Speedy, Neat Glue Up on Plywood Edges

[John Yak]

The Nexabond pamphlet shows the glue up of various solid wood joints, but the project I was on required the edge banding of solid wood strips to plywood shelves. So I thought this would be a good test to see how Nexabond worked on these thirsty plywood edges.


I stood the shelves on edge (they were only lightly sanded as prep), and squiggled on a bead of Nexabond to this surface ONLY! I placed the wood edging in place by hand and rubbed it around a bit to distribute the glue. Then I taped the edging in place with painters tape and laid the shelf on two clamps to prevent contact with my work surface.


I then repeated this with the second shelf. By the time I finished taping this piece, the first piece was cured!! I immediately got my chisel and trimmed the banding flush. Any glue sueeze out was easily removed by the chisel at the same time.


The perimeter of 3 shelves (11”x 33”) were completely banded and trimmed in under 90 minutes. Normally with my Titebond, I’ll glue up all edges on one day, and leave them clamped/taped until the next day to assure full cure.


This Nexabond was amazing giving clean, crisp glue lines with great strength!! I’m sold!

[Peter Quinn]

I've been wanting to try that stuff. Any notes on its water resistance on the bottle? I actually called them to see if it passed any type II or III water resistance, they couldn't tell me and said they would get back to me, never heard. I'm getting ready to tackle an exterior but low moisture exposure project (under soffit wooden vents), would love a quick set rub joint type glue, don't want to go hi pur.

[Larry Frank]

I had to look up the Nexabond as I had no idea what it is. It is a CA superglue with a longer open time of either 1-3 minutes or 3-5 minutes and that looks good for a lot of things. The one issue that I have is that it is expensive like other superglues. For selective applications it would be great.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Good to know.

I edgeband with a European hot press. These are not easy to find and unsuitable for most hobby shops.

However, I use RF rated glue, Titebond 2 Extend actually. It's rated for hot presses too and it cures in the press in less than a minute with 1/4" solid wood banding on a plywood edge. It still needs awhile to cool and stabilize afterwards before trimming for best results.

In any case, I've experimented some with the press and I think there may be use for applying a PVA glue sizing to plywood edges and letting that dry. You may be able to use less of the pricier CA glue after that.

P.S. if you haven't fooled around with BARGE contact cement you may want to. I haven't used it much for wood but in my experience it glues most common materials together well and if you can clamp it or whack it with a mallet a tight joint can be made, even though it grabs instantly when the parts are pressed together.

[Joe Jensen]

I use either elmers or titebond and here in AZ, 15-30 min in clamps is plenty. I trim anything glued after an hour or so.