Gluing cracked workbench top

[Jeff Clow]

I picked up a maple top for a workbench I am building and it has a crack about 12 to 18 inches long. I want to glue this before mounting the top. I can' t open the crack much without spliting it further. I was wondering what the best type of glue would be best to get down into the skinny crack. I was considering Titebond (too thick?) or one of the CA glues. If CA would work here, which viscosity would be best?

[David DeCristoforo]

You would be better off to open the crack up a bit to be sure you can get enough glue into it. But, barring that, you can "drag" glue into the crack with a strip of paper or force it into the crack with compressed air. Titebond should be fine.....

[Kendall Landry]

Some glues can be applyed with a syringe. I'd try that. Good luck.

[Brent Dowell]

If the crack is on a glue line, It may want to open up again in the future.

Might be worth thinking about putting a dutchman in (one of those double triangle butterfly inlays) in to keep it from opening up again in the future.

If it was a smaller chunk of wood, like a cutting board, I'd be tempted to slice down the glue line, joint the edges and re-glue, but that would be tough on a big piece like that...

[Scott Moore]

Jeff,
If it were me I'd open the crack up some and chamfer the top edges. Then mix some epoxy (I use West -but- don't use quick setting) and pour into the crack. Fill it about 2/3 full and then mix some saw dust into the remaining epoxy and fill to the top.
The thinner epoxy will fill the void well and get down deep, the thickened epoxy/saw dust mix will blend better at the top. Use a straw from a broom or similar to "stir" the epoxy in the crack and work out any air bubbles. Make sure you overfill the crack as the epoxy will continue to seep into the crack.
Leave it overnight and you can then sand or scrape the epoxy down flush..... End of problem ;)

[Jim Nardi]

You could use a Titebond and a vacuum to pull the glue into the crack. If it's a fairly straight crack you could also rip it in two and then glue it up.

[Jeff Clow]

The top will be reinforced from below, where it mounts to the frame/legs. The crack is not on a glue line, but in the wood between lines. This was sold as a "second", I believe the crack is from being mishandled, or dropped.
I am hesitant to open the crack very much, as it will probably split more. I sure don't want to split it into two pieces to glue back. I agree that cutting the crack out, jointing the edges, and gluing back would be the best, it would be tough for me to joint each half of the table.
The crack is not very big, I was just trying to find out what the best type of glue would be to flow down into the crack. I have worked with Tite bond and pretty much know its characteristics. I have not worked with CA glue, or some others, so was wondering if there was a better choice than Tite bond.

[Aaron Frank]

Somehow I missed Scott's post, but anyway here's a similar thought:

There's an epoxy, by West Systems I think, that's formulated for punky wood. It flows very freely and adds acts as a filler in whatever item you're working with.

So, if your were to tape the underside and the cracked end of your bench top (so the epoxy doesn't flow everywhere), then mix up a small batch of this epoxy and pour it in the crack. Finally, clamp the whole thing together, pulling the crack closed on the epoxy. Don't forget to wipe up the excess -- the stuff dries hard as nails.

Good luck
Aaron

[Lee Schierer]

I've tried getting glue into cracks by all the methods listed in the other posts

I heard a tip the other day for getting glue into cracks. Use a piece of dental floss to drag the glue in. Put a heavy bead of glue along the top of the crack and then use dental floss to work it into the crack. It works great.

[glenn bradley]

Jim beat me to the vacuum trick. Works in some cases where you can't even get the dental floss in. Oh, and PVA glue like TB is good. It has to be thick enough for the vacuum to get ahold of (so to speak). Hopefully this crack is open at an edge so you can (barely) wedge it to allow more glue to get in.