How long is wood glue good for ?

[gear jammer]

Picked up a bottle of titebond 2 today. Got home and opened it, it was like stiff paste. How long it had been on the shelf who knows. I have never had one go bad with the exception of gorilla glue that I had opened and ignored for a long time. My fault there. Titebond goes back to Menards Saturday.

[Rob Young]

Picked up a bottle of titebond 2 today. Got home and opened it, it was like stiff paste. How long it had been on the shelf who knows. I have never had one go bad with the exception of gorilla glue that I had opened and ignored for a long time. My fault there. Titebond goes back to Menards Saturday.

Manufacturers suggest 1 to 2 years shelf life if properly stored.

Titebond has a lot code on the bottle, here's the info from their web site:

How Do I Read The Lot Numbers?

Our current lot numbering system is a 10 digit code. The format is: aymmddbat#. The "a" stands for Made in the U.S.A. The "y" is the last digit of the year of manufacture. Digits "mm" represent the month, and "dd" represent the day of the month. The final four digits represent the batch number used for quality control purposes. Therefore, a product with the lot number A104270023 was manufactured on April 27, 2011.

[shoottmx]

From Titebond's web site:

http://www.titebond.com/news_article/13-..._Life.aspx

How to Store Your Wood Glue for Longer Life

“Refrigerate after opening,” and you maximize the shelf life of perishable food. The same goes with a bottle of Titebond glue: Store it correctly – and that could be in a refrigerator – and it can perform well beyond the stated shelf life.

Most adhesives manufacturers stamp an official shelf life on their products to limit liability in case poor storage conditions cause product failure. The stated shelf life of wood glue typically is one to two years. However, the expected shelf life of many glues typically stretches well past those few years. For example, store a bottle of white or yellow wood glue (polyvinyl acetate, or PVA glue) in optimum conditions, and it can last 10 years or longer. This goes for our popular Titebond® Original, Titebond II and Titebond III PVA glues, too.

Bob Behnke, senior technical specialist at Titebond-manufacturer Franklin International, says that a dry, cool basement is an ideal place to keep wood glues. He adds that you might be able to extend the life of your glue even longer if you have room for it in your refrigerator.

“The worst storage conditions allow freezing, then thawing and heat,” explains Behnke. “Most wood glues are designed to withstand a minimum of five freeze/thaw cycles. With each cycle, the glue forms gels. Mixing easily breaks up these gels, but each subsequent freeze/thaw incident will make the gels more difficult to disperse.”

Eventually, you won’t be able to break up the gels at all, and the glue will remain solid. Heat also can cause the polymer to clump and gel.

How will you know if your glue has gone bad? “If it pours, it’s probably good,” says Behnke. If the glue has thickened, shake it vigorously by firmly tapping the bottle on a hard surface until the product is restored to its original form. You also can add up to five percent water to water-based glues (such as PVA glues) to thin the product. If the glue comes out stringy or pasty or wants to stick to itself rather than to the wood, it’s probably past its prime. If Titebond II turns orange, it’s time for a new bottle.

Additional information on calculating the shelf life of a given bottle of Titebond glue and related subjects is available in the Titebond online FAQ section.  We want you to get the most out of your bottle of Titebond whether you empty it quickly or need it to last for many years.

[Dennis Puskar]

Picked up a bottle of titebond 2 today. Got home and opened it, it was like stiff paste. How long it had been on the shelf who knows. I have never had one go bad with the exception of gorilla glue that I had opened and ignored for a long time. My fault there. Titebond goes back to Menards Saturday.

If Titebond (yellow ) glue turns orange its a sign of going bad.

[iclark]

To the above, I would add that there have been reports of CA glue failing with age on some segmented turnings in museums/galleries. The turnings were fine while being turned and when sold. It took a few years before the glue started failing.

[Arlin Eastman]

To the above, I would add that there have been reports of CA glue failing with age on some segmented turnings in museums/galleries. The turnings were fine while being turned and when sold. It took a few years before the glue started failing.

That is good to know.  How much different is CA then Epoxy?

[iclark]

That is good to know.  How much different is CA then Epoxy?

Cyanoacrylic (CA or superglue) is completely different from epoxy for al practical purposes. CA can crystallize with age after it is has been used for the joint. When that happens, the strength is lost. I have never heard what sometimes triggers that amorphous to crystalline transition. My polymers class was during my absence from woodworking and that prof has sadly now passed.

The guest turner who first told us about the CA problem as an aside during his demo was Ellsworth. I cannot remember who the other turners were. One of them might have been Mark St Ledger (sp) or Dick Hines. It has been a while.

[Angus]

Cyanoacrylic (CA or superglue) is completely different from epoxy for al practical purposes. CA can crystallize with age after it is has been used for the joint. When that happens, the strength is lost. I have never heard what sometimes triggers that amorphous to crystalline transition. My polymers class was during my absence from woodworking and that prof has sadly now passed.

The guest turner who first told us about the CA problem as an aside during his demo was Ellsworth. I cannot remember who the other turners were. One of them might have been Mark St Ledger (sp) or Dick Hines. It has been a while.

CA should never be used in segmented work. Segmented work will move throughout it's lifetime. CA when cured becomes brittle while PVA's remain flexible when cured. The new flexible CA's haven't been out long enough to know if they will stand the test of time.

[Arlin Eastman]

Another thing is I have had a gallon of Titebond original for almost 3 years and I keep it in a controlled climate and turn it end for end every 3 months and it is still good.  I just used some last week.

[KingwoodFan1989]

Depends. The two telltale signs I've seen with regular wood glue is if it becomes too hardened or becomes separated into some denser material and runny material on top. With polyurethane glue, you'll just see it all foamed up on top. 


You can often increase the life of them, though, by squeezing the air out as much as possible (until the glue starts to come up the main tube) and then putting the cap on. This is easier said than done once the glue starts to run low in the container, though, especially with larger bottles. I'll also say +1 to the comments about refrigerating the glue. I had a bottle of Gorilla Glue last for several years without curing over using my method of squeezing the glue up to the main tube, putting the cap on, and then refrigerating it.