Dealing with glue squeeze-out way too late...

[Dan Friedrichs]

I usually wipe any spilt glue off with a wet rag. I'm working on some tables right now, and decided to let the squeeze-out set up and scrape it off with a chisel once hardened. That worked fine, and I sanded over the area just to make sure I got all the glue. Once I wiped my finish (shellac) on the piece, though, there were several spots where I apparently didn't get all the glue off. Since the finish is just shellac, can I safely just sand through the shellac in the problem spots, sand the wood a little harder, then apply another coat of shellac over everything? Or should I just leave it alone?

[Jeff Monson]

Dan, I'd sand the spots and reapply the shellac, shouldnt be a problem at all.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Try one of the spots in one of the least conspicuous ares and see how it's going to work. Next time if you decide to go that route after final sanding wipe the joints with mineral spirits and see if any spots stand out. Let the mineral spirits completely evaporate before applying a finish if you go that way.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Thanks for the confirmations. I figured it wouldn't hurt, but just thought I'd ask the experts, first.

I definitely should have wiped mineral spirits on first, Richard, but I was in a hurry. Now, of course, I'll end up spending 10x more time fixing my mistake because of my rush :)

On a side note, I applied the shellac using a cheap HVLP conversion gun, and it worked fabulously. This is definitely going to be how I apply shellac from now on...

[David DeCristoforo]

"Alvays chew are in such a hurry. Never chew haf time to do it right. But alvays chew haf time to do it ofah..."

The old German Cabinetmaler

[glenn bradley]

I definitely should have wiped mineral spirits on first, Richard, but I was in a hurry.

Why is it the lessons we learn best, hurt the most. These are things others have said to me as I (slowly) learned it is better to take my time than to spend the time to do it over. . . .

- Most short cuts aren't.
- When I take a shortcut I usually don't like where I end up.
- Anywhere worth getting to is worth the time to get there.
- etc.
- etc.

Hope you can recover OK. Sanding through shellac should be no problem.

[Harold Burrell]

Next time if you decide to go that route after final sanding wipe the joints with mineral spirits and see if any spots stand out. Let the mineral spirits completely evaporate before applying a finish if you go that way.

Just to let you know the depths of my "newbitity"...I have never heard of doing the mineral spirt test before.

:o

[Joe Scharle]

I test wipe with DNA....Dries a lot faster!

[Mike Cruz]

In the future, instead of wiping with a wet rag immediately, or waiting until it has hardened completely, you may want to wait about 1/2 hour when the excess is slightly set. Use a 1 1/2 inch putty knife and just scrape it away. Use it like a chisel without the risk of cutting into the wood. Just make sure you don' "drag" it...that just spreads the glue around. This method really gets the glue up great on all sorts of glue ups from chair type glue ups to wide board glue ups.

I'v e always hated the projectiles you get when trying to scrape after glue fully sets...

[Denny Rice]

Dan,

I know I say this a lot on this forum, but I think Norm has a good way of dealing with squeeze-out...After everything is clamped up, just take a damp sponge (not soaking wet) and clean up. When dry finish sanding.

[Rick Thom]

Why is it the lessons we learn best, hurt the most. These are things others have said to me as I (slowly) learned it is better to take my time than to spend the time to do it over. . . .

- Most short cuts aren't.
- When I take a shortcut I usually don't like where I end up.
- Anywhere worth getting to is worth the time to get there.
- etc.
- etc.

Hope you can recover OK. Sanding through shellac should be no problem.
... and finally, learn from your experience....LOL. Sometimes I have to learn the same lesson several times!
I was reading an article in FWW that suggests a solution to glue squeeze-out when making M&T joints. What they suggest is to make the joint as you normally would, and then slightly relieve the edges of the mortice with a sharp chisel or knife (ie @ 1/16"?). When the glue is applied to the tenon and the joint closed, any small bit of excess glue will pool in the slight relief cut rather than being forced out by the face of the tenon.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Dan,

I know I say this a lot on this forum, but I think Norm has a good way of dealing with squeeze-out...After everything is clamped up, just take a damp sponge (not soaking wet) and clean up. When dry finish sanding.


I think I agree. I had always done it that way, too, but tried it the other way this time. I'm going back to Norm's method :o