Gorilla Glue Preservation

[Don L Johnson]

I don't use Gorilla Glue alot, but when it has an application, it is hard to beat. I tend to buy the smallest amount, but that still costs $5 or so. I squeeze all of the excess air out of the bottle when finished, and cap it tightly. Next time I need some (may be 3 months later), it is all dried up.

Does anyone have a good way to preserve this stuff? Thanks, as always.

[George Bregar]

Dunno, I do what you do, but also turn the bottle upside down. Works for me.

[Jamie Buxton]

Refrigeration helps.

[Steve knight]

boxegn works well.

[Don Pierson]

You might try storing it upside down. That way there is no air at the applicator end. Couldn't hurt to try.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

It's all about excluding air and moisture.
A metal can into which you pumped nitrogen or some other inert gas might be best as both air and moisture will migrate through the plastic.

[Dave Sabo]

Buy smaller bottles?????

[Grant Vanbokklen]

A painters trick is to breath carbon monoxide into the can as you close it. Take a deep breath and then let it out into the can as you close it. This replaces the oxygen with carbon monoxide from your lungs. Then store the can upside down to seal off the lid better.

Might help. But if it cures because of moisture it might not.

[JayStPeter]

I don't like gorilla glue, but when I use other brands of poly glue I put one of the little red condom looking things from lee valley on it. The tops on all the poly glue bottles are terrible and don't seal well. It makes it last longer, but still not as long as PVA glues. But, it might last two projects instead of one.

Jay

[Dave Cohen]

A painters trick is to breath carbon monoxide into the can as you close it. Take a deep breath and then let it out into the can as you close it. This replaces the oxygen with carbon monoxide from your lungs. Then store the can upside down to seal off the lid better.

Might help. But if it cures because of moisture it might not.

I believe humans exhale carbon dioxide, not highly poisonous carbon monoxide

[Rusty Elam]

spray some of the canned air you use to spray off your keyboard, its cheap and it works

[Alan Schaffter]

I don't have a solution, but to soften the blow, don't buy Gorilla Glue. Lowes and other stores often carry PL brand (or other brand)- it is the same stuff, polyurethane glue, and is usually much cheaper. Gorilla Glue is no better, they just spend a lot of money on advertising and have brand recognition.

[Steve knight]

I don't have a solution, but to soften the blow, don't buy Gorilla Glue. Lowes and other stores often carry PL brand (or other brand)- it is the same stuff, polyurethane glue, and is usually much cheaper. Gorilla Glue is no better, they just spend a lot of money on advertising and have brand recognition.

gorilla is the best consumer poly glue. it has more solids then any other brand and does work better on harder to glue items. it also stores longer. but for most woods it may not make a difference really.

[Grant Vanbokklen]

I believe humans exhale carbon dioxide, not highly poisonous carbon monoxide

I knew that...was just testing you ;)

[Wade Lippman]

I knew that...was just testing you ;)

Smokers exhale CO.
Anyhow, it is about the worst thing you can do. Moisture sets it off, and there is plenty of moisture in your breath.

[Art King]

I don't use Gorilla glue because it doesn't look like the cap will provide an airtight seal. Elmers Probond has a sealing system that keeps the poly glue liquid and stable for well over a year in my shop. I don't turn it over or anything - just make sure the cap snaps in place and it does fine.
Regards,
Art King

[Dave Falkenstein]

...The tops on all the poly glue bottles are terrible and don't seal well....Jay

So I agree with Jay that the top on a bottle of Gorilla Glue does not seal well. And it seems to make sense that several people said to store Gorilla Glue top down to eliminate the air from the area around the cap. But how do you deal with the leakage of the glue through the lousy seal with the bottle upside down???

[George Bregar]

So I agree with Jay that the top on a bottle of Gorilla Glue does not seal well. And it seems to make sense that several people said to store Gorilla Glue top down to eliminate the air from the area around the cap. But how do you deal with the leakage of the glue through the lousy seal with the bottle upside down??? Never leaks for me. Pretty thick stuff.

[JayStPeter]

My personal experience is that Gorilla glue is worse than most poly glues. Solid content aside, it tends to foam more than any other. I test my glue joints often and find that Gorilla has the best chance of failure of the glue joint of any glue I've used. In general, I almost never have glue joint failure when I test. But with Gorilla my tests are around 50%. I have heard the same from others that are significantly better WWs than me. My thoughts are that Gorilla is pretty decent on day 1, but within a week it degrades significantly. I don't use it anymore so haven't tested that hypothesis. I've been using the elmers probond with good results, but have gotten a recommendation for another more difficult to find brand that I'll try out. The probond cap is slightly better than the Gorilla cap, but still benefits greatly from the condom caps I use.

[George Bregar]

My personal experience is that Gorilla glue is worse than most poly glues. Solid content aside, it tends to foam more than any other. I test my glue joints often and find that Gorilla has the best chance of failure of the glue joint of any glue I've used. In general, I almost never have glue joint failure when I test. But with Gorilla my tests are around 50%. I have heard the same from others that are significantly better WWs than me. My thoughts are that Gorilla is pretty decent on day 1, but within a week it degrades significantly. I don't use it anymore so haven't tested that hypothesis. I've been using the elmers probond with good results, but have gotten a recommendation for another more difficult to find brand that I'll try out. The probond cap is slightly better than the Gorilla cap, but still benefits greatly from the condom caps I use. How can it fail 50% of the time...the properties of the glue would be the same. :confused:

Not a regular user but when needed for outdoor applications never had a problem.

