Titebond solvent

Oct 12, 2009 13 Replies

While doing my reverse snowbird thing this summer, my glue bottles containing Titebond II turned orange and into the consistency of flubber. The gar^H^H^Hshop gets up to about 120+ here in AZ. I tried water and vinegar with no apparent reaction. A long thin screwdriver got about 95% of the goo out. Is there a solvent for titebond in this condition? Got 'em soaking in water at the moment.


- Doug


Well that does not sound good. ;~) I have a couple of quarts and they were starting to get thick. Upon bringing this to Franklin's attention they told me to moderately bang the bottle agains a solid object, like the floor. the stuff almost instantly went back to normal viscocity. You might try that, it is certainly cheaper and it potentially will give you instant gratification.

Been to the movie, it wasn't enjoyable.

"...the consistency of flubber." tells me the TiteBond II bought the farm.

BTDT, don't want the T-Shirt.

Lew

They were beyond "banging :-( If I wasn't such a cheap SOB and had to drive an hour to WoodCraft to buy new ones for $7 or $8 per...

They are the ones you can screw you biscuit head or roller head on the bottle.

- Doug

BTDT. I've had good results with a soak in boiling water to soften the goo up then I dig it out with a stick and a toothbrush. I find that the disposable bamboo chopsticks will get into the round corners of the glue bottle quite well. If that fails then you could try letting it completely harden then flex the bottle and dig the flakes out with needle nose pliers. Art

Whack 'em on the bench a few times. If that doesn't put them back to the right consistency, toss them.

You're correct - a mechanical scraping of the goo, then hot water, time, old tooth brushes and wooden skewers and I save a nickel or two :-) The bottles are clean and ready for fresh glue. Apparently water is a solvent for titebond II in this condition, although a slow solvent.

Interesting that Titebond III is still OK even though the same age.

- Doug

I assume you are trying to save the bottle?

  1. Put some small brads into the bottle.
  2. Add water
  3. Shake as frequently as possible
  4. Wait
  5. Empty dirty water, add new every couple of days
  6. Wait some more
  7. Goto #5

Oddly I have excellent results with soaking acid brushes coated with TB III in water to clean them up, even after setting out drying all day.

As Dick at Woodcraft at Springfield, Virginia points out - glue is the cheapest thing in woodworking. I'd suggest: forget the vinegar and soaking, trash the bottles of glop and buy reliable, new stuff.

A glue failure in a piece of woodwork is far more expensive.

I wasn't trying to save the glue, just the bottles.

- Doug

I would let it dry and use your screwdriver to remove the rest. I've also had success using hot water, but that was with standard yellow glue.

Luigi

Doug,

I don't know about heat, but I sure know about cold. The first winter in my shop, the Titebond froze, and I thawed it out. The consistency returned to normal with decent temperatures. However, the glue sucked after that. I couldn't get a decent glueup, and in desperation, bought new glue. Glueups were fine after that, and I tossed the bottle that had frozen.

I'd be doing the same thing with glue that over heated, but YMMV.

Tanus

Sorry, i read the original post wrong. Disregard my post.

Tanus

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