-
I like Gorilla glue in a situation like this.
Epoxy is good too, but on some woods it darkens the end grain, and squeeze out can be very difficult to clean fully (with acetone or alcohol) if the wood is open-pored like oak.
Gorilla glue is like a lubricant, so the parts can pull together, and it has a long open time.
-
how many bottles do they get from a Gorilla?
-
If the gorilla is not looking you can get them all.
Titebond and other water based glues swell the domino, and can make it very difficult to seat it in the mortise.
Polyurethane and epoxy glues obviously don't do that.
-
Polyurethane glue (Gorilla brand or otherwise) can absolutely be a nice choice for this. But you still cannot over apply it since it takes up space and it's not gap-filling either. Coat the surfaces to be joined and do the deed. Don't fill the mortise with glue 'cause the same problem can still happen. That's also true for epoxy...don't fill the mortise.
-
I use loose tenons but shop made ones, not Dominos. When I make the stock I cut a shallow sawblade width groove down one face, both faces if it's wide, before cutting them to length. That groove provides a channel for any excess glue to squeeze out. I also cut the tenons about 1/16" short of bottoming out in one of the mortises.
John
-
Some things I do for complicated glueups.....
Epoxy, for reasons given.
Spritz the parts with water before glueup, especially in the dry months. Just damp, not soaked. Gives you about double the open time with no loss of strength.
Drill very small escape holes at the bottom of the tenon so any trapped adhesive can escape to avoid hydraulicing. Can't always do this because both sides show but in your case.
I generally do not put any glue at all in the Dominoe mortice, and to put glue on the dominoes I roll then on a board with glue so it is thin and uniform.
And still, there will be times........