glue gun Q's

[Rick Moyer]

Don't have a glue gun. Grizzly has one on sale right now.
1. What do you use your glue gun for?
2. Want one mainly for woodworking so what considerations should I have?
3. How important is temp/wattage for different tasks?

Obviously I don't know much about them so I need some input.

[Peter Quinn]

I use it for making quick jigs to hold things in place. Once it sets I back the up with screws or nails. And I use it to glue in drawer bottoms from below on commercial stuff, like kitchen cabs or built in stuff. Not for fine furniture so much. Glueing in the drawer bottoms adds incredible strength. I got a 3M gun after my el cheepo dripped goo all over then just stopped working in the middle of a job. Its a hight temp gun, something like 375 degrees? Works great. Any place you need a quick bond but can't get a clamp is a candidate for hot met glue.

[Jon McElwain]

+1 What Peter said. I also use mine for gluing bowl blanks to a waste block on the lathe. I've got the el-cheapo gun Peter was talking about - it works, but I know there are better one out there. Mine is a cheap stanley - like I said, it gets the job done, but I have to be careful that it doesn't drip all over the place, and it is not terribly hot. Sometimes if I glue say a bowl blank, then try to affix it to the waste block, the glue has actually cooled enough that it does not bond. I have taken to heating both surfaces prior to gluing so that the glue makes a good bond. I think that a high temp gun would put enough heat into the glue that the glue does not cool before it makes a bond. I have not used a high temp gun, so hopefully someone else will chime in and refute or substantiate my statement.

Also, there was a similar thread a while back in the wood turners forum:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?158981-What-kind-of-hot-glue&highlight=glue+gun

[Karl Brogger]

+2 on Peter's comments

I really like it for doors that have a small moulding on them. Faster and easier than nails. I think it also holds better.