Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 17

Thread: Clamping, excess glue

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    1,850

    Clamping, excess glue

    I've tried taping inside corners, wiping off with a wet rag... Neither seems to work particularly well. I saw someone indicate they waited about an hour and then scraped off the excess in glue ups. Seems like a reasonable method, so here's my question... Is it OK to remove clamps after an hour? I recognize there are significant benefits to substantial clamping pressure, but how long do the clamps have to be attached to attain those benefits? I've always left 'em on overnight, but I'm now wondering if I really have too...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Whidbey Island , Wa.
    Posts
    914
    Quote Originally Posted by Eric DeSilva View Post

    Is it OK to remove clamps after an hour?

    I recognize there are significant benefits to substantial clamping pressure, but how long do the clamps have to be attached to attain those benefits?

    I've always left 'em on overnight, but I'm now wondering if I really have too...
    That depends on what you'll be doing with or to and really what you've glued up.

    So lets say it's a edge banded piece of 3/8 x 3/4" lumber EB on a plywood panel . Sure clamp could be removed and some light sanding / scraping to flush up the EB to the panel could take place.

    If it a table / cabinet / big panel under some stress joint to joint I'd say no let it sit at least 12 hours.

    Then again it depends what type of glue your using, temperature, humidity, etc etc .

    Hot dry summer day , 4 hours in the clamps in the sun and you could cut that cure time down.

    Scraping glue after about 1 hour is a good idea , just when it's at the gummy stage , chisel or puddy knife and it will sort of roll up into a ball , or pull off like string sort of .

    So in short, your question is to broad to answer well as submitted.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Kanasas City, MO
    Posts
    1,787
    When I clamp about anything, I will set it aside and leave it for minumum of 12 hours (I use TB1, 2 & 3 most of the time), and usually leave it over night. I've learned the hard way to leave a clamped glue up alone and don't need that lesson again.
    Some glue mfrs say 30 minutes of clamp time is adequate, but I see nothing wrong with more. And the not stressing a glue joint for 24 hours is a good rule of thumb for me.
    The wet rag method is ok for me with tight grain-pore material... walnut, oak and the open grain stuff not so well.
    As we say & hear an awful lot... no such thing as too many clamps. Cuals will cut down the # of clamps needed, but they interfere with glue clean up just as the clamps do.....
    FWIW.
    Greg

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Central California
    Posts
    24
    I just finished up an oak bookcase using Titebond II. I used a rag and toothbrush with excellent results, removing the glue as soon as it was clamped up.
    Because of a clamp shortage, I went with the 30 minute minimum to an hour or so with no issues.
    Dave

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,178
    I think peeling the glue off when it's rubbery, if you can get to it, is the best method; sometimes the wet rag method leaves behind a trace smear that will show up when you put the finish on.

    I agree with Paul that the kind of glue joint, and, importantly, the kind of glue used, will determine how long the clamps need to stay on; a mortise and tenon joint, for instance, doesn't usually have a lot of force wanting to open it up, so the clamps can come off fairly soon, say after an hour or two. A complex bent lamination using plastic resin glue, on the other hand, should stay under clamps for probably 8-12 hours, depending on the ambient temperature in the workshop.

  6. #6
    I'm with Paul on clamping time. depends what it is im glueing up... typically 3-4 hr min on a larger glue up, but edgebanding, maybe 1 hr. also i pretty much only use TBII.

    as for glue removal, i usually use a wet toothbrush and "scrub" then wipe down with a dry, clean rag. light sanding after that gets rid of any residue. works well on most cases for me.

    Cheers,
    Nick
    "there is no such thing as a mistake in woodworking, only opportunities to re-assess the design"

  7. Prefinish your pieces before glue up, whatever squeezout you get won't stick. I use an old plane blade to pop off the dry glue. It's hard to resist the urge to assemble and glue up a project prior to finishing, but you'll save a lot of needless fussing if you do.

    christopher

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Bay Area - Northern California
    Posts
    84
    Quote Originally Posted by Fyrman Dave View Post
    I just finished up an oak bookcase using Titebond II. I used a rag and toothbrush with excellent results, removing the glue as soon as it was clamped up.
    Because of a clamp shortage, I went with the 30 minute minimum to an hour or so with no issues.
    Dave
    +1 I use a tooth brush with plenty of water to remove the glue as soon as I'm done clamping. I then use a rag to wipe off the excess water. As we all know, any glue left on the wood will interfere with the finish. My father has been a professional cabinet maker for nearly 50 years and this is how he does it, but I'm sure it's not the only way.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    SE PA
    Posts
    498
    Quote Originally Posted by Christopher Foote View Post
    Prefinish your pieces before glue up, whatever squeezout you get won't stick. I use an old plane blade to pop off the dry glue. It's hard to resist the urge to assemble and glue up a project prior to finishing, but you'll save a lot of needless fussing if you do.
    christopher
    BINGO!
    And for those who find delaying the satisfaction of seeing it assembled just too intolerable, take some digital pics of the dry fit and make it your wallpaper or screensaver.
    - Tom

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    1,850
    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Girouard View Post
    That depends on what you'll be doing with or to and really what you've glued up.
    Good point. I was thinking of a specific glue up, but my question was somewhat more generic--do you need to keep the clamping pressure on until full cure to get the benefits. Sounds like the answer is no, although the amount of time is variable...

