Well, in working on my wife’s Mah Jong box, I was preparing to glue the top to the carcass (7″x20″) and decided to wrap painters tape around the inside and outside carcass faces so that glue squeeze-out from the edges could be cleaned up easily. I also applied tape to the inside face of the top adjacent to the edges of the carcass.
Well the first time, I left the tape on until the glue had set up hard and then had to scrape little tiny strips of tape off with a chisel !!! It took close to an hour to get it all off and there are still small blue bits left in the length of the joint. (Won’t be noticeable to anyone not looking for it.)
The second time(bottom of box to carcass), I taped the same way but this time, I pulled the tape off after about 20 minutes. Most of it came off with the small amount of squeeze-out, but I had to still scrape some tape pieces off.
Next time, I’ll just forego the tape and clean up the glue squeeze-out with the chisel after 20 minutes.
Anyone else have advice for the future?
Replies
If you can get at the joint after the glue up, use a sharp scraper, preferably before the glue is fully hardened. This is perfect for an edge glue up. Also, many use too much glue, and use it where it is unneeded, leading to a mess without a reason. For example, on a mortise and tenon, I use only a little gluein the mortise, and even less on the tenon, and is there is zero sqeeze out, that is great. Usually there is none. On dt's, use glue only on the inside longgrain of the tails; all else is waste. Finally, hide glue can be cleaned up with water, and won't stain the work.
Alan
http://www.alanturnerfurnituremaker.com
alan,
Personally, I like to see a little squeeze out. I was taught that "Glue is cheaper than a starved joint". As you say, no need to have it slobbered all over the place, but I prefer coating both sides of nearly every joint before assembling. Mortises, tenons, pins, tails. Let it dry, and clean up. You're gonna pare the pins down anyway, right?
Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.
Regards,
Ray
Thanks to all for your comments/advice. I have become a firm believer in being conservative in the first application of glue from the bottle and then using a small thin piece of wood to spread it evenly. That lets me remove excess glue before clamping and in this case the squeeze out was minimal but still in an obvious location so needed to be cleaned up well. Thanks again.
I have one of those fancy-schmancy glue bottles with a roller for spreading glue somewhere in the shop but I haven't used it for a long time. I mostly use my finger to spread it around and clean up with a damp sponge. I try to use just enough glue to get some squeeze out without having it run all over the place and wipe it off immediately with the sponge.
I think you should follow your own advice.
I have never had any luck with tape either.
A hair dryer softens the adhesive in the tape so it pulls off cleanly. You still can not wait until the glue hardens, however, or it will be too hard to pull.
Pat,
No real solutions to suggest, just a few more ideas to add to your arsenal....especially when gluing small objects. I do the 20 minute clean-up with a chisel too but also use an acid brush where the hairs have been cut back to about 1/4" and moistened with water. I've also used shellac on the surrounding areas before glue up...and if need be, stain and shellac before glue up.
Lastly, I bought one of those silly long nosed plastic glue applicator/containers...something like $1.99..at Rockler or Woodcraft...the darn thing really works well in so many different ways; Put the glue exactly where you want it, in the exact amount, no clogging, move quickly.....reduces stress of glue up just a bit..
I dry clamp everythng first to see if all is well. I then apply wax to where any squeeze out will happen. Later the glue just pops off and I wipe with mineral spirts to remove the wax.
also my glue bottle has a very long tapered tip. It is purchased from hair salons. It is used by gals that dye their hair. The long tapered tip gets the dye to the root of there hair/scalp. It's the best glue applicator I've tried. But darn it, I still loose the red cap all the time.
I take it you don't use w/b finishes?John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
Thanks for the tip about the wax. I assume from your comment that the mineral spirits removes all the wax so there is no effect on finish application.
I guess from the previious post of John O'connel my wax method doesn't work with water based finishes. It's true, I don't use water based.
The mineral spirts will remove the wax with no problems. Open grain woods my require a stiff brush to get into the pores but it still works. Carnuba wax is easily disolved with mineral spirts.
Thanks, I'll try your wax treatment next time.
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