shelf life on glue

[Dave Bureau]

Does wood glue really go bad? Ive had a gallon of titebond for over 2 years. should I not use it? Anyone with experience with Glues Gone Bad?
Dave

[David Christopher]

I have had mine about the same amount of time and it still works like new


Dave

[Dave Bureau]

I still use mine too, but is it more apt to fail?

[Matt Meiser]

For white/yellow glue, it seems to get stiffer over time. No idea if it works any differently, but if the bottle starts getting difficult to squeeze, I just throw it away and buy fresh. It also seems like that affects the open time--as it gets stiffer, it sets up more quickly, but that could be my imagination. I did start writing the date on the bottle when I open it to get an idea on the age, but if it still seems to flow well, I keep using it.

Now the DAP plastic resin glue definitely has a shelf life. I bought some that turned out to be quite old and it wouldn't cure period. You could tell the difference between old and fresh because it is grainy after mixing. DAP puts a date code on the package, though I had to call them to decode it. They wouldn't give out the secret decoder. I forget what the shelf life is, but it seems like it was measured in months, not years.

[glenn bradley]

I asked Franklin (Titebond) this question and the answer was that until you see a separation in the glue it should be good. They emphasize that the separation, indicated by a different color layer on top of the bulk of the glue, will go away if you shake it up to re-mix but that the glue should be replaced at this point. Of course, they sell it ;-)

[Tony Bilello]

Thanks.
I will now know when to throw away and I definately will.

[John Thompson]

I buy Titebond in 8 oz. bottles and use 1-2 a month so there is little chance I am going to have bad glue. But the question is has your glue been shuffled on the shelf and remained in the rear past the glue code on the bottle. With what the stores pay those that stock shelves I hardly doubt you will find overly convciencious employees in many cases that will take down the old before adding a case of new to the shelf. Not so much a problem in a fast moving store that sells lots of glue. But... it can happen.

Titebond has a glue code on each bottle regardless of size. Look at the code which will be 6-7 numbers or letters. But...... only the first two are the actual date of manufacture. And there is one letter they don't use which is believe is I. This is not to confuse with 1 I believe as I once knew.

Example... my current two 8 oz. bottles code start out 8G and again the remainder are not relevant except to the manufacturer. This means the year 2008... month G is the seventh month if you count for A thru G so we have July. Or July.. 2008 is the manufacturer date.

Hope that helps some if you are a Titebond user..

Sarge..

[Curt Harms]

A stable cool temperature should yield a longer shelf life than big temperature swings, freezing (toss it) etc.

[Jon Grider]

to me ,too much is at stake to risk joint failure. I buy the 16 oz. or 32 oz. jugs now depending on what projects I have cooking.

[Roger Bell]

A rule of thumb is about a year. I buy from places like HD, which sell a lot of volume and are less likely to have old stuff on the shelves.

While white/yellow may be good after a year, it is just too cheap to chance questionable glue on a project....or at least on a furniture project involving substantial joinery.