Thread: Glue for non-porous wood?

It just occurs to me...is this a weather thing? Coz its so cold the glue isnt curing? Maybe leaving overnight would fix it?

Try Titebond 3 instead. Polyurethane glues tend to work better than PVA with waxy and close-grained timbers.

Thanks, mate. Have reclamped to leave overnight and if I have no luck will try Titebond III tomorrow. "Waxy" - that's just the word I was looking for, but couldnt think of!

Wipe with acetone just before you do your glue up, too.

when u unclamped and it all fell apart, were the glued edges still wet and juicy? 30 minutes or even an hour in cold weather like we have atm isn't enough for pva to make a good bond. as a general rule, I clamp up in the evening so I can let it sit overnight letting the glue do its thing. if u leave the squeeze out alone, you can use that as a visual, or even a poke your finger in, gauge as to whether the glue has set well enough. dont worry too much about the thicker sections of squeeze out, on sunday night i glued up some legs at midnight, woke up at 1pm and still the thicker sections were that opaque yellow TBII colour and plenty juicy, the edges were transparent and mostly cured.

hard timbers require big clamping forces. try to max out your clamps if you can, stop and back it off a bit if it starts to compress the timber.

They were actually...I do think perhaps I was a bit premature to unclamp them after 30 - 40 minutes in a cold shed. I re-glued...clamped up tight and I've overnight. I have a feeling maybe this will help. If not, then TBIII for a try before I fall back to boring Bunnies pine. This stuff is gorgeous...thin, but really heavy and solid. I've said before, Urban Salvage is a fantastic timber yard for reclaimed stuff if you're in the Melbourne area.

Well, looks like I was just being impatient. Went to check it this morning and it's all good. Perhaps I should wait more than 30 minutes when it's 6 degrees outside next time! Thanks for the advice, though...lots of good info here for future reference for sure. Always something new to learn in this hobby.

Also, I got my wood species confused...this was actually spotted gum, not blackbutt. Blackbutt glues up really easily.

Gotta say, 30 mins for PVA is VERY ambitious, even in summer I'd allow an hour or two.

U usually leave everything to stay overnight once glued up... for bigger panels (table tops) i tend to plan my work in such way that glued up top remains clamped for at least couple of days...... definitely overkill but with such method i never had any glue problems...
with waxy timber (or oily timber) I would thoroughly wipe surfaces to be glued up with acetone right before applying the glue... would leave it just enough for acetone to evaporate and then glue and clamp straight away...

for all structural glueing i use polyurethane glue... tend to use PVA only for non structural pieces... with PVA I generally have hit and miss.. while polyurethane had never failed me....