Bad glue or operator?

[Phil S]

Just wondering what went wrong - I was cleaning up and smoothing a glue up panel and the glue joints broke open. This is a three piece panel made from 5 inch wide cherry with jointed edges prior to glue up and glued with regular yellow glue that is maybe one year old - probably has been frozen but it sure looked good. I glued this up last week and it was in the clamps for at least 72 hours - I clamped it between my vise and a bench dog and started to flatten the panel with my new Rotex sander - when I was working on the second side I saw the glue joint was opening. I removed the panel from the vice and dropped it on the floor, both joints broke open. This has never happened to me before. what went wrong?:dontknow:

 

[Bas]

Sorry to hear about your glue-up troubles. I think yellow glue can survive a few freeze/ thaw cycles, but it does weaken the bond. But it may not have been the freezing in your shop, who knows what happened to it before you even bought it! Any chance you overclamped it and squeezed out too much glue?

 

[Phil S]

Sorry to hear about your glue-up troubles. I think yellow glue can survive a few freeze/ thaw cycles, but it does weaken the bond. But it may not have been the freezing in your shop, who knows what happened to it before you even bought it! Any chance you overclamped it and squeezed out too much glue?

Well maybe but there was a duplicate panel that was glued with Tightbond 3 using the same clamps and pressure and I just went out to the shop and dropped that panel - no harm. Then I put it in the vice and used firmly tried to break the joint - it held. Actually the Tightbond 3 glue is older but it sure seems to be holding better

 

[MIKE NOAH]

Seems like I read an article in the mid nineties maybe in shop notes about a guy who accidently contaminated his joints on a commissioned chest lid by wiping them with an oily rag or something, somehow oil got on the joints. When he went to shut the lid in front of the customer it went flying into pieces. The customer got a laugh thinking it was joke...I slightly remember the article because I was thinking I could see something like that happening to me and no one would be laughing.
Mike

 

[jhreed]

I am no expert, but I have been told glue has a shelf life. This is contrary to my experience with titebond. I did have some gorilla glue to go bad in the bottle. My garage suffers from extremes in temperature. The tite bond II I am currently using is nearly two years old.
James

 

[Phil S]

Seems like I read an article in the mid nineties maybe in shop notes about a guy who accidently contaminated his joints on a commissioned chest lid by wiping them with an oily rag or something, somehow oil got on the joints. When he went to shut the lid in front of the customer it went flying into pieces. The customer got a laugh thinking it was joke...I slightly remember the article because I was thinking I could see something like that happening to me and no one would be laughing.
Mike

Mike, I think you solved my weak glue joints. I barely remember after I jointed the boards for the first panel (the one that is holding) I sprayed the jointer tables with some TopCote to reduce the friction. I would have thought that I waited awhile and then wiped it off, but I just bet it got on the board edge and affected the glue joint. I will rejoint the boards and reglue with the same glue to test your theory
Thanks

 

[bob vaughan]

I tried using some glue that went through a solid freeze once. It didn't do well. It was given to me by the distributor that had it incorrectly stored and had to destroy many cases of Titebond. He gave me a gallon and would have given me several cases. I discarded the glue after it wouldn't perform. As to topcote, I've been using both that and wax for years on my jointer and have never had a problem. It could happen tomorrow, though, but as of 30 years, no adhesion problems from wax or Topcote film transfer.

 

[bobby g]

I've been convinced by a pro to date the glue when I buy it and discard it after one year. The cost is small and it gets rid of a big variable. Also, it's good practice to include a piece in your glue-up that you can break-test after it's cured.

Bob

 

[red]

As long as the glue is not stringy, it is fine according to a tite bond rep I talked to several years ago. It sounds like the topcote or too much clamp pressure could have done it. I would try jointing again and reglue as you stated and see what happens. I'm sure it will work fine.

Red

 

[jlimey]

From Titebond.com

Freezing may not affect the function of the product but may cause it to thicken. Agitation should restore product to original form. Read MSDS before use. KEEP FROM FREEZING.

Freezing "may" not affect the function. At the cost of glue, that means it ends up in the dumpster for my projects.

 

[froglips]

Agitation, the universal restorative

Thats all I got, as everyone else had real helpful statements.

Phil, now we all learned that TopCote not only reduces friction but adhesion too! :gar-Bi

Jim

From Titebond.com

Freezing may not affect the function of the product but may cause it to thicken. Agitation should restore product to original form. Read MSDS before use. KEEP FROM FREEZING.

Freezing "may" not affect the function. At the cost of glue, that means it ends up in the dumpster for my projects.

 

[danmart77]

Just a note on tossing yellow glue: use it as sizing. You can mix the glue(old gallon) in a five gallon bucket with water. I mix it about 6:1 ratio. You can take the glue/water solution and paint bricks and concrete to seal them. It does a nice job on exposed brick foundations and foundation walls. Its just a way to use the old glue rather than putting it in the landfill and it does work very well.

 

[danmart77]

The tite bond II I am currently using is nearly two years old.
James

Get some new glue or you might be... dissappointed my friend.

 

[CrealBilly]

I think I may have had the same problem with TB II. Since I was used to using Elmers, I was gorilla torquing my bar clamps. I remedied the problem by not tightening them so much, just enough to pull the boards up tight. Worked like a champ with TB II. I personally like Elmers better, it seems to be a lot more forgiving that TB II, seeing I have gorilla like tendencies when it comes to bar clamps... A wise man from this site once told me "tighten your clamps with your left hand if your right handed". obviously I didn't do that until recently.

Ofcourse it could be bad glue or that bed lube