Cold weather glue and wood surface temperature Q

[Reinis Kanders]

I woodwork on unheated south facing porch, mostly at night in MA, so it is cold right now. For gluing I usually bring stuff to basement were it is around 50-55F.
I usually wait for wood surface to warm up to the ambient, which usually is pretty fast, about an hour or so and I use Titebond 2 or Extend glues that have respectively 45 and 40 F working temps. I check with IR thermometer.
Is this sufficient or should I wait longer?

Thanks.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I think you are fine on application temp, if you are in their specs.

Realize that your cure times will be longer at 55* ambient than at 70*, or whatever. You just need to leave it in the clamps longer, that's all. Like, say, overnight.

[Brian W Smith]

Yeah,it's mainly a time thing.When you can hit the temp window perfectly....and this is where the parts/adhesive have acclimated for a long while....that's where the magic is.Especially in the finish dept.Paints and clears and a well tuned gun,shooting on a "just right"(three little bears)temperature......it's like spraying liquid glue,haha.

[Reinis Kanders]

Thanks. I was getting concerned because I later realized that wood is a pretty good insulator and even if surface temp is fine it probably is much colder inside the wood, especially construction lumber that I was laminating into a beam for workbench top. Last year I was gluing sheets of plywood using regular titebond that requires 50F and that glueup was marginal and plywood lamination sagged a lot from what I think was glue failure.

[Howard Acheson]

According to the Titebond spec sheet posted on their site, the TB ll has a chalk temperature of 55 degrees. It is risky to expect performance below that temperature. Measuring the board surface temperature is also risky. The surface may get to a particular temp fairly quickly. But gluing a board to another will allow the temperature to quickly change in the actual glue joint.

[Andrew Joiner]

You can test samples for yourself. I do this often. I like Titebond extend glue. It works @ 40 degrees and above by Titebond's specs. I've tested samples at 40 degrees for an hour than put clamped samples in the freezer over night to simulate the worst cold I'd ever get in my shop. The samples break the wood not the glue line.

Still to be safe on fine work I try to keep it as warm as possible for as long as I can without my wife getting mad(she pays the electric bill)!

I use clear not red heat lamps over the benches for big stuff. An electric blanket for some glue-ups or bring it in the house.

[Peter Quinn]

I woodwork on unheated south facing porch, mostly at night in MA, so it is cold right now. For gluing I usually bring stuff to basement were it is around 50-55F.
I usually wait for wood surface to warm up to the ambient, which usually is pretty fast, about an hour or so and I use Titebond 2 or Extend glues that have respectively 45 and 40 F working temps. I check with IR thermometer.
Is this sufficient or should I wait longer?

Thanks.

Not sure where you got your information, but chalk temp ( minimum recommended application temperature for glue, material and ambient in room) is 55 degrees for type II and 60 degrees for type II extend as specified on Franklins web site under physical properties for each adhesive. So you are pushing it. And ImE one hour is not enough time to acclimate anything much over 1/2" and not enough to overcome a large temperature variant. I usually go overnight when pulling material from cold storage to my 55 degree basement shop. A little time in my heated space speeds things up but can introduce unwanted shape changes to finished parts ready for glue. I use type III almost exclusively in winter as it works down to 45 degrees, pretty much as low as any adhesive short of special winter formulated epoxy. I'm not saying it won't work to push the recommended temp range as I'm guessing they are typically conservatively above the absolute threshold, but don't be surprised at the occasional failure. I prefer to avoid that scenario by using type III when ever possible. Clamp times are extended accordingly, an electric blanket can help speed things up.

[Reinis Kanders]

Thanks for correcting me, I must have mistyped. I meant Titebond III and Titebond Extend, they have 45 and 40 F min working temps. I might get an electrical blanket though.

Not sure where you got your information, but chalk temp ( minimum recommended application temperature for glue, material and ambient in room) is 55 degrees for type II and 60 degrees for type II extend as specified on Franklins web site under physical properties for each adhesive. So you are pushing it. And ImE one hour is not enough time to acclimate anything much over 1/2" and not enough to overcome a large temperature variant. I usually go overnight when pulling material from cold storage to my 55 degree basement shop. A little time in my heated space speeds things up but can introduce unwanted shape changes to finished parts ready for glue. I use type III almost exclusively in winter as it works down to 45 degrees, pretty much as low as any adhesive short of special winter formulated epoxy. I'm not saying it won't work to push the recommended temp range as I'm guessing they are typically conservatively above the absolute threshold, but don't be surprised at the occasional failure. I prefer to avoid that scenario by using type III when ever possible. Clamp times are extended accordingly, an electric blanket can help speed things up.