Best glue for inlay and stringing?

[John W Johnson]

I am well into my second Federal project. The first turned out pretty good after a little angst over the stringing. I used hot hide glue to make and install the shell ovals. That part went great and the cleanup was easy. The problems came when I used Titebond to install the stringing. I probably work too slow to use the hide glue on the stringing, and I'd likely make too big of a mess, so I'm trying to get suggestions for alternatives. This project has ovals, banding, inlay and stringing.

My main concern is the best glue to use for the stringing. Would the Lee Valley 2002 GF work? They claim easy cleanup with a scraper to avoid finish problems. I've read the Old Brown Glue hide formulation has a longer working time than hot glue, but shares its ease of cleanup and lack of stains. I'd like any recommendations, those are just two I saw on the LV website.

[Martin Peek]

I used regular PVA wood glue applied with a fine tip syringe in Steve Latta's class for stringing work (highly recommend his class). If the Lee Valley 2002 GF is similar, I think it would work well too.

[Mel Fulks]

Haven't done any stringing for along time,but many years ago worked for a furniture repro company and did way too many! Given its non toxicity , non stain blocking ,ease of cleaning off hands,etc I would stay with the hot glue. Sure you will get some good tips here on exact best type ,viscosity ,etc.

[Frank Drew]

I've used hot hide glue and white glue (PVA); both work well but the hot glue needs to be on the thin side and the wood receiving the inlay shouldn't be too cold or the glue might chill off before you're finished. All in all, I've found PVA the simplest and the results were good; a fine tipped syringe as Martin suggests helps getting the correct amount of glue where it's needed and not all over everywhere else.