Titebond II squeezout still gummy after a week

[joe milana]

Glued up some 4" square posts out of 1" thick Hard Maple stock, and thinking since it is for a kitchen island, and may get some moisture exposure near the bottom, I would use titebond II. It's been a week now, and while cleaning the squeeze out off, I noticed it is "gummy". Soft enough that I can bury a fingernail into it. I'm just sick. I've done several other glue ups during this same time period with titebond original, and the squeeze out is rock hard.
I called Franklin, and they asked me the typical obvious questions, but had no answers. Any ideas?

[Chris Padilla]

I think the most obvious one is the date on the bottle or age of the glue.

Typically, PVAs do not get rock hard...they always seem to have some flexibility about them.

[joe milana]

According to franklin, the bottle was mfg'd 5/20/2015. The TB II is noticeably softer than the original. They said the only difference I should notice, is a slightly different color than the original. They are sending me a new gallon.

[Jerry Miner]

If it's globs of squeeze-out that are rubbery, that's normal. It stays flexible even when set-up. Does not mean your project is compromised.

Do you have enough extra length that you can cut off a slice and test the actual joint?

[Peter Quinn]

I've seen blobs of it stay soft for prolonged periods on warm days when the outside of a heavy glue area dried quickly and glazed over trapping wet glue beneath, never seems to dry out until you scrape it off. I've seen thinner blobs of type II dry so hard over night that you could cut your skin easily if you slipped while scraping it. It may not be a major issue. Can you stress the joints mildly and see if they hold?

[Jeff Ramsey]

Most of my squeeze out with TB II gets hard enough to remove with a scraper.

[joe milana]

OK, so I sliced off a 1/4" of the post and rubbed a couple drops of water on it and this is the result. I don't like what I see. the glue just kinda stretches out and is spanning the separation in the joint?!?!
316341

[Mel Fulks]

Sorry it's not going well. I would call this an example of what I mentioned the other day in the thread about board width for panel glue ups; glue companies reccommend using narrow boards because if they are not jointed well they might stay together anyway if narrow. I doubt there is anything wrong with the glue. Try using the glue on a couple of pieces within hollerin' distance.

[Patrick McCarthy]

"on a couple of pieces within hollerin' distance. "

NOW YOU HAVE DONE IT!!!!!!!!! Gotta wipe my lunch off of my monitor and desk. . . . . . . . . guess I should swallow before reading. . . . my bad, sorry Mel.

[Mel Fulks]

Even regular Titebond fully cured would not be affected by a little water. I would just test the glue on two pieces that are flat ,preferably newly dressed to asure there is no contamination. If they stick I would consider the condition of any squeeze out irrevelant.

[joe milana]

Funny thing is Mel, the joints you see next to the separated one held just fine when I snapped the wood when dry. It's just the addition of a small amount of water that caused the joint to open up. I was going to use a WB finish on these, but I think I will reconsider at this point. In the mean time, I have several test pieces glued & drying.

[scott vroom]

That picture looks odd. Looks to me like the boards at the open joint are not straight, not even close. What exactly am I looking at there?

[Mel Fulks]

Scott, you are wise to ask! I was way off on my interpretation, one of those perspective things.

[joe milana]

They are drops off the end of some 4 x 4 posts that I glued up. About 1/4-3/8" thick. I actually discovered the problem by using one of the drops as a coaster and setting a can of cold coke on it for about 5 minutes. The result can be seen in the piece with the circular water mark, and the opened joint. Since I discovered the issue, I applied water to several other drops from the same batch of glue ups. all with the same result. Separation at the glue joint. When I break a dry one with my bare hands, I get wood failure, not glue joint failure.
316369

[Barry McFadden]

Sorry to hear about all the trouble you're having...I've never used Titebond but I've seen it discussed here a number of times. Have you ever tried Gorilla Glue? I make quite a few cutting boards mostly Cherry, Maple, Purpleheart... and use Gorilla Glue on them. It's 100% waterproof and just to test once I put one of my cutting boards in the sink and let it soak for over an hour and all of the joints were rock solid when I took it out and dried it off. I've never had a joint fail using this glue.

[glenn bradley]

I am so confused :rolleyes:. Something is not right, obviously. I have never had a TBII problem like this. Contamination? Storage problem? Glue was frozen and then thawed? Something weird :). The picture is quite confusing; are the pieces actually that curved? It will be interesting to see if the replacement glue behaves differently.

PVA does remain "soft" but, dried squeeze out is stiff enough to chip off; more like the "soft" of malleable metal not like soft like leather. I would take the suspect glue, put a drop on the wood you are using and smear it out flat with your finger (the way a film of glue would be in a joint). Give it 24 hours (Franklin's recommended full strength time) and see how it behaves.

[Jerry Olexa]

I too have never had any problem with the TB glues as you say..

[joe milana]

Sorry for the confusion Glenn. The boards were flat and square when glued. The addition of water caused the wood to warp as shown in the pictures. What you are looking at is a 4" x 4" square end grain slice, about 1/4" thick. Cut off the end of a 3' long post that I glued up. the glue up was a week old when I noticed the "problem". Since my original post. I placed the glue-ups in an Air conditioned room, and the squeezout has hardened considerably. Maybe it was an issue of the heat & humidity here this time of year. Strange thing is, I did glue-ups with titebond original at the same time, and the squeezout from it was hard in one day. According to Franklin, both glues should behave exactly the same. Hence my concerns.
Maybe this whole thing is nothing. But time will tell. I just hope I don't get a call back in time because the legs on this kitchen island "cracked".


I am so confused :rolleyes:. Something is not right, obviously. I have never had a TBII problem like this. Contamination? Storage problem? Glue was frozen and then thawed? Something weird :). The picture is quite confusing; are the pieces actually that curved? It will be interesting to see if the replacement glue behaves differently.

PVA does remain "soft" but, dried squeeze out is stiff enough to chip off; more like the "soft" of malleable metal not like soft like leather. I would take the suspect glue, put a drop on the wood you are using and smear it out flat with your finger (the way a film of glue would be in a joint). Give it 24 hours (Franklin's recommended full strength time) and see how it behaves.