Glue with short (but not instant) open time

[Greg Magone]

I have to glue some miter joints for a project I am working on. The plans call out to hold them together by hand until the glue sets. My regular Titebond II has a 30 minute clamp time and I don't have that kind of patience. What other glues can I look at that have a shorter clamp time?

I'm familiar with superglue but am concerned about the inability to reposition after the initial set.

Thanks!

[Mel Fulks]

There are some hot glue guns with special glue stick types . Way beyond what most of the craft stores sell.

[Wade Lippman]

There is a Titebond glue intended for wood trim. It is very grippy immediately and doesn't require clamping. I have used it a couple times and nothing has fallen apart. I don't think I would trust it on a miter joint that required any kind of strength though.

[Pat Barry]

Can't you figure out a way to clamp them? Why hold them by hand?

[John TenEyck]

I've used this stuff on mitered stair railing joints with good success. Plenty of time to align the joints but then it sets in about 3 or 4 minutes. There's a faster one, too, if you are really impatient.

http://www.amazon.com/Nexabond-2500M-Adhesive-Medium-Handling/dp/B00IN412P2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427042129&sr=8-1&keywords=nexabond+2500+wood+glue

John

[Keith Hankins]

Expoxy is a possibility

[Keith Mathewson]

312 gram strength hot hide glue

[bill tindall]

I have yet to do a miter that I could not figure out some way of clamping.

Cyanoacrylate adhesive is not a permanent wood glue.

[Myk Rian]

I have to glue some miter joints for a project I am working on. The plans call out to hold them together by hand until the glue sets. My regular Titebond II has a 30 minute clamp time and I don't have that kind of patience. What other glues can I look at that have a shorter clamp time?

I'm familiar with superglue but am concerned about the inability to reposition after the initial set.

Thanks!
Yes. Clamp it.

[jack forsberg]

I have to glue some miter joints for a project I am working on. The plans call out to hold them together by hand until the glue sets. My regular Titebond II has a 30 minute clamp time and I don't have that kind of patience. What other glues can I look at that have a shorter clamp time?

I'm familiar with superglue but am concerned about the inability to reposition after the initial set.

Thanks!

the easiest way i do it is called a rub joint with yellow glue ya the old stuff that's out of fashion. found this video as it easier to show you how than tell you i will add that i rub until the parts stop sliding unlike the video.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5fXUzIF0MU

[Lee Schierer]

A cheap easy to use clamp for any miter joint is the nylon reinforced strapping tape. It is strong and sticky, but won't leave a residue. Put your miters together and then wrap the strapping tape around the corner. It will hold as tight as you can with your fingers.

[John TenEyck]

I have yet to do a miter that I could not figure out some way of clamping.

Cyanoacrylate adhesive is not a permanent wood glue.

I hear this said from time to time. Some of those joints are now 5 years old.

John

[JOHN GILLOTTI]

When we trim we make all the door and window casings using tite bonds high pur-former glue gun. It's a hot melt poly urethane glue. There's a 30 second set that is great. We use miter clamps made by the Connecticut clamp co. I guess you could hold joint till the glue dries. Also great for gluing up small pieces and returns

[Joe Spear]

I've used the Titebond trim glue. It is very viscous. I just spread it on the trim pieces and hold it on the casing with masking tape applied every few inches. Haven't had any failures.

[Jim Tobias]

++1 on what John TenEyck suggested.....the NexaBond. It comes in the 2 different set times and really holds. I have been using both of those for over a year and have had no joint failure.
Jim

[ian maybury]

There's lots of cyanoacrylate sold for precisely the purpose of bonding mitres this side of the Atlantic. e.g. http://www.goodwins.ie/p-620-everbuild-mitre-bond-adhesive-kit-pack.aspx They tend to be a slightly more viscous and slower curing (gives longer shelf life too) than normal CA, and an activator. The activator is correctly fairly slow, it delivers an ability to cure though gaps and on more acidic woods (CA normally doesn't) but still cures within a time for which holding it by hand is reasonable. Best though that the joint is not moved during the cure.

