Opinions on urethane (Gorilla) glue

[Mike Hartigan]

It seems that most major marketers of wood glues are now selling their own brand of urethane glue. I've used Gorilla Glue for a number of small repairs and have generally been pleased with the results, although it takes a week to get it off my fingers. It appears to be particularly good as a wood glue. I'm reluctant to use it in place of the old standbys on an important project, though, because it's new to me. Does anybody have any long-term experience with this? I'm assuming that it needs a different technique than traditional wood glues (Elmer's, Titebond, etc). Can someone fill me in on the idiosyncrasies of this stuff? How sandable is it? Does it stain well? Is it critical to remove the excess before it dries? How do you get it off your hands?

[Morris Dovey]

Mike Hartigan wrote: | It seems that most major marketers of wood glues are now selling | their own brand of urethane glue. I've used Gorilla Glue for a | number of small repairs and have generally been pleased with the | results, although it takes a week to get it off my fingers. It | appears to be particularly good as a wood glue. I'm reluctant to | use it in place of the old standbys on an important project, though, | because it's new to me. Does anybody have any long-term experience | with this? I'm assuming that it needs a different technique than | traditional wood glues (Elmer's, Titebond, etc). Can someone fill | me in on the idiosyncrasies of this stuff? How sandable is it? | Does it stain well? Is it critical to remove the excess before it | dries? How do you get it off your hands?

I've used it for a number of different applications and it seems to work well for most. It didn't work well for installing T-tracks subject to significant shear forces (along the length of the glued-down track).

It'll clean up really quickly with acetone and a paper towel.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Lew Hodgett]

Mike Hartigan wrote: > It seems that most major marketers of wood glues are now selling > their own brand of urethane glue.

IMHO, strictly over priced and under peckered.

If Titebond isn't good enough, use epoxy.

It simply works.

Wear disposable gloves.

Lew

[Patriarch]

Mike Hartigan wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I never sanded or stained it. The stuff foamed out and got scraped when it got solid, and most of it went away.

My experience was that it seemed to not hold up to shock. In other words, a sharp blow on the corner of something could break the bond. That may just have been me, and/or I read it somewhere, but there are a number of joints I glued with that stuff that have needed rebonding. I don't recall ever doing that with a Titebond product.

And the stuff went 'off' in the bottle on me, too. Even with a small bottle, I only got 1/3 used before it was past it's prime.

Too much downside for me. Not enough upside. YMMV.

Patriarch

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

I put it to use on a couple of test pieces. It was pretty messy stuff. I purposely used it to fill gaps as supposedly it's an attribute of urethanes. It filled them alright, with foam. There was not much strength to them. It did hold the tight fitting pieces well but I figure for the mess, epoxy would be a better choice. Given it's short shelf life, messiness, etc.... I decided to look at other products. I gave up on titebond(s) as 6 months after I glue up, I have raised glue lines. I have some formaldehyde resin glue on the way and hope to give that a workout next week. It's supposedly more stable than PVA's but will require more strict temperature control and longer clamping time...much like epoxy. Cheers, cc

[Andy Dingley]

I've never once used it and not regretted it afterwards.

Expensive, poor storage, high risk of buying old stock from a shop that's already half-expired.

In service it's weak unless in an absolutely perfect joint. It's particularly weak if there's any chance of the joint moving at all. It has _no_ elasticity, which I think is the main failure mechanism.

Easy. Bit unstable really. If you have excressences, a knife blade usually shifts them more quickly.

Colour is totally unstable to sunlight. If it's visible, then it's also sun exposed. This also makes it likely to fail in the future.

No, it's important to leave it until it dries, when it's manageable.

Acetone.

Just avoid the stuff. Use Titebond or cheap PVA.

[Andy]

Just to throw out an alternate opinion, I've used it on parts of a variety of projects, and don't have any complaints. I haven't had a PU-glued joint fail yet. I like it primarily for its long open time - the bottle advertises 30 minutes, and I've had joints glued and open for at least 15 min with no problems. I've also found the foaming squeeze-out to be very easy to remove by scraping (after it's cured). Keep in mind that even though it foams, any "gap-filling" properties are very weak and should not be structural.

One thing to remember is that it cures with water - which means it may help to moisten one or both surfaces prior to gluing, especially if it's not very humid. That also means it won't last very long in the bottle if it's stored in humid conditions - you might even keep it in a ziplock with some desiccant if you want it to last longer.

I haven't had a big problem with price - LOML often gets coupons for at least 40% off from a local craft/fabric store, so I use those and get the gorilla glue there.

Just my thoughts, Andy

[Len]

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Used it once, never again! As others have mentioned, little to no shear strength and short shelf life.

What really irks me is the local hardware stores pulled "Weldbond", a really good white glue that actually works with dissimilar materials, completely off the shelf to make room for this crap. Such is life I guess.

Len

[Bill in Detroit]

I have used it for gluing up pen blanks to take up the slop in a hole that drilled oversize. Not in love with it, but it does have limited uses.

Bill