Glue Up - When Do You Remove The Excess Glue?

[Jeff Wright]

I continually go back and forth whether to wipe away excess glue right away while it's still wet or let it dry and deal with it then by sanding/scraping. What do you find works best?

[Craig D Peltier]

I let it dry, i find it easier to have a sharp scraper and chink it off that way. I suppose with soft or narly grained wood this wouldnt work as well.
I find if you smooth it out it spreads wider and takes more to take it off.
Im sure theres some solution that someone has other than mine.

[Hunter Wallace]

I try to get rid of it right in between wet & dry...wry, if you will;)
About 1/2 hour (+/-) after it's been applied, although with really large
drips or globs the outside tends to film over leaving a gooey center.
Old chisels or paint scrapers seem to work well for me. It sticks together
and comes off pretty cleanly. I've always found waiting for it to dry
runs the risk of ripping out wood fibers and wiping it down just tends to
spread out the mess leading to the need to do more sanding/scraping.

[Pete Lamberty]

Hi Jeff, I always wipe away the the wet glue immediately with a wet cloth. This seems to work great for me especially in those hard to reach areas like the insides of corners. It would be horrible to try to remove dried glue from in there.

[Jim Becker]

Pete, best practice is also to put a little blue painter's tape in those corners to keep excess glue off the wood surface as much as possible since it's so hard to remove. Even with a damp rag, quite a bit of glue gets left in/on the wood.

Jeff, I've moved largely to waiting about 45 minute to a hour and then carefully using a scraper to remove squeeze-out without smearing it around. (PVA glue) And, I've also learned to mask in hard-to clean places as indicated above.

[Doug Shepard]

I try to get rid of it right in between wet & dry...wry, if you will;)
About 1/2 hour (+/-) after it's been applied....

Me too - it's stuck together enough that it will usually lift off in one long slice, but not bonded to the wood so tight that it takes a lot of work to get it off. I lean more towards 45 mins though.

[Jesse Thornton]

Yeah, if I can time it right, I like to remove the glue when it's no longer goopy but not quite hardened. Given a choice of extremes though, I prefer to wait till it's dried and use a cabinet scraper than to spread diluted, watery glue into all the pores.

[glenn bradley]

The time to wait depends on the weather so I use consistency. After 30 - 60 minutes the squeeze out is past 'skinned over' point and not yet hard. I then use a bench chisel to pare or scrape it off. Works well.

[John D Watson]

Along with all the above, I have tried this and it works pretty well in areas that can't be reached.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32092&cat=1,43415,43440

The glue residue just pops off. But then you are left with getting the product off with solvents. they say it works well as a steel surface protector too.

[Neil Lamens]

Hey Jeff:

I preferr white glue over yellow and I remove right away...damp rag. I have a putty spacular(sp?) that I get most of the glue off with. I've never found this "watery glue paste filling pores" to ever be an issue. Any glue issue for me has always been, my carelessness, drips from the bottle or glue on my hands.

In colder temperatres I'll use yellow glue but I really don't like it because it's to gluey for me. If I move to another operation in the shop I'll go back and after the yellow glue cruds-up pick it off, but if I'm into an operation that I can't leave, I'll remove right away using a damp rag. Admittedly, white glue removes better than yellow with a damp rag, but the damp rag still works.

This idea that a damp rag doesn't work to me is just an admission of one preference over another. But I can confirm that the damp rag routine works.

If you are in a shop with numerous projects going on, remembering that you have to pick off glue from another project, doesn't make sense to me.

Neil

[John Michaels]

Contrary to how most people go about this, I prefer to prefinish then glue together. I built a small table recently and I didn't prefinish. What a pain. Getting the excess glue off the wood was time consuming, and it stained the wood (made it lighter). Then when it came time to apply the finish, that was a chore too. Getting into all the crevices when applying the finish, then sanding into those same corners was just too much work.

When prefinishing, I tape off the tenons and put cotton balls in the mortise holes. Then I apply the finish. When it's time for glue up, the glue wipes right off the polyurethane like it was never there.

[Dan Forman]

I have certainly found that a damp rag does not work with yellow glue. It apears as if all of the residue is gone, but there are tell tale light areas after the dye or finish goes on.

I'm leaning toward using hide glue for this reason, on projects that wouldn't be exposed to excess moisture. Also of concern is repairablility, if that might enter into the equation.

Dan

[Jim Summers]

I have certainly found that a damp rag does not work with yellow glue. It apears as if all of the residue is gone, but there are tell tale light areas after the dye or finish goes on.

I'm leaning toward using hide glue for this reason, on projects that wouldn't be exposed to excess moisture. Also of concern is repairablility, if that might enter into the equation.

Dan

My experiences with damp / wet rags lean to what Dan and others have experienced. You think you have it all off but then inevitabely there is still some lighter areas when the stain goes on. I have had better luck if I add some vinegar to the water.

HTH

[Keel McDonald]

A tip I came across at some point was to use a straw, cut the end at a 45 degree angle, and use that to "scoop" up the excess glue (where 2 boards meet at 90 degrees, i.e. table legs and aprons). It works very well. There is only a small amount of glue to clean up following the scooping. This prevents smearing the biggest part of the excess glue.

[Andrew Williams]

I rag it off immediately. I have done the "scrape the half dried glue" routine enough to realize that it doesn't work for me any better than ragging it off. I always go over everything with cabinet scrapers after glue up anyway. I feel that this last step is the most important part, regardless of method for glue removal.

[Robert Mayer]

Pete, best practice is also to put a little blue painter's tape in those corners to keep excess glue off the wood surface as much as possible since it's so hard to remove. Even with a damp rag, quite a bit of glue gets left in/on the wood.

Jeff, I've moved largely to waiting about 45 minute to a hour and then carefully using a scraper to remove squeeze-out without smearing it around. (PVA glue) And, I've also learned to mask in hard-to clean places as indicated above.

I use blue tape for all my glue ups now. I gave up trying to scrape and sand the glue off. Even panel glue ups i started running tape all the way down.