jgohlke
My other hobby
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2004
- Messages
- 990
I was following a thread in the humi forum about making trays for single storage and there was some discussion about glue. There was lots of good advice there and I thought it might be helpful to provide "glue basics" for some folks...
There are many different kinds of glue and they aren't interchangeable. Choosing the right glue for the job will make all the difference. Thinking about the glues I have around the house, here's the ones I keep on hand.
On proof-reading, I realize that this is way more (WAY MORE) than most folks ever want to know about glue...I almost hit delete and let it go...but since it's written, I might as well post....be warned - It's really about glue and it's long.....
Super Glue - This stuff is truly the "superman" of glues. A very small amount has tremendouse holding power. The key to using this stuff ...small quantities....a little goes a long way. The less you can use, the better. Good for glass, plastic, steel...not so good for wood and other porous materials. I often squirt out of puddle and then dip a toothpick or needle to apply the glue. Use less! This stuff is great for "fixing" knots. A drop or two on a rope or string at the knot and it is never coming out. You can soak a small rope in the stuff, wait for it to dry and the rope will be stiff as a rod. I've made shoelaces using ths technique (just soaking the ends) out of 3mm rigging rope (REI is one place to get it). I don't burn or whip rope anymore to keep rope from fraying, I use super glue to soak the ends. Sticks to skin like nobody's business. My uncle super glued one knee to the bathroom floor (he was fixing something and accidentally knelt on the tube of super glue he was using squirting it all out, by the time he realized it, he was glued to the floor) and had to call the fire department to help get him free. No kidding! Can be layered for added strength. Almost impossible to get off your skin without solvents. Poor shelf-life, opened tubes get hard in a couple of months.
Rubber cement - A great glue for bonding two things together that share a lot of contact area (this stuff is also called "contact" cement). Good for laminating. Key to success is to put the glue on the contact side of both pieces and then let it dry. I know you don't want to wait that long. Wait anyway. Find something else to do. Come back in 20 minutes. Make it 30. It should be dry to the touch. If it is tacky, come back in 10 minutes. I put it on with a spatual or scaper. You can also use a paint brush...once. For laminating, line up the pieces by putting dowels or similar between the two pieces. Pull a dowel out on one end and start working your way across, pulling the dowels out as you go. It is NOT possible to "adjust" the pieces once they touch! Flammable! Rubs off your skin after an hour to two. Gets gummy in the can/bottle after a while.
White glue/yellow glue/wood glue - Some waterproof, some not so much. Elmers falls into this category along with various wood glues (Titebond being a common one). A great glue for bonding wood together. The joint is often stronger than the original wood. Put the glue on both pieces, clamp or fasten (with screws or similar) the pieces together. Pieces can be adjusted/repositioned. When clamping, don't over clamp. Cleans up with water. Generally, I let it squeeze out and then scrape and sand off the excess after it is dry and hard. You can wipe if off with a wet rag when it is soft, but only do this if you aren't going to stain the piece. The water thins the glue and wiping it drives it into the wood. That area won't take stain and you'll have to sand it down to get to fresh wood. This may not be obvious until you start staining. Can be layered for added strength. Easy to get off your skin with soap and water...clothes washed with fresh glue usually come pretty clean. Keeps almost forever.
Gorilla Glue (and similar) - Also used for wood and can be used for almost any material. This glue expands when curing, so it can make a mess. I use plastic wrap (like Saran wrap) to protect clamps, tools, blocks and my shop table. This glue will also glue materials together that are not the same like plastic/wood, metal/wood, etc. Can be easily sanded after it cures. A good gap filler. Dries pretty quickly and it is water proof. Not for fine furniture, but great for fixing a wobbly kitchen chair or laminating some plywood or 2x4's. I used this glue to laminate pressure treated 2x4's into an arch for the framing of a small bridge. Very difficult to get off your skin. Ruins clothing. Short shelf-life...opened containers cure in the bottle after a couple of months.