I'd be very surpised if it was to turn out that NexaBond was not a CA in a similar vein - one which they have chosen to market as a 'wood glue'. Perhaps to offset some negative perceptions of CA on the part of woodworkers. Part of the reason I suspect these adhesives have started to appear is that (a) they have become significantly cheaper than was the case - back in the day they would have hugely uneconomical in large bonds like this, and (b) because developments mean that they now cure better on surfaces like wood and cardboard that previously caused difficulty.

CA is actually pretty decent on wood, especially on softer woods and in not too highly stressed or shocked situations. The cured polymer is pretty highly waterproof, and it's reasonably strong given that wood is relatively weak. It's biggest down side is that it's quite brittle, and doesn't have much shock or flex resistance. Don't know if seasonal movement is likely to be an issue over time, but I too have bonds on softwoods that have lasted without problems in the house for many years. It seems likely that on many woods these issues are less significant given their relative flexibility.

It's other weakness is that while the polymer is relatively waterproof, the actual bond itself (as in the electrostatic attraction that is one of mechanisms by which adhesives grip) is pretty much instantly unzipped by water. This seems unlikely to cause major issues on woods unless they are very dense and non porous, on normal (porous) woods the wicking of the adhesive into the pores creates a very strong mechanically interlocked bond once it sets that has little or no dependency on the electrostatic mechanism. On the other hand bonds in metals or other impervious materials where mechanical interlocking doesn't happen let go very quickly...

[Art Mann]

I agree with Mr. TenEyck and Mr. Tobias. Nexabond is a good wood glue. I have used it on miter joints for frame and raised panel Keepsake boxes where there is no easy way of holding the assembly together except by hand. If used per directions, it will produce a strong permanent bond. You have several seconds to get the alignment right before it starts to cure. The slow cure stuff takes too long for my liking.

[Bill Orbine]

When I'm on the field installing moldings, I often do a lot of miters such as self-returns and small pieces and I need to use glue. I don't have much time to wait for the glue to set, either. Masking tape! The blue stuff. I'll do two pieces, mitered and taped together with wood glue and put aside for a little while and do something else. Come back a short bit and continue installation of that freshly glued together mitered pieces when the glue has set.

[Myk Rian]

CA is actually pretty decent on wood, especially on softer woods and in not too highly stressed or shocked situations.
I used to build wood RC boats with CA. First it got the thin type, then gap filling over that.

[Mark W Pugh]

A cheap easy to use clamp for any miter joint is the nylon reinforced strapping tape. It is strong and sticky, but won't leave a residue. Put your miters together and then wrap the strapping tape around the corner. It will hold as tight as you can with your fingers.


Blue tape on miter joints works to. No reason to hold a miter joint and have the possibility of it moving.

[Bradley Gray]

I built a house about 5 years ago and used one of these (http://www.titebond.com/hipurformer.aspx) polyurethane glue guns to glue all the mitered corners of the cement board siding. Several different cartridges available 30, 60, 120 second set time. Last time I was there I looked closely and all the miters are still tight.

[Jim Finn]

I use Elmer's white glue and it sets up in minutes. I do the central miter joints on this star using this white glue, no clamping. I just push it together and walk away. After an hour I epoxy the back side.

[Prashun Patel]

I have heard - but have not tried - Old Brown Glue or Liquid Hide glue has good initial tack.
I have also heard good things about Nexabond. However, it's a relatively new product and I'm not sure it will hold for long amounts of time. That bears some research.

Also, consider sizing (sp?) your joints prior to gluing them together.

[Frank Drew]

Regular hot hide glue is perfect for quick-acting rub joints, but white or yellow glues also work but take longer to grip.
For a four piece mitered assembly like a picture frame, though, I'd clamp in some fashion, and then reinforce the joints once the glue had cured.

[Brad Schmid]

For most of what I do (cabinet and furniture trim/moldings, crown molding, etc) normal glue and strategically placed Grex 23ga pinner to hold until glue dries does the trick. That pinner is a useful little bugger, so tiny :) Also use blue tape like others when necessary.
Lots of methods work of course. I don't care for having lots of different types of specialized glues around though. Not because it doesn't work, but because it usually ends up going bad before I can get my moneys worth out of it...