Titebond CA glues....am I missing something?

[Michael Donahue]

Hey folks. I just picked up a bottle of Titebond CA glue (this stuff http://www.titebond.com/IntroPageTB.ASP?UserType=1&ProdSel=ProductIntroTB.asp) to try on some miters in trim that I'll be installing. I just tried to put together a miter on 2 pieces of poplar and I stuck to the joint but the wood would not bond. I held it together for a good 30 or 40 seconds and nothing! It talks about an activator on the bottle but there's only one opening and one solution in the tube.

Am I missing something? Is there another activator or product I should use in conjunction with this glue?

Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

[Jess Wetherhold]

They sell the activator separately. You would spray it on one side, glue the other and push the pieces together. It forms an instant bond. I use the stuff all of the time when gluing wood to metal. I'm not sure I would use it for your intended purposes though.
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[Gary Herrmann]

Michael, are there any gaps at all in the miter? CA does not fill gaps well. I also assume the miters are endgrain. If that's the case, the end grain probably absobed the glue. You could try painting the end grain with the CA, letting it dry and then glueing it up, but personally I don't use CA for joints. Maybe it works just fine, but I tend to stick to Titebond or Gorilla glue depending on the application.

[Chris Padilla]

Is this for casework (around a door), Michael? If so, Titebond make a molding&trim glue that is supposed to set up very quickly. I'm starting to see this glue on the shelves in regular stores more and more. If you can't find it, I'd use good old Titebond I (red cap) as it sets up pretty quickly, too (just not as fast as the M&T claims).

I always glue up my casings on the floor, biscuit in each miter, TB I, container of warm water, and go to town. I clean up the glue as it oozes and I use a cable strap to secured the joints. It is ready to nail up in 1 hour so not bad. Best part? No more open miters...ever...on door casings. :)

[Scott Conners]

Another vote for the titebond molding & trim glue. Very tacky, doesn't run, and dries clear. It's not a glue you can make a free floating joint by hand though, it does need time to set up. Thin CA really doesn't fill any gaps at all, and will get wicked deep into the endgrain very quickly. CA cures via a reaction with moisture, so if the wood is very dry it can take a number of minutes to cure. Activator works very well in those situations.

[Robert LaPlaca]

If CA was the glue of choice (I wouldn't use CA glue at all), I would pick a 'thick' CA glue, which would be a better choice on end grain.

Even still, sometime you need an accelerator, to kickoff the curing process, as pointed out by another poster. Or you can use a low tech method of using baking soda, but beware baking soda and thin or Fast CA kicks off violently..

[george wilson]

The very best furniture conservators say that CA glues only last about 20 years. I never use it on any serious work.

[Brad Shipton]

I bet it worked well to stick your fingers together:) Another vote for the moulding adhesive. It works well.

Brad

[Will Blick]

George, its tid bits like yours, that makes this forum so great to cruise...... I never heard thought of the archival nature of CA glues...but am convinced its best to avoid them now for anything serious.... thanks

[David Keller NC]

If you want archival, the only types that are proven to hold up over years and years are animal glues - rabbit skin, hide glue, and fish glues. Even polyvinylacetate ("yellow" glues) have been shown to deteriorate much more quickly than protein glues in accelerated testing.

[Chris Padilla]

Even polyvinylacetate ("yellow" glues) have been shown to deteriorate much more quickly than protein glues in accelerated testing.

Do you have any links that we can check on on this, David? I have never heard this before.

Here is an interesting link by Bob Smalser on the repairability of glue joints:

Are Your Glue Joints Repairable? (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=21822)

[george wilson]

I had the advantage of trained furniture conservationists right beside my shop for years.

[George Adams]

The very best furniture conservators say that CA glues only last about 20 years. I never use it on any serious work.
20 years is a long time..Frankly a piece of furniture that lasts 20 years these days has lived a charmed life..CA glue definitely belongs in any shop for a multitude of reasons.. #1 rule when in use....Wear throw away plastic gloves....I do know one guy who glued two fingers together some 20 years ago.......lol.

[Leo Graywacz]

The very best furniture conservators say that CA glues only last about 20 years. I never use it on any serious work.

I use CA glue (2P-10) as a clamp. I put a few drops in spots (with the activator on the pc to be joined) and use yellow glue around it. Press it together and it sets up quick. Leave it alone for 1/2 hour while the yellow glue dries and then it's a good strong joint. I make lots of miter joints that way.

[jack duren]

I use CA glue (2P-10) as a clamp. I put a few drops in spots (with the activator on the pc to be joined) and use yellow glue around it. Press it together and it sets up quick. Leave it alone for 1/2 hour while the yellow glue dries and then it's a good strong joint. I make lots of miter joints that way.

I do it this way as well...

[Paul K. Johnson]

A tip on using activator. I see this all the time on YouTube - people spraying the activator on the wood with the bottle of CA still sitting there.

Anything that you spray mists all over and floats all through the shop. I found this out the hard way when I made some home made WD40 by mixing light machine oil with mineral spirits. I put it in a spray bottle and used it one time squeezing gently to just get it on what I wanted to oil.

Wood all the way across the shop was covered with that oil. You could see where the droplets landed and then spread as it soaked into the wood.

Anyway, that activator will set off the whole bottle of glue. If you use a lot of it and go through bottles pretty quickly you're probably fine. But it will significantly shorten the shelf life of CA. I put my bottles inside a larger plastic bottle with a lid before I use activator. And I try to avoid activator anyway. It makes the glue more brittle. The faster a glue dries or cures the more brittle it is.

[Paul K. Johnson]

20 years is a long time..Frankly a piece of furniture that lasts 20 years these days has lived a charmed life..CA glue definitely belongs in any shop for a multitude of reasons.. #1 rule when in use....Wear throw away plastic gloves....I do know one guy who glued two fingers together some 20 years ago.......lol.

I learned how to roll my fingers apart when I glue mine together. I avoid CA like the plague but sometimes it really is the best choice - particularly when I have something that I can't figure out how to clamp or can figure it out but don't have the kind of clamps that would work.

Acetone, MEK and Nitromethane all dissolve CA glues. Doesn't take long if you get to it quickly.

[Chris Padilla]

FYI, Folks, but George Adams resurrected an 8 year old therad. :)

[jack duren]

FYI, Folks, but George Adams resurrected an 8 year old therad. :)

Other than new machinery and the rare new question, It's all a repeat of a repeat. Old topic or new it always recycles or gets asked again...