A close cousin of Gorilla Glue is "Great Stuff". That expanding foam insulation in a can. Think of it as the foam version of Gorilla Glue. You can glue almost anything together with this stuff. If you can contain the expansion, it makes a very dense-celled foam. Left uncontained, it creates a medium-celled foam with a slick, tough exterior. It is waterproof. As an experiment, I soaked 3 samples of this stuff in a bucket full of water for 1 year. Dense cell, a glob of it set up without constraint (with the normal exterior) and the same, but cut in half so the water could get at the inside. I cut all them up at the end of a year. It didn't look like any of them absorbed any of the water. I've glued all kinds of stuff together with this stuff. It's amazing. Very tough to get off your skin and ruins clothes. Short shelf-life on opened cans. I try to use the whole can once I get started...
Epoxy - This is a 2-part glue and is normally mixed together 1:1. I buy the double-syinge stuff (both regular and quick setting). Easy to use and will hold all kinds of stuff together. Kind of "plasticy" when cured..easily machined. I like the 5-minute stuff (quick setting) for most jobs. It isn't as strong as the normal stuff, but the quick set can be handy for some jobs. Can be layered, but like concrete "two pours" don't really mingle. Tough to get off your skin without solvents. Ruins clothes. Pretty good shelf-life.
Most common "glue failures" are really about expecting too much from the glue. If you have a glass rod that breaks in half cleanly...pretty much no glue is holding it back together. The more glue surface you can get the better. In boat building, 2 pieces of plywood are joined together side-by-side with epoxy. To make an effective joint...one that holds together AND flexes like the rest of the wood, the edges are scarfed, then bonded. Scarfing creates a gradually slope in both pieces and they are lapped together. Scarfs can be 4:1 up to 12:1 (if the board is 1 inch thick, the slope is cut back 4 inches in a 4:1 scarf). This greatly increases the glue surface and also eliminates the "hard spot" of a butt-joint glue line.
If you really want to hold your broken glass rod together, splint it, wrap the splint tightly with cloth or small rope and then soak the whole thing in super glue. Of course, it looks like crap...but that's another thread.
Once, at a company team-building event, we had to go around the room and tell a little about ourselves. We were asked to give the usual info and also a little tidbit about ourselves that most people in the room (my co-workers) wouldn't know. When it was my turn, I stood up, did my brief overview and then stated "And I make my own shoelaces."
There are many different kinds of glue and they aren't interchangeable. Choosing the right glue for the job will make all the difference. Thinking about the glues I have around the house, here's the ones I keep on hand.
On proof-reading, I realize that this is way more (WAY MORE) than most folks ever want to know about glue...I almost hit delete and let it go...but since it's written, I might as well post....be warned - It's really about glue and it's long.....
Super Glue - This stuff is truly the "superman" of glues. A very small amount has tremendouse holding power. The key to using this stuff ...small quantities....a little goes a long way. The less you can use, the better. Good for glass, plastic, steel...not so good for wood and other porous materials. I often squirt out of puddle and then dip a toothpick or needle to apply the glue. Use less! This stuff is great for "fixing" knots. A drop or two on a rope or string at the knot and it is never coming out. You can soak a small rope in the stuff, wait for it to dry and the rope will be stiff as a rod. I've made shoelaces using ths technique (just soaking the ends) out of 3mm rigging rope (REI is one place to get it). I don't burn or whip rope anymore to keep rope from fraying, I use super glue to soak the ends. Sticks to skin like nobody's business. My uncle super glued one knee to the bathroom floor (he was fixing something and accidentally knelt on the tube of super glue he was using squirting it all out, by the time he realized it, he was glued to the floor) and had to call the fire department to help get him free. No kidding! Can be layered for added strength. Almost impossible to get off your skin without solvents. Poor shelf-life, opened tubes get hard in a couple of months.
Rubber cement - A great glue for bonding two things together that share a lot of contact area (this stuff is also called "contact" cement). Good for laminating. Key to success is to put the glue on the contact side of both pieces and then let it dry. I know you don't want to wait that long. Wait anyway. Find something else to do. Come back in 20 minutes. Make it 30. It should be dry to the touch. If it is tacky, come back in 10 minutes. I put it on with a spatual or scaper. You can also use a paint brush...once. For laminating, line up the pieces by putting dowels or similar between the two pieces. Pull a dowel out on one end and start working your way across, pulling the dowels out as you go. It is NOT possible to "adjust" the pieces once they touch! Flammable! Rubs off your skin after an hour to two. Gets gummy in the can/bottle after a while.
