Thread: Titebond II - Shelf life?

G'day Richard,
Then you get into "how long was it on the shelf before I bought it"......I dunno how that goes, or how the bottle was treated before you get to buy it.
I'm getting to be a bigger fan of hide glue as I go on.
At least we know its been around for a long time.....and that the joints last.
Not so a glue that was chemically invented in the 20th century.

I was thinking about hide glue, but to be honest it'd be one more complication on top of the others, so I might just buy another bottle of Titebond, and save the old stuff for other people's furniture...

Actually I'm waiting for the next time I go back to the UK, so I can steal Dad's glue pot.

Producers of products with shelf or usage life typically have a production or expiration date code printed on the container, sometimes readable by humans, sometimes not - even milk and eggs. Usually, you need to contact the manufacturer to learn the secret formula for interpreting the batch identifier.

FWIW, EEE Ultrashine doesn't have a batch identifier, unless it's been worn off.

Cheers,
Joe

I have always bought titebond etc in 4ltr lots and most of the time I get through it but I have decided that from now on I will just buy smaller lots more frequently (I always write the date on when I buy it too) I now just buy Selleys Aquadhere Exterior, not many places in Newcastle if any stock titebond so Bunnings is 2min away and always has pretty fresh looking supplies. I figure any of my jobs is worth a new $16 bottle of glue. I did destruction tests a while back and Aquadhere was as good as Titebond so I'm happy to use either.

Thanks, CH. Good practical advice as always.

Richard, I see you live in Brisbane - I'm a little further north but your weather will be similar to mine.

On a day like today where the max temperature is supposed to be 32C - in the shed it will be up as high as 37-40C depending on where your shed is located and whether it is open or not. I have had glues go off, spirit stains disappear, waxes separate, masking tape lose its stick - you get the picture - Problem was solved by getting hold of a styrene ESKY - the largest I could find as well as a vegie box from the corner store - coated both in a glue wash to harden them up slightly - now all glues, tapes, waxes, stains etc are stored in them and appear to last and stay fresher for longer.

G'day y'all,
I had a bottle of Titebond III in the shop that was probalby six months old when I shut down the shop. That was two year s ago. I just used it to edge bond pieces of 3mm thick Walnut and Maple. The glue is still stronger than the wood.
For what is worth.
Regards
Joe

Hi Jredburn
I'm sure a lot of it is still good but for me when I'm selling some of my pieces for a lot of money and some of them end up thousands of miles away I don't want to run the risk for the price of some new glue. If it is just something for home I don't mind using some of the older glue. And as stated above we don't always know how long its been sitting in the store as stock.

CH's tests failed to use correct clamping pressures so they are not a proper comparison of the glues.

Did some laminating the other day with 18 month old Titebond III, clamped them properly and then tried breaking the off cuts, 100% tearout.

Originally Posted by Cruzi

CH's tests failed to use correct clamping pressures so they are not a proper comparison of the glues.

Did some laminating the other day with 18 month old Titebond III, clamped them properly and then tried breaking the off cuts, 100% tearout.

What test failed, all my test passed with flying colours all the glues I tested had almost 100% tear out on all 10 tests.
I looked into clamp pressure with the manufactures and most of them you have to dig deeply to even find it so I tested under what I thought were "normal" conditions of firm hand tight clamps that most people I know use.

PS sorry 8 out of 10 were good (all the pvcs) the two tests with polyurethane failed on the type of test I performed
but would be very usefull on other joints.

Something I saw on the wood whisper web site. When the glue becomes thick and comes out a little less runny then it is time to put that in the bin, so to speak.

The bottles that I purchase have only been the small size to ensure that what I have stays fresh. When I am close to finishing the bottle I go out and purchase another bottle.

Now that would be a good idea but for some reason I have an extra bottle that I found in the wardrobe next to the business shirts? Of course at the present moment and at the time that I found it I can not think why I was hiding it there?

I think CH has a point put a date of purchase on it.

I've never had an issue with shelf life, but I did just learn what happens when you leave it in a shop that drops below freezing!

Even bringing it into the house to warm up didn't bring it back to life.

I use Tightbond III, but won't use it after a year just in case. The shelf life depends on which shelf it's been sitting on. Temperature can destroy it.

For what it's worth, Tightbond glues do have a coded date of manufacture on them...:

The first number is the final digit, of the year in which the glue was produced. So 8 would be 2008, 9-2009...

The following letter represents the month in which the glue was produced.
A=January B=February...

"I" isn't used, as it can be confused with the number one.

The rest of the code can be ignored.

Ok, good advice, so I'll go and buy some new stuff when I'm ready to glue up. We're in the throes of trying to buy a house, so it might be a while.

Why does life keep getting in the way of woodworking? Ooh I think that's my new signature!