I had a plastic bottle of yellow wood glue that had sat at room temperature 25 years. When I needed it, the level had gone down and it was too thick and stringy to stick properly. Over a period of days, I added water and stirred with a screwdriver.
It worked for the job I was doing. The other day I read that wood glue goes bad after a few months. Is my old wood glue defective?
I just finished a gallon bottle I bought 15 or so years ago. It worked fine to the end.
Most PVA glues have a shelf life of one to two years. It may break the bond under stress over time; or it may not. For about $3, you can have peace of mind. I'd not use it for anything I cared about.
Problem is the plastic bottle. Over time, water will permeate out and glue will dry out. I've recovered old glues by rehydrating but since these glues are emulsions, they do not completely recover. Like you advise, I'd only use for trivial things.
Old Elmers Exterior glue, Ive used old elmers White and Yellow by adding water, when Elmers wont take water its bad.
You've made me curious. Dow doesn't specify shelf life for polyvinyl acetate but says it's shipped with a chemical to inhibit polymerization, and it should be kept out of sunlight and below 86F to avoid it.
Dow says polymerization can burst containers. A page on wood adhesives says PVA glues should not be used on joints with a lot of shear because in time the glue allows creeping. It doesn't say the bond gets weaker.
The Elmer's page says the glue hardens by drying and the shelf life of classroom glues is two years. A difference between a solution and an emulsion is that you must apply energy to make an emulsion. If you can mix in enough water to make the glue thin enough to adhere, why shouldn't it be as good as new?
I remember reconstituting PVA glues three times. The first two times were to replace foam surrounds on loudspeakers, using glue left over from working on other speakers a couple of years earlier. It was a critical application. I used reconstituted glue for eight surrounds. As far as I could tell, it worked like new glue.
I need to that soon myself (replace surrounds). Any opinions on surround suppliers? Prices seem to vary from $1 to $20 per surround. I am wondering about the quality from various vendors.
Foam just oxidises in 10-20 years, rubber lasts maybe 40 years, so far for me.
I got my last ones from matelectronics.com. It seemed risky because they weren't completely described. I bought four sizes and they all worked. I'd call it better foam than the ones I bought before for ten or twenty times the price, but I'm not qualified to judge foam.
I've read that manufacturers of expensive speakers have used urethane although it would rot, because other foams didn't sound as good. One manufacturer used urethane with a butyl face.
I've read that the surrounds of speakers made in the last 20 years or so hold up better. I don't know if it's because of additives or a different kind of foam.
My first time, I bought expensive kits for four woofers. One repaired woofer failed my listening test. The glue had been drying several hours, but I managed to cut it without damaging the foam. Whew!
Yellow carpenters wood glue has a shelf life. Buy no more than can be used within a year or two. Throw out your old glue.
I was doing a project and grabbed for my bottle of glue and it had thickened up quite a bit even though the top was on.Wife says its at least 5 years old. I added a little water and warmed it in the microwave for a few seconds. Worked fine, I still bought a new bottle of glue.
Jimmie
replying to E Z Peaces, Anna216 wrote: I had an old Gorilla Glue sitting in my closet for the last 2.5 years. First used it to glue a wooden chair, but since this doesn't last forever, the time has come to reapply. The glue was thick & unmanageable, even after popping out the tip with an ice pick. So I placed the bottle under running hot water, and after that used an old nail file to spoon the glue out and into the chair. Worked like a magic.
When this glue is gone, will make sure not to buy an 8oz size when half that will do, and get a bottle of a different shape, easier to squeeze.
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