Stainable Wood Glue?

[Derek Arita]

Has anyone tried the stainable wood glue that I've seen in magazines? I can't remember the brand, Elmer's I think, but the ad said it would accept a stain. I was wondering if it works as advertised.

[Tom Jones III]

I've used a couple of the standard yellow glues that advertise to be stainable and sandable. It depends on what exactly they advertise that it will do. Yes, you can put a stain on it. When you are done it will look like you put some stain on some glue.

[Jim Becker]

Just because something is "stainable" doesn't really make it desirable. Glue and wood have different properties and the stain will look different on them no matter what. Recent commentary in the Neander Forum here at SMC indicates that it may be a better solution to use a different glue that is easier to clean up where finishing may be an issue, such on apron joints where squeeze out can be nasty to deal with. Hide glue was one recommendation. Sometimes with all these modern formulations, we forget that for furniture, it may be better to choose a more traditional approach to avoid certain problems!

[Alan Turner]

Not stainable per se, but Unibond 800 is tintable. This is a glue that I use for veneering (what littile I do) and for gluing up workbench tops (because it is gap filling, and leaves a rigid glueline without any creep whatsoever.

[Steve Cox]

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm told that hide glue mixed with sawdust is stainable.

[Carl Eyman]

I am using a white glue which I've colored with a very few drops of TransTint dark walnut. It takes about 4 or 5 drops for a half pint of glue. Looks good to me. The TransTint is available from Most catalog sources and Homestead Finishing.