutting joints and setting dowels differently. Over centuries the projection of how a dovetail might swell then contract as the glue cures is part of the art of the woodworking process.

With Nexabond, as we saw in the lab, you glue just one side of a joint, not both – then push the pieces together. If the workpiece isn’t too large, you can hold it steady for a minute while it presets. And within 3 minutes it’s at nearly full strength. This means its open time is much shorter than carpenters glue. So using Nexabond means cutting tighter joints. And it means planning that the glue will set much faster than you are used to. Is this practical? In many cases, yes.