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Gorilla or Carpenter Glue?

markshan

markshan

Sir Thrift a Lot
...or even perhaps some other adhesive.

My dining room chairs are coming apart. The picture below shows some joints which have one rectangular dowel type joint rather than two small round dowels. My first notion was carpenters glue and clamps. But then I thought about how Gorilla Glue (which I don't really enjoy working with) swells as it sets. I wondered if it would do a better job of completely filling the gap, leading to a stronger joint. I also wondered if it was possible that it would swell so much as to crack the wood around the female end of the joint.

Some of the joints are only partially separated. For those, I had planned to use carpenter glue painted down into the gaps to the best of my ability and clamped. Would it be helpful to thin the carpenter glue for this?

TIA.

 
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Elmers wood glue. Accept no substitute. Don't know why you'd need to thin it.

Gorilla glue sucks to work with. I have no idea what that junk is actually useful for.
 
Apply fairly freely with wood glue, press parts together and secure with a clamp or a securing device of some kind. The excess glue that squeezes out can be simply wiped off with wet wash cloth. The glued joint will often be stronger than the wood itself.
 
KingBubba said:
Apply fairly freely with wood glue, press parts together and secure with a clamp or a securing device of some kind. The excess glue that squeezes out can be simply wiped off with wet wash cloth. The glued joint will often be stronger than the wood itself.
Click to expand...

Yes, with a caveat. Most carpenter glues will not adhere well to old glue. So the joint is best taken apart and cleaned of the old glue before re-assembly. The joints need to be reasonably snug in the first place, neither pva's nor Gorilla glue will fill gaps and have substantial strength. As far as I'm aware, the only thing to work filling gaps is an epoxy, thickened with wood flour.
 
Huhhh?
Not a true believer in Gorilla glue.
BUT it Does indeed Fill gaps.. without any shadow of a doubt. Many cherish it for that reason alone.
You've.. Never.. used it perhaps ?
The swill ...which is the same stuff as inside one of those Spray Foam DIY rattle cans, expands in the presence of moisture to fill any and all gaps.. just like the stuff in the rattle can, it will foam out all over the place IF allowed to.
 
Gorilla glue is basically the same stuff as this, before the act of forcing it out of the can whips it into a foam.

ins-1..jpg



And both are basically the same as this in a different form.

7314e2b6-367c-41e5-ab64-3f21dab49469_400.jpg


All sticky stuff but not wood glue and won't be as strong in the long run.
 
If you can disassemble and clean old glue off all the joints, then Elmers or Titebond are best IMHO. Both surfaces have to be clean for the glue to adhere. For loose joints, I have had good luck with Chair Doctor Glue from Veritas Tools Inc. It can be injected into the gaps with the needle provided, and will swell to lock the joint. It is pretty watery out of the bottle and can leak out, so it sometimes takes multiple applications to build up the joint. Best of luck with your project.
 
Elmer's Wood Glue or Carpenter's Glue, or Titebond. What you want is an aliphatic wood glue, the yellow kind, not the white kind. Do not use Elmer's School Glue.
 
First off you want to remove the old glue with what tools you have chisle files a drill. Prep is important so the new glue has wood to absorb into or tooth to grab like cutting grooves.

I use 5 minute epoxy in my work, it fills gaps, drys fast, and the wood will break before it does. But I also know how to get the excess off with minimal damage to the finish and can touch it up afterwards. If you use this glue you wait till it starts to set-up before you try to remove excess "but not full cure". Otherwise you just smear it all over.

A water base glue will allow you to wipe off with a wet rag, give more time to work with. However it works best on new raw wood, remember the prep I mention? It needs to saturate into the pours of the wood. Some Garila glues recommend wetting the wood joint to help this saturation. You also need clamps to hold it in place until it drys.

Me personaly I would use epoxy even slower drying like 1 hour. 5 minute you need to know what your doing, trial fit and have everything ready to go. No pissy farting around while mixing and applying the glue.
 
I've been using Gorilla Wood Glue, which doesn't expand and foam like the original Gorilla Glue; it's more like Elmer's Carpenters Glue in color and consistency, but it claims to have a stronger bond. Clean surfaces would always help.
 
bare said:
Huhhh?
Not a true believer in Gorilla glue.
BUT it Does indeed Fill gaps.. without any shadow of a doubt. Many cherish it for that reason alone.
You've.. Never.. used it perhaps ?
The swill ...which is the same stuff as inside one of those Spray Foam DIY rattle cans, expands in the presence of moisture to fill any and all gaps.. just like the stuff in the rattle can, it will foam out all over the place IF allowed to.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have used it many times. While it does fill gaps, the foam has little if any structural value, and I would never consider it for anything requiring this. With this glue, the joint needs to be mechanically tight or it WILL fail.
 
For joints that easily pull apart and are fairly clean, I totally agree about the Elmers wood glue or similar. For simple loose joints that don't come completely apart, I have had amazing results with Wonderlok 'Em Tite Chairs glue. I was skeptical, but that stuff really works. It sets very fast and lasts a long time.
 
Glue something with PL and it will 'never' come apart. Not brittle so movement won't affect it. Nice and thick so it will fill gaps.
 
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