Applying glue to Dominoes

[Aled Dafis]

How do you guys go about applying glue to Dominoes?

I always find it a bit of a ffaff squirting a dab of glue on both sides of the domino and then another in the "hole" and am never quite satisfied that I've done a good job of it. The other option of course is to use a little brush which does a better job of applying the glue in a more controlled manner, but I always find that by the time I get to the end of the glue up, I've forgotten about the brush, so it just dries up and I have to chuck it. A (sensibly priced) dedicated glue applicator would be great.

Cheers
Aled

 

[Paul Chapman]

I just squirt the glue into the hole. I don't see the point of putting glue on the Domino as it's likely to get pushed off as you push the Domino into the hole. By putting glue into the hole, sufficient glue will be forced over the surface of the Domino as you push the Domino in. I do it the same way with biscuits.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[mike s]

axminster do small specialised glue bottles
http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... prod22118/
although there are varied responses about how good they are

 

[knappers]

I'm a hole dribbler, myself.

Si

 

[gardenshed]

I use a small thin piece of scrap timber, it a bit like a small spatula and just put the glue in and spread it around the slot.
There was/is a Festool demo video doing just that.

 

[Aled Dafis]

I just squirt the glue into the hole. I don't see the point of putting glue on the Domino as it's likely to get pushed off as you push the Domino into the hole. By putting glue into the hole, sufficient glue will be forced over the surface of the Domino as you push the Domino in. I do it the same way with biscuits.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Playing Devil's advocate for a bit Paul, if you say that the glue will be scraped off the surface of the Domino, surely the same would be true of the surface of the mortice? The same level of fit exists on both surfaces. I'm not saying that you're wrong, it obviously works.

I always thought that it was good practise to glue both sides of the joint to make sure that they bond, hence my question.

Regards
Aled

 

[Aled Dafis]

I use a small thin piece of scrap timber, it a bit like a small spatula and just put the glue in and spread it around the slot.
There was/is a Festool demo video doing just that.

I've also tried that, using coffee stirrers that Starbucks seem to so kindly offer me (makes the extortionate price of the coffee almost worth it :wink: ) but they're a little too narrow to carry enough glue. I've been meaning to try some of those little plastic glue spreaders that we used to use in primary school all those years ago.

Regards
Aled

Edit - will try these.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plastic-Glu...34/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1331588986&sr=8-11

 

[Paul Chapman]

Playing Devil's advocate for a bit Paul, if you say that the glue will be scraped off the surface of the Domino, surely the same would be true of the surface of the mortice? The same level of fit exists on both surfaces.

I don't think it is the same, Aled. The hole has a bottom, so the glue will be forced up around the Domino as you push it in, thereby coating the sides of the Domino with glue. If you glue the sides of the Domino, the glue will be scraped off as you push the Domino into the hole and it will just end up as excess glue oozing out as you clamp the workpiece together.

There was a test done in USA by the magazine Chris Schwarz worked for where they tried to find the best way to glue a stopped M&T joint (essentially the same as a Domino joint). Their conclusion was that most of the glue applied to the sides of the tenon was scraped off as the joint was assembled. They did a video of it and it was quite convincing.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[BTR]

I use the same method as Paul put the glue down the hole and push the domino in you will see the glue being pushed up the sides of the domino through the grooves on the domino's.

 

[superunknown]

I just dribble a bit down each side of the mortice, when the domino is pushed in it's forced back up around the domino. Glued in thousands of them this way. No issues.

 

[Benchwayze]

How do you guys go about applying glue to Dominoes?

I always find it a bit of a ffaff squirting a dab of glue on both sides of the domino and then another in the "hole" and am never quite satisfied that I've done a good job of it. The other option of course is to use a little brush which does a better job of applying the glue in a more controlled manner, but I always find that by the time I get to the end of the glue up, I've forgotten about the brush, so it just dries up and I have to chuck it. A (sensibly priced) dedicated glue applicator would be great.

Cheers
Aled

Aled,

Have a pot of water handy while you glue up.
Drop the brush in the water after each 'dab'. There's no problem squeezing out the water, so it won't affect the next dab of glue. Then if you forget it overnight, it will still be in the water and ready to clean. The habit soon gels.

HTH

 

[Paul Chapman]

If you still have any doubts about the best way to glue them, Aled, it would be easy enough to do a few tests. Just make a few test joints, leave them for a few days to ensure the glue has cured, then saw the joints apart, splitting the Dominos in two. You could then see how well the Dominos had been glued to the sides of the mortices.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Best practice is to put a thin smear of glue on both surfaces, doms and biscuits. I use a small paint brush to apply the glue and immediately afterwards I just drop the brush straight into a coffee jar filled with water (one of things that used to come with a sealed plastic push-on stopper) that sits over the bench right next to the glue bottle. Same when you're edge jointing or gluing a m/t...a thin smear of glue should be applied to both surfaces - Rob

 

[Peter T]

I remember seeing a video, I think it was on the Popular Woodworking Mag site, about some tests they did on the strength of glued up mortice/tenon joints.

On the joints where they carefully painted glue on all the mating surfaces with a brush, most of the glue got scraped off when the joint was assembled and ended up as squeeze-out.

On the ones where they simply squirted a dollop of glue into the bottom of the mortice, this was forced up into the mating surfaces when the joint was assembled. This meant almost no squeeze-out and, more importantly, a stronger joint.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Aled,

I've also tried that, using coffee stirrers that Starbucks seem to so kindly offer me (makes the extortionate price of the coffee almost worth it :wink: ) but they're a little too narrow to carry enough glue.

My thanks to you and GardenShed for the idea. I'm sitting on the train looking at a pot of wooden stirrers on my table, in fact all of the tables have them. :lol: :lol: I don't normally notice them as I have my tea black when I'm on the train.

They must be twice the width of the Starbucks plastic ones, so I might just have to "use" a few before I reach Nottingham.

Thanks,
Neil

PS Just as an exercise, I've found that they just fit inside my glasses case. :lol: :lol:

 

[petermillard]

I squeeze a blob of glue into the rounded ends/sides of the mortice, and just use another Domino to spread the glue around the face of the doms - works for me...

 

[Benchwayze]

Ice-Lolly sticks make good glue applicators and can be used as shims for spacing cabinet doors.

Gardeners' plastic name tags spread glue well too, but some of them are a little flexible. Not free either, but cheap enough for a bundle at most garden centres.
HTH

 

[woodbloke]

Ice-Lolly sticks make good glue applicators and can be used as shims for spacing cabinet doors.

...as do those wooden coffee stirrer thingies that you can pinch from Starbucks :-& and similar - Rob

 

[Lord Kitchener]

Domino slots are supposed to be a bit deeper than the Domoino itself, so I'm not too sure about putting glue in the bottom of the mortise. I use Dominos every day and just run a thin bead of quite runny PVA around the leading edge of the Domino itself, which works nicely.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Why do most glues specify to be applied to one side only-- how would applying glue to both sides make any difference?