[JayStPeter]

George,

I test my glue joints regularly. If I glue up a panel and wind up cutting the ends off, I break them to verify that my joints are strong. I also glue up my test joints when I make them and bang on them with a hammer or some other brutal torture ... I usually save that for when I make a mistake and need to vent a little :cool:.

I learned quite a bit by doing it early on (clamping pressure and such), but more recently the wood always breaks and not the glue joints. But with Gorilla glue, sometimes yes and sometimes the glue joint fails. It's about 50-50. I don't have that problem with Elmers probond or the other brand of poly I've tried whose name escapes me right now (I think made by the titebond people), so I assume it's not technique related. Who knows, maybe Gorilla requires something special that I'm not doing. I have tried wetting the surface, not wetting, various amounts of wetting, glue on one side, glue on both sides, etc. and am stumped enough that I have just decided not to bother with it anymore. I recently read a post on another board where someone made the same comment. I was happy to hear it wasn't just me.

At one point I was starting to convince myself the age of the glue was the issue. I think brand new it works well but I didn't persue it very far. It definitely started happening within a couple weeks. If that's the case, I still find that shelf life unsat.

I wasn't very scientific about my testing, but because of availability I kept trying. There was a small hardware store right around the corner from my old house and the only poly glue they had was Gorilla. At the time, I was building lots of shop cabinets and using poly glue since it wasn't an air conditioned shop. Everything still held together (for at least a few years, I moved and didn't bring the cabinets), but I don't see a reason to pay the same for a product I consider inferior.

[George Bregar]

George,

I test my glue joints regularly. If I glue up a panel and wind up cutting the ends off, I break them to verify that my joints are strong. I also glue up my test joints when I make them and bang on them with a hammer or some other brutal torture ... I usually save that for when I make a mistake and need to vent a little :cool:.

I learned quite a bit by doing it early on (clamping pressure and such), but more recently the wood always breaks and not the glue joints. But with Gorilla glue, sometimes yes and sometimes the glue joint fails. It's about 50-50. I don't have that problem with Elmers probond or the other brand of poly I've tried whose name escapes me right now (I think made by the titebond people), so I assume it's not technique related. Who knows, maybe Gorilla requires something special that I'm not doing. I have tried wetting the surface, not wetting, various amounts of wetting, glue on one side, glue on both sides, etc. and am stumped enough that I have just decided not to bother with it anymore. I recently read a post on another board where someone made the same comment. I was happy to hear it wasn't just me.

At one point I was starting to convince myself the age of the glue was the issue. I think brand new it works well but I didn't persue it very far. It definitely started happening within a couple weeks. If that's the case, I still find that shelf life unsat.

I wasn't very scientific about my testing, but because of availability I kept trying. There was a small hardware store right around the corner from my old house and the only poly glue they had was Gorilla. At the time, I was building lots of shop cabinets and using poly glue since it wasn't an air conditioned shop. Everything still held together (for at least a few years, I moved and didn't bring the cabinets), but I don't see a reason to pay the same for a product I consider inferior. Thanks for the follow up. I wonder if perhaps it's the age of the glue prior to buying it. :confused: Like I say, not a big user of GG although the few times I used it no problem.

[Bill Isaacs]

I wonder if storing this type of glue in a Food Saver bag would help.

[Lee Schierer]

I've never used Gorilla glue itself, but have kept other polyurethane glues in my shop for over a year after opening by storing the bottle upside down. The air in the bottle may cure the surface, but since it is above the glue you can still squeeze out the remaining glue. The small amount that sets up in the nozzle can be cleaned out once the bottle is set upright. Squeeze out a small amount of air right before you cap the bottle and flip it over in your storage cradle, then you won't have glue running out of a loose fitting cap.

Breathing in a bottle is not a good idea since moisture causes the glue to cure. Also, foaming can be significantly reduced if you don't wet the wood prior to application. Most wood and the air has enough moistre for the cure to occur anyway, it will just take a bit longer since the moisture level is lower than wet wood. I've done this for years and have never had a failed glue joint and get minimal foaming.

[JayStPeter]

Thanks for the follow up. I wonder if perhaps it's the age of the glue prior to buying it. :confused: Like I say, not a big user of GG although the few times I used it no problem.

I definitely wouldn't have noticed if I didn't check the joints regularly. I also don't know if I ever would have a problem caused by it. The only reason I persued it as far as I did was because I thought I needed to improve my technique when dealing with poly glues.
I don't think the shelf age had anything to do with it. I've bought GG from a bunch of different sources and at different times. But, anything is possible I guess. Maybe storing it upside down helps preserve it longer once open also. I haven't used GG specifically since buying the little red caps I use, so it could also be all about the poor seal the top makes.

[JayStPeter]

Also, foaming can be significantly reduced if you don't wet the wood prior to application. Most wood and the air has enough moistre for the cure to occur anyway, it will just take a bit longer since the moisture level is lower than wet wood. I've done this for years and have never had a failed glue joint and get minimal foaming.

Makes stronger joints without the extra water, StPeter labs proven ;)

Those in Phoenix may have different results.

[Dave MacArthur]

Gorilla glue did poorly on the glue torture test that was in some mag a few months ago. I fell for the hype, and unfortunately have 2 bottles of the expensive stuff, and have never liked the foaming or relative softness of the joint when I use it.

[Alfred Clem]

I turn my Gorilla glue upside down and keep it inside a tightly closed, empty peanut butter jar. I keep the stuff inside the house where it does not get cold. My unheated garage workshop is not a good place to store any glue.

[David Elsey]

Buy Titebond III instead.