what glue to you use?

Frank Fusco

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Lately, I have been using Titebond III but am not a fan of it. I also use TB II but realize III is stronger. If a joint is not perfect the III will show brown. II goes clear and vanishes...sorta.
Lately, for the cutting boards I have been making the III is good except it sets up very quickly. Once I put two pieces together there is no adjusting them. :mad: I have to leave as is and plane away the irregularities afterwards. I saw some nice end grain cutting boards a local guy makes. No way I could do that since TBIII sets up so fast, one error and the whole pattern is a bust.:(
So...wadda y'all do?
 
Hmm, I haven't had iii set up that fast on me, in fact they claim it offers longer open times than ii. Not sure what's going on there will be interested if anyone has any theories.

I think the strength is comparable but iii is more water resistant. The brown lines are definitely an issue.

I use all of the titebonds but mostly ii and iii, West systems epoxy (the 20 minute stuff would probably work pretty well for most complex setups, the trick seems to be to not have to much of it in one place - have mostly used the 5m version which has open times between 3 and 10m depending on how you treat it), occasionally hide glue (dry and premade, but no good for cutting boards) and a few other things.

For what you're doing either the tb iii or an epoxy would be my go to.
 
I use TBII for most things. I tried a bottle of TBIII many years ago, but didn't like working with it as much as TBII.

For vacuum forming bentwood projects, I use plastic resin glue for its rigidity.
 
I tried one bottle of TBIII and had the same issues as you, Frank. Went back to TBII for pretty much everything (including cutting boards) and have not had any problems since.
 
Never had problems with TB lll. I know it is food safe and that's why I use it. When I first started doing cutting boards did research to what glue and finish to use and mineral oil and TB lll was recommended.
David
 
For years I used Titebond and its variants for glue ups for segmented turnings and layered bowls, what nots etc. My reason for doing so was that I had experience with the predictable results I had while gluing up boxes, furniture etc. in flat woodworking. It always held well no matter how thinly I turned these glue ups.

Titebond works great and holds well but in segmented and layered glue ups for woodturning glue creep always reared its ugly head. You know that little bump you can feel at the joint between two pieces of wood.

Well, Chas Jones e-mailed me some information about a glue he has been using that eliminated that tell tale bump- cascamite. He indicated that since he had been using cascamite he had not experienced any glue creep.

Cascamite is a powdered resin glue that you mix with water. I have been using it for about 6 months now and, knock on wood, so far I haven't experienced any glue creep. The glue line is almost totally invisible and has held up well to turning both cross grain and along the grain and does not cause any problems with sanding and finishing. It is said that cascamite is excellent for exterior work, highly water resistant and has good gap filling characteristics. Sounds perfect for you cutting board enthusiasts.

I have not glued any ill fitting pieces of wood together so I can't vouch for the gap filling claims and as I said I have only been using it for about 6 months so my experience is limited to that amount of time. It is rather easy to mix up as long as you carefully measure the proportions of the powder and water. I bought a set of stainless measuring spoons to be used exclusively for that purpose. And I find that applying it with an acid brush does a great job of spreading the mixture on the relatively small surfaces I am using it on. On larger surfaces I would use a 1/16" notched trowel that you can buy from a tile shop. The squeeze out pops off easily when the glue is cured. It is not as convenient as a bottle of Titebond but if it solves the irritating problem of glue creep bumps and is otherwise satisfactory I can recommend it with my limited experience. Not cheap at $16.99 for a half pound but you can find it as cheap as $9.99 with free shipping on Ebay. It comes from England.

The instructions on the tub recommend that the project remain in clamps for 14 hours...I don't know where that number came from but since I allow most things to glue up overnight it wasn't a problem. The spec sheet also reads that full strength is achieve in 14 days. Most glues have similar recommendations for clamping time and when full strength is achieved.

One caveat I did read is that once the plastic tub is opened the glue powder has a shelf life of indeterminate length and will begin to deteriorate due to exposure to moisture in the air. It is said if the glue becomes grainy when mixed with water it has gone bad. So far I haven't experienced that problem and I used my first tub all through the extremely humid summer we have here. I am pretty much done with laminations and glue ups for this year so we shall see what happens when I next open the tub in the spring or summer next year. Temperatures have to be above 70 degrees for best results although one person said that he uses it when it is cooler to slow down the reaction time and increase the pot life. In my limited experience I had ample pot life for my glue ups. Also some people complained about the smell during the mixing and curing as it off gasses formaldehyde. I must not be sensitive to it as the smell was not all that offensive to me but i was working in my shop with good cross ventilation.
 
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... Cascamite is a powdered resin glue that you mix with water. ...

It's basically the same as DAP Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue, which is what I use for bentwood. When vacuum-forming, I glue several layers (typically 1/8") of wood together. Years ago when I first started doing vacuum pressing, I used the TBII I had on hand and allowed for some spring-back. With a plastic resin glue, I get no spring-back.
 
It's basically the same as DAP Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue, which is what I use for bentwood. When vacuum-forming, I glue several layers (typically 1/8") of wood together. Years ago when I first started doing vacuum pressing, I used the TBII I had on hand and allowed for some spring-back. With a plastic resin glue, I get no spring-back.

Bill, have you ever experienced the "grainy" condition in old glue that I was describing?

This stuff must be the same or similar to the resorcinol glue of the old days.
 
....

The instructions on the tub recommend that the project remain in clamps for 14 hours...I don't know where that number came from but since I allow most things to glue up overnight it wasn't a problem. The spec sheet also reads that full strength is achieve in 14 days. Most glues have similar recommendations for clamping time and when full strength is achieved.

....

Your characteristics sound just like the DAP plastic resin glue or the generic resin glue I have used for years (sometimes called urea formaldehyde glue).

The way I determine clamp time (which depends greatly on shop temperature) is to NOT clean the mixing cup. I use flex plastic cups or (for larger batches) cottage cheese containers. When done, I leave the cup in the clamping environment, tipped at a slope, so any residue oozes to the bottom corner. If it is still flexible in the morning, I leave it clamped (or in the vacuum bag) longer; if it pops out rigid, it is fine to remove from the vacuum bag or clamps.

I did have some glue turn grainy. I tried to use it, but the adhesion was gone - it wasn't sticky so I had to dump it. It was a third of a 25 pound container. I cried for weeks, but I got the big container because I needed more than two 5 pound containers, and the 25 pound was cheaper than three five pounders, (but I still cried).

Incidentally, don't worry about the amount of formaldehyde. I read a report that as humans we generate formaldehyde in what we exhale, and the amount given off by a fairly large batch of glue is less than what a person exhales overnight.
 
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