taking off glue squeeze out

[Mel Fulks]

I was taught that exposing fresh glue to a wet rag adversely affects the joint, thinning down the glue and swelling the wood, both of which create a more visible and weaker glue line. I have also observed that after the kids, their friends, or other hangers on have made a batch of cutting boards in the shop, the planer will barely function.

yeah, I think they call it “compression ring set” . Water makes the wood swell …which counterintuitively is NOT so “swell “. As it compresses
the the pieces. Then, when they dry they get narrower , by shrinking away from from each other.

[William Hodge]

My first job was in a factory that made bent laminations and other parts for wooden sunrooms. The glue room would put out (24) 20' long laminations and a lift of straight stock every other day. The beams were 6" wide and 3" thick. The glue was two part brown glue, the formaldehyde stuff, similar to resorcinol.

All that wood went into a Powermatic 24" planer, later on a Paloni. No one cleaned any glue off the laminations. The planer just ground it up. The steel knives were fine, they would get changed every week. The knives worked fine.

It's sand that knicks and dulls the knives. Putting wood on the floor, and anything that gets dirt on wood, gets the wood dirty, and knicks the knives. Sanding the wood leaves grit, which just dulls the knives.

The only time I messed up the knives at the beam shop was when I planed a beam with a 2 1/2" flat washer under the glue. It made a lot of noise, broke the edges off the knives.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

They certainly do not appear to be overly concerned about squeeze out at Thomas Moser, as can be seen in the video recently posted. Having massive industrial equipment and the resources for a strict sharpening schedule would be a game changer.

[chuck van dyck]

This def seems like one of those lookin for a problem questions. If you haven’t had any issues don’t overthink it. Personally I just grab whatever is closest and will get the job done and remove as much squeeze out as I can. Globs under the clamp bars get about 30 seconds with a block plane until I feel okay about it going in a machine. On chairs and the such I use a toothbrush and hot water. Never even considered it to be worth thinking twice about cleaning up with water.

[Jeff Roltgen]

I was taught that exposing fresh glue to a wet rag adversely affects the joint, thinning down the glue and swelling the wood

Likewise, and I agree, and cringe every time I hear someone advising to do so. Never add any more water to the lumber than necessary

Can you believe that cured glue is harder than an oak knot?

Again, took the words right out of my mouth.

When starting out with a Delta finishing planer, all I had to do was look at the knives the wrong way and there'd be a nick, so yes, I think a proper answer is qualified by asking first, what are you using for a planer, or more to the point: carbide or HSS knives? If the latter, clean up all the more important. Once going to carbide spirals, only thing that ever hurt a knife in 15+ years was a hardened pine knot.

No worries with glue, other than, no matter what you're running for a machine, you do need to scrape the bottom as smooth as possible to promote better feeding of the workpiece and preserve the flatness.

I strongly recommend the "scrape it while it's just rubbery" method. If it can be done with a plastic putty knife, you know your timing is right on. Saves on paper towel but most importantly: time spent laboring.

jeff

[Myk Rian]

Does this paste affect finishes? Does it it sand away?

It doesn't appear to affect the finish. I apply it with an artists detail brush, like eyeliner.

[johnny means]

Because of time with people who learned the trade very young, ran shops that did furniture runs of over1000 pieces at a time, ran large shops running many custom jobs jobs at once. Ive past questioned chemists from glue suppliers, finish suppliers, sanding suppliers for more details on their products.

Kind of sounds like me.

[Stan Calow]

sounds like everyone has their own experience. I think it's not worth the risk of damage. Preventing it before it dries is one thing. After its hardened is another. Sometimes you cant get to the back side of a glue up in order to scrape it off while wet, or just plain dont get back to it in time. I use a chisel plane to level dried glue down first, is safer than just going right to the planer. The chisel plane cuts closer to parallel to the workpiece, with more heft and with less prying, gouging action than a bench chisel or scraper. And you can get into corners.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Did anyone notice that the OP mentioned that he didn't manage to get to the squeeze out before it dried, unlike what he normally does? So all these comments about you need to clean off the glue before it dries are moot. He knows that. He's asking what to do since he didn't get to it in time.

In answer to what I believe your question is, I use a chisel plane or a carbide scraper to knock off the glue then sand everything.

Apologies for the rant. I'm feeling cranky tonight and get frustrated when responders answer without obviously reading all of the original post.

Cliff

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Yes I did notice. The OP opens with the question does dried glue damage a planer. I am sticking with YES in regards to a little planer with rubber coated feed rollers. Measuring the hardness of dry Titebond should be easy enough. I can not find any data on the web. When I do a big lamination that ends up messy, I knock the glue down with 16 grit on the 9 inch body grinder.

[Warren Lake]

Original poster asks about cleaning glue or if it will affect his knives. '

For your best glue joints remove your squeeze out before it hardens. Its for the glue joint. Then the knives dont even enter into it.

Original poster says well ill sand the glue down. If the point is about not being hard on the knives from the glue, then dont introduce sanding grit into it, its hard on the knives. Use a scraper.

[Ben Schmidt]

Let the glue fully harden and then run it through your drum sander the next day. No problems.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Let the glue fully harden and then run it through your drum sander the next day. No problems.

That practice works but drastically shortens the life span of the abrasive. Very coarse abrasive is better at resisting glue load up than 60 or 80 grit

[Ben Schmidt]

That practice works but drastically shortens the life span of the abrasive. Very coarse abrasive is better at resisting glue load up than 60 or 80 grit

Probably so, but I haven't found my 80 grit paper on my 19-38 to do any worse or gum up with fully hardened titebond 3. Still, I'd much rather replace sandpaper than planer knives or cutterheads!

[Michael Burnside]

Probably so, but I haven't found my 80 grit paper on my 19-38 to do any worse or gum up with fully hardened titebond 3. Still, I'd much rather replace sandpaper than planer knives or cutterheads!

I do the same on my 19-38 but I never wipe the glue with water and I scrape it after about 1-2 hours after glue up. Never have an issue with any gumming of 80 or 120 grip paper with this method.