new to finishing..with a glue problem

[Len Sherby]

Hi ..first time posting here and first time finishing cabinets..I bought unfinshed oak cabinets which you had to buy wood to glue on the sides if they were going to show.I used titebond glue and clamped it down...Well the problem I have is where the glue came up and I wiped it off I must not have gotten it all off and when i stained it i can see where the glue was and the stain wont soak in there..Is there anything I can do to fix this?..Thanks

[Steve Schoene]

Is the glue on plywood or on solid wood? Solid wood is pretty easy, scrape and sand off the glue and re-stain in those spots. You may have to give another coat over the entire surface to get it even but not a major problem.

If the glue is on plywood you will have a hard time scraping off the glue without going through the very thin veneer. Do what you can, and then use something like a gel stain on the entire surface to cover over the light stained parts.

And, to prevent this next time--use some mineral spirits to wipe the surface. That will reveal glue on the surface before you apply stain.

[ernie riley]

Just a year ago, I couldn't even figure out how to get my hvlp system to work....i had just converted to a total water-base system and was fairly miserable...thankfully, some really nice guys on this forum came to my rescue and i got straightened out....some of my stuff even gets out in public.

anyway, back to the question....the hard answer unfortunately is to sand everything back down and make sure there is no glue left. (in the future you can apply mineral spirits over your piece before you stain and the glue spots will usually show up, but it is too late for that now)...

an easier way to possibly get around the sanding is to let the project dry thoroughly (if the stain is oil base) for several days. then add toner to shellac to approximate the color of your stain (you can even add water base stain to water base shellac to get the color you need if you don't have colorants)...the easiest way to get rid of the light spots is to apply the toner with a sprayer in stages until you get rid of the offending areas. then just let everything dry and proceed with your clear coats.

hope this helps, if not, there are several guys on this forum that can get you out of about any jam.:)

[Len Sherby]

I guess it is just plywood with a veneer finish.I have done some sanding on the glue areas but still the varnish wont sink in those spots.I did 3 other cabinets with no problems.I havent scraped the areas yet just sanded

[Len Sherby]

I'm using minwax Ipswich stain.Its about the only stain i know of at this point.Like I said I am very new to this and thought buying unfinished cabinets would be nice to try.bad thing is the cabinet Im having problems with will be the one right inside my door when you come in so I want it to look good not have the with blotches from the glue.I stopped when I seen the glue areas so i haven't done clear coats yet on this piece

well I might have been abole to help with the HVLP problem since I paint cars for a living

[ernie riley]

The minwax will have to dry for 7 days...then if you have access to an hvlp system, you can simply go to a big box store and get a water base stain that approximates the color of the minwax. add this to water base shellac and spray it over the light areas gently blending the toner out over the entire cabinet.
Definitely do not go to any clear coat until you have the color problem taken care of. Also, in this case make sure your toner is very dry before you go back with your clear coats.:)

[Joe Chritz]

Next time let the glue "skim over" about 30 minutes before removing it with a chisel. It will pop right off and not usually leave any remaining to get in the way of staining.

As it stands you are stuck since you can't sand far enough to get the glue gone with the thin veneer.

Toning or covering with some kind of molding or panel is about the best ways to attack the problem.

Joe