Thread: How do experts clean excess epoxy from joints?

You could try Acetone to clean the glue joints, as this product is what is used for cleaning fibreglass resins, epoxy glue, etc, from equipment.
There are a couple of ways you could prevent the glue "stains". One way is to apply the finish to the timber, except where the joints will be, maybe a mm in or so so that you don't have a glue line showing, using masking tape or similar.
Production furniture is possibly glued using the minimal amount of glue possible. Pull a production chair apart to check, DAMHIKT, as I've repaired quite a few. Usually the glue is applied to the dowel joints, not on the wood, but in the holes where the dowels fit, relying only on the dowels to hold it all together.
Kryn

Meths (alcohol) also cleans up resin over flow. Cheaper and safer than acetone.

Harry, I would not use epoxy for joints. The ideal glue is one that allows a joint to be repaired down the line. The best in this regard is hide glue. Try Titebond Liquid Hide Glue. The nice thing about this is that it cleans up in water, and does not leave stains. It is also plenty strong.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

The best in this regard is hide glue. Try Titebond Liquid Hide Glue. The nice thing about this is that it cleans up in water, and does not leave stains.

Apart from Carbatec, which only supplies this in a 237ml size, is there any other place to source Titebond Hide Glue?

Originally Posted by cava

Apart from Carbatec, which only supplies this in a 237ml size, is there any other place to source Titebond Hide Glue?

Pop's Shed sells the 237 ml bottle for $ 14.95.

Peter.

Thanks guys for the replies. Since this is my first chair I have viewed it as a prototype so I'll continue with the epoxy on this one. Meths sounds like a good clean up option so I'll try that when I do the final assembly in a day or two.

For the next eight (!) on order from my wife I like the sound of the Titebond Liquid Hide Glue with a water clean up. One concern with this glue however is that the marketing info states "its sensitivity to moisture allows easy disassembly.....". Does this mean that when we move to the tropics in 12 months our chairs will weaken under the highly humid conditions?

Hi Harry

Relax, the joints will not fail in a humid climate. Hide glue has been around for centuries.

To unglue a joint one has to steam it - pour boiling water over the joint, get it into the joint, and then heat it up with a hair dryer.

Chair joints really benefit from being unglued since the rocking motion will eventually loosen anything.

Epoxy is used as a gap feeling glue. It is a remedy for sloppy work. All other glues rely on decent workmanship, where the joint slides together. Liquid hide glue (unlike the hige glue one mixes from glue pearls) has a longer open time, which helps when putting together a piece with many joints.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hide glues are the top choice for fine instrument luthiers. The 4yr-UK trained violin luthier that I know uses 4 different hide glues and the witch won't tell me her source.
So, go to Stewart-McDonald.com(?). Google 'Stew-Mac' should get you into the biggest musical instrument builders site on this planet. Hide glues are in there.

I use epoxy when I'm hafting carving blades to build Pacific Northwest native style wood carving tools. Mostly to surface mount the blades in the traditional fashion. No rivets.
I wait until the squeeze out has polymerized, gooey crap, anyway. Then I use another edge to carve off the lumps.

If yours is really runny and staining the wood., I'd do the joint then pack the run-out with sawdust to soak it up.
When it sets (24hrs), I'd carve it away clean.

I usually dry assemble the joints, then tape all the areas around joints, even on curvy chairs, since I figured that the time it takes to tape it up is much less then the potential clean up time. Remove the tape before the glue has completely dried.

I wouldn't be using epoxy to start with; it's expensive, messy and, if you over-clamp it, will actually give you a weaker join than regular wood glue. Epoxy relies on there being an amount of glue left in the join for it to work, if you clamp too much you'll squeeze it all out and it could fail prematurely.

Where I work, we just use PVA, dowels and corner blocks for dining chairs and we're confident enough to give that a lifetime warranty.

Since I posted this morning I found another old thread on epoxy cleanup and a couple of people recommended vinegar. I tested the vinegar method by placing a drop on some scrap wood (tuart). After drying it left a dark stain so that is not a clean up option for me.

Looks like hide glue is the way to go so thanks for the input from you experts. Now I just have to drive 90kms to the nearest shop to get some.

I agree with Elan, I've made hundreds of chairs for kids and not one has ever come back. They are not cheap either, so they'd make their way back if there was a problem.

There is no greater opponent of The Chair than The Child. If those little bastards can find a way to break it, they will.

i use Titebond3. After its clamped up I just use a toothbrush and water to clean the excess (a small scrub, nothing vigorous) and wipe it over with old cotton teatowels.

For knife handles I use WestSystem 105, but a chair isn't a weapon like a knife (except in a half decent bar fight )

FWIW I used to do repairs (not so much in the last 12 months) and I've repaired quite a few chairs that have used epoxy. It seems to shatter. But I will say that they do come apart in an orderly manner, so there is plenty of warning.

Glue with a little flex helps extend the life of a chair. Epoxy sets like glass and without volume, is no where near as strong as it should be. Add to this the difficulty of clean up and you will soon be looking for an alternative. PVA is good but Hide is better. It is always a pleasure to disassemble an old hide glued chair.

As the others have said, unless the chair is specifically designed to prevent it, someone will eventually rock back on a chair and rack it, so (usually) the back leg-side rail joint will fail. Hide glue and epoxy are, as far as I know, the only two glues that will stick to themselves. If you have to repair a chair and disassemble it, it's much easier to do so with hide glue.
As far as removing squeeze-out goes, the same method works with any glue. If possible, and you're using an oil or wax finish, put one coat on before you assemble. Otherwise, wipe a thin coat of wax - any sort will do, I use cheap floor wax - wherever squeeze-out is likely to occur. When the glue has set any excess can be removed with a sharp chisel. The wax can be removed using white spirits. If you've given the job a coat of shellac beforehand, the white spirits won't soften the shellac.

Little bit late but add it to your arsenal, try to avoid smearing excess glue as you clean up the joint, this only spreads the stain and the cleanup solution often affects the timber by raising the grain, especially if you use a water rag for cleanup. This, of course means that you then need to sand into the join and there is difficulty getting the surface the same.

Not a fan of the burger "restaurants", I use the term loosely, but their drinking straws are fantastic and have a largish bore. Crease the straw on one side which forms a sharpish edge and run it along your joint. The excess glue goes up the tube and removes 99% of the excess and doesn't smear it all over where you don't want it. I usually taper cut the end so that I can get my "glue shovel" right into the corners.

Just a thought, hope it helps you out.