Squeeze out trick you guys are holding out on me.

[Ted Derryberry]

I'm a little more high tech. I have Amazon Echos in three rooms and I'll be putting one in the garage too for when I'm woodworking. Just say "Alexa set a timer for 30 minutes" and that's all there is to it. She can also play music for you in the shop or do simple math for you. Just ask her.

The only problem with that is the NSA will know when your glue up is ready.

[Jim Tobias]

The straw thing works really well.....for an even cleaner straw swipe, cut the end of the straw at an angle. The point of the straw will really clean out the joint well.

Jim

[johnny means]

The only problem with that is the NSA will know when your glue up is ready.

Also, Amazon will be hitting you hard with the glue advertisements.

[Mark Bolton]

This thread reminds me of a story I just listened to about a campaign called something like "dont suck" or something like that. It stated that the US disposes of something like FIVE HUNDRED MILLION straws DAILY. 182,500 MILLION straws a year. A large percentage of these wind up floating in the ocean and break down into small pieces ingested into the seafood that we then later consume. Not to mention those that are left floating in Gyres in the ocean (massive floating islands of buoyant trash in the whirlpools of the ocean).

Maybe woodworkers can put a dent in the waste stream by using "already used" straws to scrape up their glue lol.

[keith micinski]

Luckily I don’t eat seafood so I shouldn’t be affected by all the straws I’m getting ready to start using.

[Mark Bolton]

Luckily I don’t eat seafood so I shouldn’t be affected by all the straws I’m getting ready to start using.

Smart man... Unfortunately the plastic in the waste stream will do-in the spawn.

Personally I can see no reasonable way a straw pushed into a corner (which will leave a radius fillet of uncleaned glue) or even pinched to a semi sharp corner will clean up a joint. If the joint exceeds the capacity of the tip of the straw it will just roll out of the full straw anyway.

The answer is as its always been. Control, or deal with, your squeezeout so there is no need to clean it in the first place.

We dont deal with cleaning up squeeze-out other than rarely. Controlling your glue application can virtually eliminate. Panel glue ups who cares. They go through the planer/sander and the fill is a bonus.

;-)

[keith micinski]

Watch the video it works like a champ. Trying to control glue squeeze out always ends up with me not having enough glue in the joint and I would much rather have a securely glue joint with some squeeze out clean up then not enough glue in it

[Marc Jeske]

Technically , yes.. there will be a micro fillet of glue remaining, but in many cases negligible.

One can remove that fillet easily w the sharp 90 -89 degree cut credit card.. it is surprising how much more that step will remove.

Course ya still got the wiping action of both tools squeegieing the glue right around the joint.. that's when I use the terry cloth warm moist CLEAN rag and briskly clean out that area w alot of pressure in the crotch of the joint where the glue was. Flip rag over, repeat few times, Rinse often.

And you have rag ready and do it immediately.

The rag is just for wiping down the wood.. 99.999% was previously removed w the straw and card.

The straw is a tool like anything else, great for some uses, not so much for others.

A great idea overall.

Has worked for me, but I don't do any "High end" Neander pieces.

Marc

[Mike Chalmers]

Yes, that wipes the glue off. It also spreads it around into the wood and makes it harder to get completely out of the wood grain, especially if your going to stain it. You want to let the glue set up and get semi hard and then scrape it off. The straw trick looks to make cleaning corners out much easier then just using something as a scraper as suggested by other people. Watch the grizzly challenge video where the guy makes the end tables and you’ll see what I mean.

I always use rough lumber, and glue up 2 - 3" pieces to make my panels. It then goes through the planer for final cuts. No worries about smeared glue then. But then, I do not use the huge amounts of glue most do. I use a roller bottle to spread it, and the squeeze out is minimal. Never had a glue joint fail. I have some pieces that are over 20 years old. Joints are as solid as day one. I do not really understand the need most seem to have to apply copious amounts that just ends up being squeezed out anyway.

[Mark Bolton]

Watch the video it works like a champ. Trying to control glue squeeze out always ends up with me not having enough glue in the joint and I would much rather have a securely glue joint with some squeeze out clean up then not enough glue in it

Sorry.. But I'm in the control your squeeze out camp. When we do any glue up we strive for small evenly spaced "pearls" of squeeze out. They are small, evenly spaced, beads of glue. It means the joint is completely full, no gaps (which I despise) and a simple swipe when the pearls have flashed off and they just roll off like bb's.

Over gluing and then using a straw, and then having to have a wet towel handy, is an utter waste of profit. Put thr correct amount of glue in the joint to begin with and screw thr straw, the fillet left behind from the straw, the shaped credit card to clean what the straw missed, and the rag that may or may not smear more glue or create a water stain that bites you in the butt later on.

When we have parts that will be machine cleaned squeeze out is not a major concern (though we still opt to not be slobs and over glue making a mess and wasting glue)... But once you get in the habit of using the right amount of glue you find yourself working without rags, paint scrapers, and I guess now.... Straws.

[Ted Derryberry]

I always use rough lumber, and glue up 2 - 3" pieces to make my panels. It then goes through the planer for final cuts. No worries about smeared glue then. But then, I do not use the huge amounts of glue most do. I use a roller bottle to spread it, and the squeeze out is minimal. Never had a glue joint fail. I have some pieces that are over 20 years old. Joints are as solid as day one. I do not really understand the need most seem to have to apply copious amounts that just ends up being squeezed out anyway.

I agree with that. I glue up door panels all the time and have very little squeeze out. I use a 1/2" nap paint roller and clamp the boards together with the edges up and roll the glue on all of them at once. That's glue on one side of the joint only and there's only the very tiniest of beads of glue squeezed out. A while back I had an unexpected test of my glue joints. I had glued up a panel of six 5" wide boards 66.5" long and with the edges trimmed to size it was 28.5" x 66.5". I had a rush order come up from the same customer so I put it on a sheetrock dolly and it sat there for about two weeks. As will happen I bumped into it and it fell off the dolly with the long edge hitting the floor and broke down the middle. After a few choice words I took a look at it to see what I could salvage. It had broken down the length of one of the two center boards and not on the glue line. Upon closer inspection I found that the outside boards on both sides were bowed away from the center. The panel was trying to pull itself apart and it took the shock of the fall for the wood itself to fail, not the glue at all. Squeezed out glue is wasted glue.

[Marc Jeske]

Using the straw I've been talking about like most 90 degree joints, certainly not flat edge glue ups.

All depends what one is doing.

Anyway, different strokes for diff Folks. Marc

[keith micinski]

My fault for not including a link to the video. This technique has nothing to do with gluing up panels or using rough sawn wood and then machining the glue off, or the best, just use the exact right amount of glue every time you glue something up. That's going to be my new tactic.