White glue/yellow glue/wood glue - Some waterproof, some not so much. Elmers falls into this category along with various wood glues (Titebond being a common one). A great glue for bonding wood together. The joint is often stronger than the original wood. Put the glue on both pieces, clamp or fasten (with screws or similar) the pieces together. Pieces can be adjusted/repositioned. When clamping, don't over clamp. Cleans up with water. Generally, I let it squeeze out and then scrape and sand off the excess after it is dry and hard. You can wipe if off with a wet rag when it is soft, but only do this if you aren't going to stain the piece. The water thins the glue and wiping it drives it into the wood. That area won't take stain and you'll have to sand it down to get to fresh wood. This may not be obvious until you start staining. Can be layered for added strength. Easy to get off your skin with soap and water...clothes washed with fresh glue usually come pretty clean. Keeps almost forever.
Gorilla Glue (and similar) - Also used for wood and can be used for almost any material. This glue expands when curing, so it can make a mess. I use plastic wrap (like Saran wrap) to protect clamps, tools, blocks and my shop table. This glue will also glue materials together that are not the same like plastic/wood, metal/wood, etc. Can be easily sanded after it cures. A good gap filler. Dries pretty quickly and it is water proof. Not for fine furniture, but great for fixing a wobbly kitchen chair or laminating some plywood or 2x4's. I used this glue to laminate pressure treated 2x4's into an arch for the framing of a small bridge. Very difficult to get off your skin. Ruins clothing. Short shelf-life...opened containers cure in the bottle after a couple of months.
A close cousin of Gorilla Glue is "Great Stuff". That expanding foam insulation in a can. Think of it as the foam version of Gorilla Glue. You can glue almost anything together with this stuff. If you can contain the expansion, it makes a very dense-celled foam. Left uncontained, it creates a medium-celled foam with a slick, tough exterior. It is waterproof. As an experiment, I soaked 3 samples of this stuff in a bucket full of water for 1 year. Dense cell, a glob of it set up without constraint (with the normal exterior) and the same, but cut in half so the water could get at the inside. I cut all them up at the end of a year. It didn't look like any of them absorbed any of the water. I've glued all kinds of stuff together with this stuff. It's amazing. Very tough to get off your skin and ruins clothes. Short shelf-life on opened cans. I try to use the whole can once I get started...
Epoxy - This is a 2-part glue and is normally mixed together 1:1. I buy the double-syinge stuff (both regular and quick setting). Easy to use and will hold all kinds of stuff together. Kind of "plasticy" when cured..easily machined. I like the 5-minute stuff (quick setting) for most jobs. It isn't as strong as the normal stuff, but the quick set can be handy for some jobs. Can be layered, but like concrete "two pours" don't really mingle. Tough to get off your skin without solvents. Ruins clothes. Pretty good shelf-life.
Most common "glue failures" are really about expecting too much from the glue. If you have a glass rod that breaks in half cleanly...pretty much no glue is holding it back together. The more glue surface you can get the better. In boat building, 2 pieces of plywood are joined together side-by-side with epoxy. To make an effective joint...one that holds together AND flexes like the rest of the wood, the edges are scarfed, then bonded. Scarfing creates a gradually slope in both pieces and they are lapped together. Scarfs can be 4:1 up to 12:1 (if the board is 1 inch thick, the slope is cut back 4 inches in a 4:1 scarf). This greatly increases the glue surface and also eliminates the "hard spot" of a butt-joint glue line.
If you really want to hold your broken glass rod together, splint it, wrap the splint tightly with cloth or small rope and then soak the whole thing in super glue. Of course, it looks like crap...but that's another thread.
Once, at a company team-building event, we had to go around the room and tell a little about ourselves. We were asked to give the usual info and also a little tidbit about ourselves that most people in the room (my co-workers) wouldn't know. When it was my turn, I stood up, did my brief overview and then stated "And I make my own shoelaces."
!
