CA glue staining

[OldWood]

A wee while back I made a handful of baby rattles - the maracas type, not the captive ring variety - and I got a number of repeat orders which fortunately dried up as I found them a bit a pain to make not being able to judge just how thick the wall was. But I did make a few spares to the point where the two halves were glued together and ready for the tricky final turning.

Some more orders have appeared and I find that I must have used a better quality CA glue for the earlier ones as the current blanks were glued with inexpensive Pound-Stretcher variety and the wood round the join has taken a tiresome stain - sycamore has been used each time.

Now I could just stain the whole thing, but does anyone know if there are some CA glues less prone to creating a stain ?

Thanks
Rob

 

[MMUK]

Will the staining not polish out on the sander?

 

[CHJ]

Any liquid, be it glue or sealer will change the colour of any wood it seeps into.
Don't think the glue brand will be of significance compared with potential reaction differences you may get between various wood samples with their attendant differing acid or moisture levels.

In future seal the wood components well with sanding sealer before applying glue, thus hopefully preventing glue stain.

If stains are reasonably close to joints you may be able to disguise them by incising some vee cuts to form demarcation lines and 'rings' or 'beads' and just treating those with a strong colour disguising both the stain and the join.

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

I watched a youtube video where a bloke was wiping the wood down with acetone before applying the glue to prevent staining. He was working with cocobolo though, so don't know whether the same goes with lighter woods.

 

[paulm]

Using a thicker viscosity glue will help reduce the bleeding into the surrounding wood, and as Chas mentions, sealing the surrounding area (not the surface to be glued) if you can.

Suspect the use of acetone on cocobolo is to reduce some of the natural oils in that timber and make the gluing more effective ? Maybe it reduces staining too, haven't tried that ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[OldWood]

Thanks guys

If memory serves me right I did use a thicker CA glue on the previous gluing and had to do a two stage gluing process this time - surfacing with the CA before applying the adhesive layer as the Pound-Stretcher glue is very thin (possibly why you get 4 bottles for a pound!) and soaks in very quickly, so CHJ's suggestion of sealing first is definitely valid.

Because this glue is so thin it spreads far taking the staining with it and it just doesn't turn or sand out.

Again thanks for your ideas

Rob

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Why use CA glue in the first place? I assume there's a specific reason?
(other than speed)

 

[tekno.mage]

Sycamore (and other softer hard woods like walnut or birch) is particularly prone to staining by all CA glues. The thicker CA glues may stain less than the thin ones as they do not run so far into the wood fibres, but there is no guarantee that even the thick ones will not leave a stain every time! One way around the problem would be to use a different kind of glue, for instance epoxy. I've just been gluing some sycamore with epoxy (both clear and black varieties) and have had no problems at all with the epoxy staining - the downside with epoxy is of course the nuisance of having to mix it up each time, and the cost.

You might get away with some stain prevention by applying either sanding sealer or your desired final oil finish to the wood before using CA glue (being careful not to get the finish on the parts you actually want to bond togther as this can make for a weaker joint) - however, if you are making babies rattles, this may mean you are not applying any finish to the final product, so this idea will not work.

 

[duncanh]

I glue my rattles with PU glue and only put glue on the inside part of the joint. The glue is fairly thick so doesn't run and if you apply the right amount it doesn't foam over the surface. My gluing is done before the final shape is turned so any glue on the wood surface is turned away.
I'm very happy with PU glue - never had one fail yet and I've intentionally dropped a few from height onto concrete flags.
One only broke when I hit it repeatedly with a hammer!

Judging wall thickness is easier if you drill a few decorative holes in them

 

[OldWood]

I glue my rattles with PU glue and only put glue on the inside part of the joint. The glue is fairly thick so doesn't run and if you apply the right amount it doesn't foam over the surface. My gluing is done before the final shape is turned so any glue on the wood surface is turned away.
I'm very happy with PU glue - never had one fail yet and I've intentionally dropped a few from height onto concrete flags.
One only broke when I hit it repeatedly with a hammer!

Judging wall thickness is easier if you drill a few decorative holes in them

Thanks Duncan - I try PU. As for the holes, that is a trick I've employed elsewhere but avoided here so that baby slobber doesn't get into the wood. On the other hand I normally seal with medical paraffin first followed by hard-wax oil so maybe that would be adequate.

Rob

 

[duncanh]

Forgot to ask - you said maracas type rattle but are you putting a wide base on the end of the handle? I discovered that this was required by EU toy safety regulations. I had a link somewhere but can't find it. Basically the test is a truncated cylinder 31.5mm diameter and a certain length (can't remember though, but not particularly long) - if any part of a toy pushes through the tube and protrudes past the end then it fails. I get round this by giving the rattles a flared base that won't enter the tube.

 

[OldWood]

Forgot to ask - you said maracas type rattle but are you putting a wide base on the end of the handle? I discovered that this was required by EU toy safety regulations. I had a link somewhere but can't find it. Basically the test is a truncated cylinder 31.5mm diameter and a certain length (can't remember though, but not particularly long) - if any part of a toy pushes through the tube and protrudes past the end then it fails. I get round this by giving the rattles a flared base that won't enter the tube.

This will be so the rattle does not have the potential to jam in the baby's mouth. I hadn't come across this EU regulation but there is a similar one US that sets a similar diameter at 42mm.

Rob

 

[Dalboy]

The link below is purely for information I personally use common sense which seems to be lacking in todays world

This is the American one http://www.cpsc.gov//PageFiles/111656/regsumsmallparts.pdf I thought I had the one for here in the UK if I can find it will post later.

I made a rattle some time ago and must confess that I did not follow their measurements

 

[duncanh]

The 'Small Parts Cylinder' is shown on page 7 of http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file25392.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/toy-manufacturers-an ... sibilities was also posted when rattles were last discussed and basically covers CE marking and toy safety