Gorilla Glue?

[Robert foster]

What is Gorilla glue good for? So far I'm not impressed with it, especially for woodworking.
Bob

[george wilson]

They mostly used it for repair of outdoor furniture in the museum's millwork shop. I don't like it myself. It is no stronger than a foam cup. I think they went back to the West System epoxy after a while.

[Gary Breckenridge]

I have found Titebond II to be a better product. The foam and the stain are a pain.:(

The Purple Hand:cool:

[Jamie Buxton]

Gluing back together my work boots. It glues leather to rubber quite well, and the squeeze-out doesn't matter much.

[Dave Lehnert]

Test have proved that as a woodworking glue it is not the best at holding power but good for outdoor use.

I think it excels at gluing unlike items together like leather to stone or the like.

[Neal Clayton]

it does hold up in the weather quite well. but then again so does PL construction adhesive, which i find doesn't foam up as much. .02...

[Denny Rice]

When I built my blast gates for my DC system it worked great gluing the 6" 2729 to the top and bottom plates of the blast gates. NO air leaks what so ever.

[Doug Shepard]

What is Gorilla glue good for? ...

Glueing 2 gorillas together?:confused:

[John Coloccia]

What is Gorilla glue good for? So far I'm not impressed with it, especially for woodworking.
Bob

Lots of stuff....just no woodworking!

Here's an esoteric example. It works really well on EPP foam.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
GG is good for extracting $$ from the unsuspecting.:(

Another thing it may be good for is for casting small parts.
I know the stuff turns rock hard in the container if you leave it open.

[Angie Orfanedes]

Glueing 2 gorillas together?:confused:

That clears up a lot for me. Thanks for the laugh, Doug.:)

[David G Baker]

It turns rock hard in the container even if you don't leave it open. I have read this before but had not experienced it until the other day when I went to use it. If you use it up quickly it is good for what it is intended to be used for but it does not store well.

[Mike Heidrick]

Gorilla Glue has a white Type II polyvinyl acetate glue as well. 20-30 minute clamp time and full cure in 24 hours.

http://www.gorillaglue.com/glues/woodglue/index.aspx

Also their gorilla tape works well.

[John Schreiber]

It turns rock hard in the container even if you don't leave it open. . . .
I experimented with it for a while. It is so heavily advertised, I thought there might be something to it. It didn't have any advantages I could see. When it solidified in the bottle, I vowed to never use it again.

[Paul Ryan]

Gorilla Poly glue works great for many things EXCEPT woodworking. I have used it to bond all sorts of things together. I best example is an aluminum track for a sliding screen door down to the bottom plate that was made of wood. I glue it 7 years ago and it is still stuck down solid.

Gorilla WOOD glue is a great glue for your wood projects I prefer it over most other glues because it dries clear. But it does have a farly short open time regardless of what is advertised, about 10 minutes.

[John Morrison60]

I used some plastic lumber for an outside deck surface a while back. (hold the rocks).

GG worked great for adhering the plastic material to treated structural joists.

The plastic lumber manufacturer reccommended it.

[Peter Quinn]

I made two carriage house doors for my garage, each 4'6"X90", one using Gorilla glue and one using tite bond III. It was a sort of low budget experiment to see how each performed over years. Its been almost 4 years, not a single joint failure from either. The joints were stub tenon and dowels. The gorilla glue was a heck of a lot easier during assembly as it doesn't start to grab as quick so I had time to get things squared up and adjusted as necessary. And the dried squeeze from Gorilla glue is much easier to scrape and sand than type III. Just don't try to clean gorilla glue when wet.

I cannot imagine a place for gorilla glue in furniture making or stain grade cabinetry, but its not a bad thing for some exterior paint grade millwork projects, and it is a boat load cheaper than epoxy though probably not as strong. And cleaning epoxy squeeze makes cleaning gorilla glue seem like fun.

