First, let me say that the majority of epoxies will do the intended job well. But with this said, there is varying levels of quality, sheer strength and cure times. As a basic rule of thumb, the longer the dry or cure the time the higher the strength or hold. The longer dry time epoxies, also known as 24 hour epoxies typically offer longer times for mixing. These epoxies are great for when you are building multiple golf drivers in one sitting.
Likewise, the 5 minute, 10 minute and other quick cure epoxies tend to have lower overall sheer strength and mixing times. These quick epoxies have very short mix times and are not recommend when building more than 1 or 2 golf clubs or golf drivers at one time. The shorter dry time epoxies are appealing to golfers that want to build and hit their new clubs the same day, but I always recommend the longer cure epoxy for longevity of the club.
Now that you have chosen a cure time, how do you know what brand or type you should use? I have talked to a number of club fitters and few use non-golf epoxies. Non-golf epoxies such as the epoxies you can buy at your local hardware store. Although these will most likely hold for most applications, they are not recommended and engineered specific to unique forces that a golf swing cause. Unless you have to, do not use non-golf specific epoxies. Use epoxy designed for golf as they usually have higher peel sheer strengths and elastic properties that hold well during impacts specific to a golf club hitting a golf ball.
Ok so we answered, "what type of epoxy to use for golf clubs?" but is there anything you can add to those epoxies to make them stronger?
Yes... the secret to making any epoxy stronger and increase the strength and adhesion is to add glass shafting beads. A small pinch of these beads will help increase not only strength but will help center your golf shaft in the hosel. It is recommended to use the shafting beads in all golf driver or golf club builds!
Regardless of what type of epoxy you use to build your golf clubs, it is all about the having fun during the process.
