About glueing things together

[Arlin Eastman]

Just how much glue squeeze out should there be anyway?

I feel just putting on enough glue to keep it together and not clamping the snot out of it, however I want to make sure there in enough glue to not get a starved joint.

On a lot of the videos I watch they put way to much on and clamp it up way to tight seeing their hands and forearms straining.  It is a waste of glue and could be a glue failure later just how do you know?

[AHill]

In my opinion - you should see a very slight bit of squeeze out or none at all. If you apply the glue to both contact surfaces with a brush or roller, you can see whether you've got good coverage, and it minimizes or eliminates squeeze out. Excessive squeeze-out really means you had too much glue in the joint to begin with!!! It drives me nuts to see how much glue Tommy Silva on This Old House / Ask This Old House uses. He slathers it on like it's free. Norm Abram was the same way, unfortunately. Too much squeeze out means more work to remove the squeeze out and it risks interfering with any finish or stain you may want to apply subsequent to your glue-up. If you wait about 20-30 min for the glue to set up, removing any squeeze-out is easier with a scraper than waiting until it's fully cured. Avoid cleaning up the squeeze-out with a wet rag. The wet rag dilutes some of the glue and makes it easier to soak into your wood which potentially prevents your finish from penetrating the wood.

As far as clamping goes, I am on Arlin's side. Clamp tight enough to ensure there's good contact. Avoid over clamping since it may cause glue starvation on the joint due to squeeze out - especially if you've applied too much glue in the first place. If you have to crank on the clamp to get a gap to close, then your joint wasn't flat and square to begin with. I am not a fan of clamping too hard to close a gap because you are really inducing stress into the joint after the glue cures.

This YouTube video is halfway decent. The alignment of the panels is also important, since it helps when you are removing any squeeze-out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqLE5pv4YY

[Stwood_]

I put enough on for good coverage, with a brush, but do not like squeeze out and having to clean it up.
If you miss some, it will show under your finish.

[Arlin Eastman]

In my opinion - you should see a very slight bit of squeeze out or none at all.  If you apply the glue to both contact surfaces with a brush or roller, you can see whether you've got good coverage, and it minimizes or eliminates squeeze out.  Excessive squeeze-out really means you had too much glue in the joint to begin with!!!  It drives me nuts to see how much glue Tommy Silva on This Old House / Ask This Old House uses.  He slathers it on like it's free.  Norm Abram was the same way, unfortunately.  Too much squeeze out means more work to remove the squeeze out and it risks interfering with any finish or stain you may want to apply subsequent to your glue-up.  If you wait about 20-30 min for the glue to set up, removing any squeeze-out is easier with a scraper than waiting until it's fully cured.  Avoid cleaning up the squeeze-out with a wet rag.  The wet rag dilutes some of the glue and makes it easier to soak into your wood which potentially prevents your finish from penetrating the wood.

As far as clamping goes, I am on Arlin's side.  Clamp tight enough to ensure there's good contact.  Avoid over clamping since it may cause glue starvation on the joint due to squeeze out - especially if you've applied too much glue in the first place.  If you have to crank on the clamp to get a gap to close, then your joint wasn't flat and square to begin with.  I am not a fan of clamping too hard to close a gap because you are really inducing stress into the joint after the glue cures.

This YouTube video is halfway decent.  The alignment of the panels is also important, since it helps when you are removing any squeeze-out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqLE5pv4YY

Had that happen on a few projects and stopped after that.  I watched how they did it on TV and thought I would do it to.  NOPE never again

[Arlin Eastman]

I just watched the video and I thought he put a little to much on.  Just my thinking before he even clamped it up it looked to much and I seen some glue go over the edge when he spread. it.