What do you use to remove PVA squeeze out?

[Tony Wilkins]

I flatten the face of a panel or table after glue up, so that glue gets planed away in the process.

I’ve only barely planed the boards to take slight cup out and show grain so planing yet to do. The glue won’t damage the plane blade? I also have one of those LV flushing chisels.

[Allan Dozier]

I use a dull chisel like Jim when the glue is still rubbery. If can't get to it at the right time and it hardens I usually hit it lightly with my 2 inch belt sander. I generally leave glue ups overnight so the bottom will have hard glue. I generally do large glue ups by initially making 16 in wide ones before putting it all together since that is the width of my jointer and wide belt sander. It could be that the hard glue won't damage the knives but I feel better knocking it down with a sander first.

[Richard Coers]

Wet rag, before the glue dries. That's the best option, though not always an option. After that, I'll use a hand plane, chisel, card scraper, whatever. It largely depends on how much glue I have to remove, how easy it is to access, and what else needs to be done. Though the quicker you can remove it the easier it is to remove. If you can get to it while it's still gummy, it's a lot less of a hassle to remove.

Typically, it's not a problem. The only time I've had problems is when getting dried glue out of the ends of miter joints. And then, it's either a case of being careful or backing the miter joint with a block of scrap, like you might with planning end grain for support.

Not the best option in my opinion. You can spread the glue around into wood pores with that wet rag, plus introduce even more water to the wood that requires more drying time. Surface it too soon, and the wood will shrink at the joint as well as the glue line itself. I let the glue dry for about 10 minutes and with a sharp chisel I run it down the squeeze out and the entire line of glue comes off with no effort.

[Elias Scalf]

To remove hardened PVA glue squeeze-out from a tabletop, you can use a sharp chisel or card scraper. Be careful not to dig into the wood, and work slowly to avoid damaging the surface. For thick areas of glue, you may need to soften it with a damp cloth before scraping it off.

[John Kananis]

There's close to zero chance that glue is going to damage your plane blade. The flushing chisel is for fine work but can certainly be used to clean up glue if you wish.

I’ve only barely planed the boards to take slight cup out and show grain so planing yet to do. The glue won’t damage the plane blade? I also have one of those LV flushing chisels.

[John C Cox]

I'll pile on with the rest here. The best route is to clean most of it while wet and only leave the minimum squeeze out to deal with dry.

While still wet, I use a scrap of paper towel and a sharpened scrap of wood and a little water to remove the squeeze out. The key thing here is working clean, so you don't leave smudges. So wipe a bit and throw away. The little sharpened scrap of wood helps to be precise.

Dry squeeze out is more tricky, because yanking it off can create some ugly tearout. If it is an important area on a show face, I'll use a little scrap of stainless steel shim stock to protect the wood while I sand or grind the glue blobs down to just barely proud - say 0.010" thick shim and leave the same thickness of dried glue squeeze above the wood. I then move to a freshly sharpened 90-degree bevel chisel with rounded corners. It works sort of like a card scraper to whittle down the lumps and has a lot less risk of yanking chunks of wood out than a regular chisel. A hard scraper also works well here.

[Tom Bender]

Sometimes tape is a good answer

[Tony Wilkins]

Sometimes tape is a good answer

How do you mean?

[Chris Parks]

still trying to find that balance. Already used it on just one side.

It isn't hard to do, grab some scrap timber and start experimenting and notice how less glue removes the floating that causes misalignment. Then break apart all the pieces you glued and see how the different pieces adhered to each other.

[steven c newman]

Go out and find a Stanley No. 70....and pull it along the glue lines....

[Cameron Wood]

How do you mean?

Shown here, 21:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iL1aAz65rE

[Gordon Dale]

I also avoid rubbing wet glue with a damp rag. I think it just rubs glue into the pores. I'm in the "remove glue while it's rubbery" camp. I bought a Veritas flush plane a couple of years ago and it's perfect for this. In tight spots I'll use an old chisel or even a dental pick (fabulous for all kinds of things in the shop actually). Often I'll use blue tape to cover areas where I don't want glue squeeze out to get on the wood (when gluing up box joints for example). Dental picks are also very handy for removing bits of blue tape that hide in corners and other difficult spots.

[Curt Harms]

It is easiest to get it off before it hardens. Usually after a few hours the PVA glue is still soft though not runny. It can be taken off easily with a not so sharp chisel used bevel down or a putty knife.

Once it is hard, a bevel down chisel will still work, just be careful not to dig into the wood. A wide putty knife can also work coming in from the side instead of running along the joint.

jtk

Yup. When the squeeze out is rubbery - hard enough to not smear but soft enough to cut easily.

[Tony Wilkins]

My problem when doing it when it’s rubbery is that I am generally exhausted by the time I’ve worked in the shop — including glue ups.

[Rafael Herrera]

Since you've not planed the sides yet, you can plane the excess glue later.

If you are going to keep joining the boards using the same technique, it will save you time to use less glue and wipe the excess with a wet rag. Getting glue in the pores doesn't matter since you're going to plane the surfaces.

Glue ups where you have glue dripping all over the place, not an uncommon sight on YouTube how to videos, is very poor technique.