[David G Baker]

John S,
Amen on the never using it again.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

It turns rock hard in the container even if you don't leave it open. I have read this before but had not experienced it until the other day when I went to use it.
Maybe a year or so ago, could be two, I bought a bottle on impulse just to have some aorund in case I needed it. I'd used some before & was ok with the job it did. Messy, but it seemed to hold well on the treated (very wet treated) wood I was using.
Anyhow - the bottle I bought has been sitting for about a year - I pretty much forgot about having it.
After reading all the reports of how GG hardens even in an unopened container, I've decided to just let the bottle sit and get hard.
Should make an interesting paper weight :D

[Jay Jeffery]

My folks bought a sunfish sailboat with a cracked daggerboard about 10 years ago. The wood was crushed to splinters ina few places and since it sticks out of the bottom of the boat, it needs to hold up to some abuse. I went to Lowes and bought the most expensive waterproof glue they had, which was this stuff.

I applied glue and clean water as directed, stuck the splinters on the main piece with masking tape and let it dry. It was ugly as sin after it all foamed up, but the daggerboard is still going strong.

There is probably some kind of marine glue that would have been better suited for the task, but it was readily available and did everything you could have asked of it. Any standard wood glue probably would have fallen apart since there was very little pressure or squeeze out, it soaks in salt water on occasion, and is always scraping stuff. I've made a few other repairs with this stuff and other similar foaming glues and been pleased with the results.

As others have said, it is not well suited to be used as a standard assembly glue. When you get it on your hands (which you will), it makes your hands look nasty. it doesn't wash off and lasts a few days, so gloves are in order if you have a desk job or a spouse.

[Stephen Lee]

Gorrilla Glue now makes many types of glues. Equating all Gorrilla Glue to the original is the same as saying there is only one type of Titebond glue.

I have recently switched to the Gorrilla Glue Type II glue and prefer it over Titebond II because it dries clear.

[Mike Circo]

Wow! I must be using a different Gorilla Glue than all you.

I use it about 20% of my glue-ups over the past bunch of years and have had ZERO problems.

The 20% usage is during bent laminations and plywood glueups that need a long open time for assembly. Seriously I've never had a failure in the desks, tables, tight laminations or any use I've used it for.

I glued a solid cherry edge 2 inch thick to a 1¼ inch thick desktop. I use the desk every day and have often hit the edge with the arm of the chair, I've moved the desk by lifting by the edge. I lean on it every day. The only thing holding it in place is GG and it is perfect after 4 years.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but if the right techniques are used it is fine.

M

[Curt Harms]

Wow! I must be using a different Gorilla Glue than all you.

I use it about 20% of my glue-ups over the past bunch of years and have had ZERO problems.

The 20% usage is during bent laminations and plywood glueups that need a long open time for assembly. Seriously I've never had a failure in the desks, tables, tight laminations or any use I've used it for.
...........
It takes a bit of getting used to, but if the right techniques are used it is fine.

M

I was under the impression that bent laminations is one place polyurethane glues would shine---fair open time and they don't creep like PVA glues will in bent laminations. One advantage over urea formeldahyde is minimum working temp. Polyurethane glue is okay at 50 degrees, urea formeldahyde needs 70 degrees minimum. That can be a consideration in cold climates.

Here's a data sheet. I found the part about minimum moisture interesting. We've seen how Norm wets the wood, applies the glue and clamps it up. It looks like you're supposed to wet the wood if necessary, wait about an hour then apply glue and clamp it up.

127712

[Scott Hildenbrand]

I used it while building the gates for the dog run.. Just 2x4 notched and rough chiseled. Used it in the joint to fill the space and pushed two screws into it. Worked fine..

Then I forgot the container.

Then my dog found it....

Then my dog had expanded poly globs over either side of her mouth and I swear, when she pooed, it foamed up.. ;)

She's none too bright.

[Mike Circo]

Curt has it right. Nearly everybody who I talk with who absolutely hates Poly glues fairly soaks the wood before applying the glue. All that does is exaggerate the foaming and weaken the bond.

I use a just barely damp sponge to wet one surface. By the time I get to glue-up, it has sat for 5 or 10 minutes further reducing any wetness. All you are trying to avoid is gluing bone dry wood. The "water needed for curing" is grossly overstated by many.

Foam-out is held to a minimum.

What a lot of people don't know is that you can easily and very cleanly remove any un-cured poly glue with mineral spirits. Drips, runs and the initial foam out can be removed with a paper towel and mineral spirits. Once it begins to foam... leave it alone. That will scrape off with a chisel or scraper and not effect the finish.

Also, Curt is right on Poly for bent laminations. It is slippery and allows the lams to slide past each other while clamping and avoids gaps or warps and gives a good length of time to finish assembly and clamping.