Would like suggestions for glue removal

[Al Launier]

In another thread regarding making Christmas ghifts I mentioned that I had decided to make these Napkin Holders (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhRocsPHXgE).

Well I'm into my first set & have sawcut the assembly into two parts. However when I looked inside I couldn’t believe how much glue had dripped inside, along the joints & runs across the individual pieces in many places. WOW! So then I spent an hour on each box trying to clean out the glue runs. I tried using sandpaper, even chisels to remove the glue being careful not to gouge the inside surfaces, yet made little progress. This was taking forever, so I thought I’d ask for suggestions on how to remove the glue drips from the inside of these boxes. There isn't much room to work inside which complicates mattrers. So, I was wondering if some kind of solvent that would remove the glue yet not affect the wood as I want to finish the wood ewith a Shellac sealer followed by Wipe On Poly. I used Titrebond II Extended glue.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Jim Andrew]

Titebond 2 is almost waterproof. You should use less glue, and remove any excess before it gets hard.

[Lee Schierer]

As noted, use less glue. You can also cover the inside surfaces of the box parts with painters tape so it is tight to the joints before glue up. Then any glue that leaks out will be much easier to remove as it won't stick to the tape.

[Tom Ewell]

My suggestion is to not get too anal on the interior of the holders, remember napkins will be in them.

Glue squeeze out is common, most scrape the heavy stuff while the glue is tender and not fully cured.

You can try some of these paint scrapers and keep a hone handy to keep sharp. If some wood gets scraped away so be it, just smooth scrape and sand best you can.

Hyde-Contour-Scraper.jpg

These are hand made items, boo boos are expected.

Just get the show sides looking good and stuff a packet of Christmas napkins in 'em come time to gift them out.

[Al Launier]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Obviously I didn't think far enough ahead to anticipate the excessive squeeze-out despite wiping off the excess from the non-glued surfaces before clamping the parts together. I do tend to apply more glue than may be necessary, so that's an area for improvement.

Taping beforehand is the way! I have used the blue painters tape before, but I totally forgot about it. Don't know why I didn't think of that this time, but I won't forget again.

The interior is much too confined to do a decent cleanup, or to avoid damaging the wood. So, I'll clean as best I can & will attempt to line the interior with an adhesive-backed felt of matching (?) colot.

[Pat Barry]

I think a sharp paring chisel is your best bet at removal.

[Tom Ewell]

Could try flocking the things.

Flat black (or preferred color) sprayed on the insides will hide all sorts of stuff too

good luck

[Andrew Hughes]

Forget the blue tape just a wipe with some paste wax before hand and the glue will pop right off.
I confess to being a over glue er .
The napkin holders look nice.

[Al Launier]

Forget the blue tape just a wipe with some paste wax before hand and the glue will pop right off.
I confess to being a over glue er .
The napkin holders look nice.

Thanks for the suggestion Andrew, however I wonder what effect the paste wax will have on the finish, i.e. the shellac & wipe on poly???

[Chris Padilla]

Mineral spirits and acetone will remove the paste wax quite easily.

I often rub canning wax (parrafin wax) on my joints where I'm worried about squeeze out. The mineral spirits takes it right off with no finishing problems.

In fact ms are great for general wood clean-up prior to finishing and even give you a 'preview' of how the wood might look if clear finished. I wipe all my wood with ms prior to finishing work. It air dries in just a few minutes...maybe a bit more for end-grain.

[Andrew Hughes]

Shellac will go over wax as long as it's not excessive.After all it does naturally have wax in it right.
Is there anything shellac cannot do.

[Kevin L. Waldron]

Heat will remove/soften most PVC style glue's. You might try a heated scraping chisel, heated silicon blanket, ..... all else fails..........torch heated chisel that is now toast that could take the heat......

kevin