Richard, have you ever got to the bottom of what an aliphatic resin glue actually is?
No, I can't say I've ever tried to properly comprehend the in-depth chemical differences between plain old PVA adhesive and aliphatic resin formulations. My excuse is that the nuances of advanced chemistry isn't my bag and I've no real motivation to get into it; I'm more than happy to leave all that technical stuff to the people in white coats in their laboratories, ha, ha.
What I do know about adhesive resins described as aliphatic is much as you describe, i.e., it affects initial grab (quicker than PVA) therefore it's less slippery during assembly, and tends to cure a bit faster than PVA, it's a bit more water resistant than PVA and isn't quite so prone to long term creep. I've had quite a lot of experience of using and therefore having casual non-scientific opportunities to compare aliphatic resins and PVA adhesives.
There's not a lot in it between the two with regard to experience in my general work over the years, but it is certainly the case that the performance does vary from brand to brand, whichever formulation is in use, i.e., some are grabby and give very little time to assemble and clamp up, others less so; some are more water resistant than others, some formulations are creepier than others, there are slower grabbing versions for veneering, and so on. There are woodworkers that require a very specific set of performance characteristics of their PVA or aliphatic resin for specific tasks, and will seek out a brand and formulation that suit those particular needs. For myself, I'm generally not particularly fond of adhesives that grab very quickly, so I tend to avoid ones with that characteristic, e.g., the Everbuild 502 is, if I remember correctly, quick grabbing so I prefer to not use it. Slainte.
