Favoured wood glue

[whatknot]

Morning all

I mostly do scroll work plus some other woodwork, furniture repair etc

I was wondering what was the favoured wood glue for most uses

 

[marcros]

i would go with a small pot of the best glue for the job at the time. I have PU on hand because I use it to glue pen tubes into pen blanks, but it is messy stuff for general work. I do buy pva from time to time, but tend to buy it for the first job in the spring and use it up throughout the year until autumn. I think it is a false economy to buy the biggest pot possible, unless you are likely to use it a lot- frost will damage it if left in an unheated garage.

My preferred general purpose glue is titebond liquid hide glue, but i would expect that most people default to a pva. The liquid hide glue suits me, and doesnt punish you if you miss a bit when cleaning up.

 

[sunnybob]

I use Bison D3 pva , because its available locally, is very easy to use, and is cheaper than most others.
It has never failed yet (unless I have been careless in preparation). This sets up quite quickly, almost instant in very hot weather so if I need a longer tack time when there are lots of pieces that need to be adjusted, I use Titebond 3, which is almost like milk in appllication but will allow at least 4 times the adjustment period.
But titebond 3 does not dry clear, it leaves a brown line, so that needs to be taken into account before use.

 

[memzey]

+1 for bobs comment above re the glue line in TB3. I was using it on some sapele recently and it blended in very well but if I want a longer open time on light coloured timbers I use TB extend. It's very good and dries to light colour.

 

[garethharvey]

I also like Titebond 3, have been using it a lot lately. I did try Cascamite once, but couldn't get on with it. This is something I need to revisit though

 

[whatknot]

Many thanks for your reply

I have used PVA in one form or another for most things

I recently bought a small quantity of Gorilla glue (brown stuff) which I found quite good for the job I used it on, but a little hazardous for everyday use and as it expands its hard to tame

I will have a look at titebond liquid hide glue, I haven't tried that

One of the reasons for asking this is the plethora of different glues around and a limited budget, they can be rather expensive for trial purposes

Looks like Titebond 3 is also on the shopping list

Much appreciate the feedback

 

[Aggrajag]

I use the white Gorilla glue and can't fault it, the holding power is phenomenal.

 

[whatknot]

On an allied point, is it just me or are the constituent parts of various glues hard to find?

Even the tech sheets are hard to work out what actually makes up the glue

I was looking to see if Titebond 1, 2 or 3 are PVA variants

The white Gorilla wood glue is PVA I gather, is it any better or different from other PVA glues

So is PVA just PVA or is it only that additives make it more malleable for longer

 

[Cordy]

HERE

Because it is not expensive does not mean an inferior product
or you could push the boat out...

I use the above glues for scroll-saw work and general woodworking

 

[El Barto]

I was recommended this stuff by someone on this forum, it's been brilliant and also very well priced:

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Adhesi ... lue/p61864

 

[AndyT]

Like Marcros said.
Titebond liquid hide glue for furniture. Longish open time, allowing complicated glue ups without stress.
Very easy to clean up as you go, or afterwards. Plenty strong enough. Lasts several years in the bottle, in my experience.

And like Cordy said - mainstream PVA from Toolstation for everything else.

I tried polyurethane glue once. Mended a chair with it, successfully but messily.
Threw out the solidified lump in the bottle shortly after. Not good value.

 

[RogerP]

I use one of he Titebond range - whichever is best suited to the task in hand.

 

[thetyreman]

the one I've got is called 'bonda PVA wood adhesive' it actually seems better than titebond so far, cheap as well, and dries clear because it's a white PVA not yellow PVA, there's no real advantage in using yellow PVA from what I've seen, I tried out titebond 1,2 and 3 and not sure any of them are worth the extra cost.

 

[RobinBHM]

I think there is a bit of marketing hype with glues for the retail market.

Most of the glues, Im sure are made by 1 or 2 manufacturers and then packaged or sold under different names. Of course there are some differences, PVA can have additives

Modern wood glues are mostly from these basic types:
PVA D3
PVA D4 (yellow, waterproof)
Urea Formaldehyde (known as Cascamite), mixed with water or resin
Polyurethane glues -foaming glues

Titeboond is an aliphatic glue, its based on PVA which has aliphatic resin added whilst being formulated.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Everbuild D4 is white.

 

[custard]

PVA is favourite in professional workshops for two reasons,

1. 30 minutes in cramp and you can remove the cramps and either carry on with light work or just move the glued job out of the way to fully set and re-use the cramps
2. PVA gives really tight, invisible glue lines, even in the paler timbers that are currently fashionable.

The problem for the guy working on his own is that PVA has both a really short open time (much shorter than it says on the bottle, glue manufacturers are as honest about open times as car manufacturers are on fuel consumption) and it's very "grabby". If you're in a workshop with other craftsmen to hand you normally work as a team on bigger glue-ups. Plus you're really familiar with glue-up procedures, and all the cramps, bearers, cramping blocks etc will be neatly laid out ready to go.

Man in a shed however can really stuff it up with PVA. He knocks a super tight tenon half way home then moves on to the next joint, then he fumbles around getting the cramps out, then he discovers he should have taped cramp blocks onto the workpiece before hand because they won't stay put. By this time the PVA has "grabbed" and he can't get his tenons fully home, even under full cramp pressure, so there's a nasty gap at the shoulders. Next up the workpiece is out of square, but he's not really sure how he should move the cramps to correct the problem. By the time he's figured it out it's irrelevant anyway, the PVA has hardened so what's done is done.

Compare that with patient woodworker who's taken the trouble to mix up some Cascamite or uses hide glue. He can leisurely puff on his pipe and enjoy radio four, taking all the time needed to get everything square and true, with joints that are tightly drawn up.

Bottom line, always do a dry glue-up first so you've ironed out problems in advance, and only use PVA on really small simple jobs that you can complete in a jiffy.

Good luck!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

^^^^^^^^^^^^ + 1 what he said. Damhikt. :lol:

 

[RogerP]

P..........................
Man in a shed however can really stuff it up with PVA. He knocks a super tight tenon half way home then moves on to the next joint, then he fumbles around getting the cramps out, then he discovers he should have taped cramp blocks onto the workpiece before hand because they won't stay put. By this time the PVA has "grabbed" and he can't get his tenons fully home, even under full cramp pressure, so there's a nasty gap at the shoulders. Next up the workpiece is out of square, but he's not really sure how he should move the cramps to correct the problem. By the time he's figured it out it's irrelevant anyway, the PVA has hardened so what's done is done.
...............!

If this is likely to be a problem there's always Titebond Slow Set

 

[custard]

P..........................
Man in a shed however can really stuff it up with PVA. He knocks a super tight tenon half way home then moves on to the next joint, then he fumbles around getting the cramps out, then he discovers he should have taped cramp blocks onto the workpiece before hand because they won't stay put. By this time the PVA has "grabbed" and he can't get his tenons fully home, even under full cramp pressure, so there's a nasty gap at the shoulders. Next up the workpiece is out of square, but he's not really sure how he should move the cramps to correct the problem. By the time he's figured it out it's irrelevant anyway, the PVA has hardened so what's done is done.
...............!

If this is likely to be a problem there's always Titebond Slow Set

Yeah right.

A more accurate name for that product (which I use regularly by the way, in an enduring illustration of hope triumphing over experience) would be "Titebond Fractionally Less Rapid Set But Just as Grabby As Our Other Glue".

 

[RobinBHM]

I shall see if the guys in the workshop would like to listen to radio 4 whilst gluing up