When glueing up boards I remove all the glue that is exposed before it dries, or when it develops a “skin”.
Problem: How to remove dried glue that is not accessible until clamps and cauls are removed (under the clamps, cauls, etc).
Thanks to all in advance.
Pete
Replies
Pete ,
Several common methods to remove dried glue are using a chisel or a scraper , depending on how the glue up will be surfaced or sanded .
dusty
Where possible, I use a blade from a hand plane laid flat on the surface of the wood to slice off the glue. If there isn't enough room for that, I'll use a chisel. In either case, the blade must be exquisitely sharp to avoid marring the wood; if you have a lot of glue to remove, you may even need to resharpen the blade once or twice during the process.
It would probably be safest to reserve a blade specifically for this purpose, and round off the corners so that they can't dig in, but I don't do that (and occasionally pay the price).
-Steve
I have had good luck using the other recommendations (scrapers, plane blades, chisel planes) but what helps me the most is using 202GF glue from Garrett Wade or a similar glue and removing excess after it is dry. The glue dries harder than regular woodworking glue and doesn't penetrate the wood so it chips off easily and relatively cleanly. It costs more but makes life easier.
Pete,
That's what metal-bodied planes were made to do.
Ray
Pete, what sort of glue are you using? Assuming its a version PVA - i.e., regular wood glue like Elmers, Tite-Bond, or Lee Valley's 2002 http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=45104&cat=1,110,42965&ap=1 (my personal choice!), you have several ways to deal with glue in various situations. If you are talking about a panel glue up (as you seem to be) as opposed to say a mortise and tenon or rail and stile door etc., a few thoughts:
Assuming the wood you are gluing has a fairly closed grain (think maple or cherry as opposed to open grain stuff like oak and mahogany), you can start while the glue is still wet on the top of the panel by scraping off any globs of excess with a handy scrap and using a damp paper towel on the remains.
There is nothing wrong with waiting until the squeeze out beads get rubbery, especially on open grain woods where you want to limit glue penetration into the pores, and using a chisel to scrape off the rubbery line or blobs. The chisel doesn't even have to be particularly sharp to do this job passably. Only trouble is remembering to get down to the shop to do this in the right hour or so of opportunity (while it's rubbery).
As for the underneath, you can attack this when rubbery too as the joints have achieved something like 80% of their strength in the first 45 minutes to an hour in the clamps. So take off the clamps for a few minutes, turn the panel over and scrape the rubbery thicker glue off. You can then put the panel back in the clamps for a while or overnight if it makes you feel better.
If you've gotten most of it off while wet or rubbery, dealing with the film of glue that remains when dry is no big deal as you're going to be needing to surface the panel anyway with sandpaper, planes, scraper, etc. Any of these items will remove this glue film in the process of surfacing the entire panel face.
Edited 12/6/2007 4:50 pm ET by Samson
Hi Pete, I just finished doing a production run of 12 small lift lid boxes that were mitered. Prior to glue up I carefully placed painters tape on the inside corners of the boxes at the very bottom of the miter. It took about 45 minutes to do it carefully (time spent while watching the tube) but I did not have ONE piece of dried glue to remove after the boxes were dry. The only thing I had to remove were a couple of small pieces of tape which got into the miter by a MM or two. An Xacto blade and 2-3 minutes and I was done. I highly recommend it for miters and I'm sure it would work for almost any joint.
Brian
Take up yer number 51/2without further ado- how were you going to level those boards anyway? Surely not by melting the glue squeezes with your belt sander? (;)
Or, if you are not keen to quickly reduce the sharpness of said plane , this is a good application for a card scraper, preferably a custom made one made from power hack saw blade- thick, unflexible , not needing to have a burr turned and totally unblunted by some pissant wood glue....
Thank you all!
Pete
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