    After posing the question on SMC, I did what I should have done before--d'oh! I went to Titebond's site. Here's what they say:

    For most of our wood glues, we recommend clamping an unstressed joint for thirty minutes to an hour. Stressed joints need to be clamped for 24 hours. We recommend not stressing the new joint for at least 24 hours. For Titebond Polyurethane Glue, we recommend clamping for at least forty-five minutes. The glue is completely cured within 6 hours.

    So, sounds like I could probably remove the clamps after an hour--the joint that I'm talking about is a face to face long grain glue up that isn't under stress--and peel off the residue then.

    The pieces are pre-finished and, while glue doesn't stick to the finish as well, it still sticks pretty durn hard if you let it fully cure...

    Thanks for the responses!

  11. Gummy or hard = no matter
    So you don't lose anything by waiting.

    It's when you mess with while it's still liquid that's the problem.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Wichita, Kansas
    Posts
    1,795
    My technique is to leave the clamps in place until the glue is completely set. I picked up an old Stanley #90 several years ago that, used in chisel plane mode without the top/fore piece, cleans out the dried glue like it was never there.
    Tom Veatch
    Wichita, KS
    USA

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Christopher Foote View Post
    Prefinish your pieces before glue up, whatever squeezout you get won't stick. I use an old plane blade to pop off the dry glue. It's hard to resist the urge to assemble and glue up a project prior to finishing, but you'll save a lot of needless fussing if you do.

    christopher

    Nah!..That wouldn't work for me cause I'd end up finishing the pieces in the areas to be glued. Sure I could tape the areas I guess(too much trouble) but the finish would leak under the tape for sure.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Northwestern Connecticut
    Posts
    7,149
    First step in my process is to use less glue. If you get squeeze out all over the place on joints that are difficult to clean, you have used too much glue. I'm looking for a hairline on most joints. For cope and stick type doors, I mark both sides of the work at all intersections with slight pencil lines and stay just back from the intersection, keep the glue film thin and even. Rarely any clean up required.

    For minor squeeze out I use a glue brush trimmed with scissors to slightly less than 1/4" and plenty of WARM water. The short brush is stiff, doesn't spread a shower of glue polluted water on the work, and is fine enough to be agile and reach tight spots. The plenty of water part is to rinse the brush and clean out the corners without creating a container of glue sizing that will be transfered to the work, sealing the grain and making finishing a big problem. I keep the brush damp, not soaked and dripping, and dry up as I go with a clean or slightly moist rag.

    For panel glue ups or such which are easy to sand or scrape, I wait until the glue is gummy and stiff then scrape it off with a putty knife.

    As far as clamping time, the only thing I have ever let go over night is face laminations (including bent laminations) or hard to glue woods like teak or cumaru. If your assemblies are under so much tension that you need to leave clamps on for 12 hours then you may want to work on that. If you regularly use clamps to tweak work in an attempt to over come inaccuracies you may want to work on that too. Easier to remake a few parts than to remake a whole piece.

    This advice is for PVA glues, for other glues get your tape out. Epoxy, plastic resin glues and polyurethane glues are very difficult to clean when wet and even more difficult to clean when cured. Again, use less glue if major squeeze is a problem.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    15,332
    PQ's method above is pretty much what I use (toothbrush, rag, cut-down acid brush and warm water). You just have to learn to put the right amount of glue on and that is purely by experimentation and experience.

    There are ways to prevent squeeze out depending upon the joint. Some examples:

    I NEVER glue the shoulders of a M&T joint as I don't see the point because of the face-grain to long-grain. Just glue the tenon and mortise: that is where all the strength of the joint is anyway. Think about it, not everything always needs to have glue on it!!

    If there is room, you can saw a small shallow kerf into the wood that will catch the squeeze-out and fill this small channel instead of leaking out on you. This one is more difficult to implement because it only works on a few type of joints.

    Clamps typically stay on overnight for me but it depends if I have time and enough clamps but I'm a hobbyist...there's always the next day to remove the clamps: no hurry.
    Last edited by Chris Padilla; 09-19-2008 at 7:58 PM.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

Similar Threads

  1. Are Your Glue Joints Repairable?
    By Bob Smalser in forum General Woodworking and Power Tools
    Replies: 86
    Last Post: 09-26-2010, 12:22 AM
  2. More glue ?
    By Al Willits in forum General Woodworking and Power Tools
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 10-22-2007, 4:03 PM
  3. Just how water resistant is 2002GF glue?
    By Art Mulder in forum General Woodworking and Power Tools
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 09-25-2007, 7:41 AM
  4. glue problem
    By Larry Reimer in forum General Woodworking and Power Tools
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 06-26-2005, 8:17 AM
  5. Gorilla Glue
    By Betsy Yocum in forum General Woodworking and Power Tools
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 08-02-2004, 1:15 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •