Excess glue and stain problem

[Phyloe]

I am new at woodworking. I was working on a small project where I was gluing 1/8" x 3/4" strips of wood to some boards and then planned to stain the whole thing. I had some glue squish out and used a wet clothe to wipe that off. It looked fine until I stained it and then I found the glue had not wiped off completely and soaked into the wood and would not take stain. I was using pine and a dark stain so the glue spots showed up like pale yellow smears along the strips. I tried using a very modest amount of glue but it still squished out when I used clamps. How can I avoid this problem on future projects? Phyloe

[Todd Fatheree]

Glue squeezeout is a fact of life. There are opinions on both sides of this, but I don't like using water to clean up glue. The thought is that when you're cleaning up the glue with water, you're actually leaving a coating of diluted glue on the surface. What I do is wait for the glue to get about half-set, then use a chisel to peel the glue off the surface. If you let the glue fully harden, it will be hell getting it off the wood and you will likely take wood with you. Another option that I seem to have limited success with is taping off the areas likely to be affected with painter's masking tape.

todd

[B a r r y]

I prefer remove the squeeze out with a sharp chisel, when the glue gets to a jelly stage.

On rare occasions, I'll pre-stain certain parts, protecting the area to be glued with tape.

Barry

[Phisherman]

After many years of various projects, experience tells me the exact amount of glue to use to avoid excess. Until then, you can line both sides of the joint with masking tape during the dry run, apply the glue and clamp, wait an hour for the excess glue to set up, then peel off the tape.

[toller]

The gel stage they are referring to is when the glue has nearly dried out, but not fully hardened. The glue will just then pop off rather than smearing. You might want to do a few trials so you know when to catch it at the right time.

I use a scraper rather than a chisel, but I suppose that is an individual preference.

It is possible to wash the fresh glue off, but you have to be very thorough; and is probably not good for either the wood or the joint.

[John Hofstad-Parkhill]

Todd:

If I am using an oil-based finish, I will use paste wax. Minwax Finishing Wax to be exact. I dry-assemble the pieces and rub the wax along any squeeze-out location. Then glue/clamp as usual. Glue pops off pretty easily. The solvents in the finish seem to do a fine job of spreading the tiny bit of wax around. If you put gobs on, I could anticipate problems, perhaps a few minutes with some mineral spirits. I've not had any problems. My finishes are home-brew tung oil and/or linseed oil, poly and mineral spirits. Wipe on and off. I almost never use stain.

[GerryG]

I see a number of suggestions posted, but I don't believe any single answer always applies, here or anywhere. With many pines, the glue will quickly soak below the surface and effect any later stain. If going to stain, I'd use tape to mask the area. Sanding also effects this, as the coarser the grit, the more the surface absorption. With denser pines or many hardwoods, you can often wait until the glue just starts to set then pop it off with a chisel.

If you have an accident with pine, I'd quickly flood it with water. Take a stiff brush and quickly scrub, wipe, then repeat. With find sanded oak, two wipes with a damp cloth may be enough, or popping off semi-dried glue may work.

I came to these conclusions by taking several samples of four different woods, and applying each method to each wood type, letting it dry, then applying a dark pigmented stain.

If you question if any particular method will work, and work the exact way that you're doing it, then try it first with a small scrap piece. Remember, change the wood, the sanding grit, the stain, the type of glue or the temperature, and the results may vary.

GerryG

[Doug Goulden]

I'm not an expert and have only completed a few projects, as a matter of fact I had the same problem as you described. I helped to solve it by masking off areas I don't want glue on and by verifying there was no glue before I stained and finished the piece. I found an article on the Internet that recommended wiping the piece down with denatured alcohol before finishing it. Glue spots will show up as white blotches. Its way better to detect your mistakes before you put the finish on. By sanding and sraping you can usually get those blotches off with a little effort.

[Larry Jaques]

It's better if you let the glue dry to a semi-hard state and then use a scraper to remove it. Sand or scrape afterward and you won't have a glue line to worry about. Norm (and others) should be ashamed of themselves telling people to remove wet glue with a wet cloth.

Best bet to avoid stain problems: Don't stain. Clear finishes will work over a small amount of glue. Buy wood of the type and color you seek instead. If you figure in your costs (prestain conditioner, stain, brushes, containers, and loads of your precious time), it's

-cheaper- to buy real wood and not try to make junk wood "look something like" the real wood, which it can never fully do.

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[firstjois]

A lot of good ideas in this thread! I try to be extra careful with the glue and to keep it where I want it, I apply glue to both surfaces of a small project with an artist's paint brush and eyeball the surfaces, flatten/remove any extra with a popcycle stick and then put the two surfaces together. I often wonder if I'm taking chances the glue will be weak in spots because it didn't squish out the sides (?) but so far so good.

Josie

[Bill Stock]

I got hosed by this just recently. I was wiping with a damp cloth and sanding out afterwards. It seemed to work fine, except for two noticeable spots. It must have been a difference in the roughness of the grain of the wood (red oak). I wasn't even using stain, just clear coating.

It'll be tape and chisel for me from now on.

[GerryG]

[nospambob]