Why does Gorilla glue suck?

It sounds as thoough one side of the maple may have had a coat of wax, silicone spray or some other kind of contaminat. That sounds unkike any experience I have ever had with Gorilla glue. Guess it could be a bad batch. Also, I have heard that there is a shelf life of one-two years on a bottle so maybe yours is old stock? Is there a chance you squeezed all the glue out when you clamped? That's bout all the ideas I can come up with. Unless the bottom of the rabbet was not square with the 1/4. It won't bridge a large gap very well. If you used a wobble dado blade, it leaves the bottom of the joint rather rounded.

See if there is a date on the bottle, I've seen glue in stores that should have been off the shelf. "Gfretwell" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m14.aol.com... : Here is a picture. The wood was freshly cut so I doubt it was waxy etc. I just : bought the glue a couple days ago from HD and it was sealed. : :

The only numbers are 76395030515. I don't see a date in there. They say the shelf life is 3 years.

It doesn't look like there is any glue between the two pieces of wood. It looks like there was nothing on the end grain of the short piece. Did it all squeeze out?. I just did a project with polyurethane glue, its the strongest wood glue I have ever used!

Leslie

snipped-for-privacy@aol.comGreg (Gfretwell) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m14.aol.com:

OK guys we have a test in progress. I took some garden variety $5 a gallon white glue and made exactly the same joint in a clean section of the groove with the other end of the stick.

I'm not sure I agree. There's enough long grain there to give it some strength. Sure doesn't look like there was very much glue in the joint, though. And it definitely could have used some additional reinforcement such as a tenon or a biscuit.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Those last six numbers might mean May 15, 2003, but who knows....

david

snipped-for-privacy@aol.comGreg (Gfretwell) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m14.aol.com:

Why did you wet it? I never wet wood. Used gorilla glue in some wood repair. There's no way those pieces of wood are coming apart :-)

ken

Sounds like operator error...;~) But I cannot imagine that happening 2 times in a row. Probably bad or old product. I use the stuff and it works great. Things to keep in mind.

DO NOT over tighten your clamps. Always add water to the mating side. Be certain that your surfaces are as flat as you can possibly make them.

Again, your glue must be bad for it to fail so miserably.

Too much 'wet'??

-- Tim

-------- See my page @

OK, operator error like another poster indicated. end grain to long grain is not going to be a strong joint with out a mortise and tennon, biscuit, dowel or screws to back up the glue.

Read the directions on the bottle. Gorilla Glue and or polyurethane glue cures in the presence of moisture. Adding water speeds cure time.

But adding too much water, especially with a tight-grain wood like maple, causes the glue to foam into nothingness and never get into the pores. If the wood has 7-8% moisture content I've never had to add moisture and it has always held fine for me even in some very difficult situations.

I glued up a joint likethta to see just how weak it would be since nothing else is strong. I was amazed at how strong the bond was. My end grain was much smoother than your appears though.

Don't like poly glue much but do have uses for it once and awhile. Never had a problem with it's strength myself. But then I just dampen one side of the joint and only apply glue to the other side. I believe that is what the directions on the container calls for and it works pretty well for me.

I've been using Poly glues for a while. Just started using Gorilla glue. I use a spray bottle of water to wet one side of the joint, apply the glue, and clamp it for a few hours. When I take the clamps off, it holds very tight. After letting it set overnight for a full cure, I finish my projects. Having used this product only last week, I'd say your results are very uncommon. Yes, end grain to long grain makes for a weak joint, but this glue should have held tight enough for the poly joint to "tear". This stuff sticks to just about anything. For it to not stick at all makes me think you've got an outdated product or there's some other factor (lots of sawdust in the joint maybe). Don't know, I wasn't there. I can tell you only that Poly glues typically work very well, which is why many of us use them.

Robert

To heck with it!! Use titebond!!