An inexpensive nylon-bristle brush and a few small “acid” brushes that are sold for applying soldering flux can make great tools for spreading glue. Clipping off about half the paint brush bristles will make them stiff enough so they won’t slop glue around on board edges or mitered joints.
When dry-fitting boards to be glued up later, here’s a trick to help you make sure you will be able to get them back together in the right order. After the boards are in the desired position, draw a triangle large enough to cover all the boards of the section. Later, before clamping, just re-create the triangle as you assemble the boards.
Using thin wood wafers called biscuits can strengthen wood joints by providing more glue bonding area. You can use a biscuit joiner (also called a plate joiner) to cut precision mating slots in boards for the biscuits, which are available in three sizes. Or, to save money you can buy a kit to convert either your router or right-angle grinder. The conversion kits will generally cost about half that of a dedicated biscuit joiner.
There are a many choices to make when choosing glue. Here are some of the most common: 1) White glue is the most popular choice for general purpose adhering. It’s non-toxic, odorless, nonflammable and dries clear in under an hour. One drawback of white glue is that is has a low resistance to water, so it should not be used for outdoor projects. 2) Yellow carpenter’s glue sets quicker and is more resistant to water than white glue. It won’t be affected by solvents used in woodworking such as varnish, lacquer, or paint. Yellow glue dries to a translucent finish but can be sanded. 3) Hot-melt glue is applied with a glue gun. It sets almost instantly on wood, metal, cloth, and ceramics. There are several formulas available for you to match to your project. Hot-melt glues, however, do not adhere well to cold surfaces, so make sure that your workpieces are not cold. 4) Instant bonding glue is incredibly strong and sets almost instantly. It is ideal for non-porous surfaces such as glass, certain plastics, ceramics, and metal but can also be used to bond wood and paper as well. If you should accidentally drip some onto your skin, use nail polish remover to dissolve it. Instant bonding glue will dry inside the container very quickly so be sure to tightly replace the glue container’s cap as soon as possible.
Need to hold extra-wide work for gluing up or driving screws? You can hook one jaw of a pipe clamp over your work, then turn the opposite jaw 90 degrees so it lays flat on the work. Hook a second pipe clamp to this jaw, and at the other end turn that jaw 90 degrees and tighten. If two clamps won’t reach, just add a third clamp between the first two.
Do you have any chairs, tables, or other wooden furniture that are a little wobbly due to the glue drying out? Here’s how you can tighten things up. First, disassemble the joined pieces. Clean off all of the old glue and dirt with warm vinegar. Rinse with clean water, and let everything dry completely. Use yellow carpenters glue to reassemble all the pieces back together.
One problem in using older-style pegboard hooks is that they tend to pull out when the tools are removed. One way you can solve the problem is to insert them into the pegboard and use a hot glue gun to fasten them in place. In a minute or so the hooks will be fixed in place, although you will be able to wrestle them loose whenever you want to rearrange your tool storage. Another solution is to buy newer-style hooks that will lock in place with just the turn of a screwdriver.
Glue will soak more into the end grain of wood and potentially result in starved glue joints. To help prevent this, you can “size” any end grain to be glued with a mixture of glue diluted with water. Dilute just so that when it is applied, glue drops don’t form at the lower edges of the wood. Another method, somewhat less effective, is to coat the end grain with full strength glue, allow it to dry 5 to 10 minutes, then re-coat with glue and assemble.
When clamping long or wide panels with bar clamps, a dowel inserted crosswise between the jaws of the bar clamps and the wood will help center the pressure and keep it uniform. Use dowels about as thick as the thickness of the wood you are gluing up.
If you are gluing veneer to a wood surface, you can use an old clothes iron to help. First use a sponge to wet the face of the veneer so that it won’t curl. Next, apply a thin film of glue to both the surface and the underside of the veneer. Then, when the veneer is dry to the touch, use the clothes iron at a high setting to secure the veneer in place.
