Wood Glue

Hi Alison

I’m glad i don’t have this problem i use epoxy sp10 plus i never over order so it doesn’t last that long but i thought the life of glue was quiet long so thanks for the heads up

Andy

-- cut it saw it scrap it

All glues have a shelf life but that does not mean the glue does not work. If you are investing time and money on a project, use the freshest glue you can. If you have doubts about the bonding qualities of your adhesive then do a test with the same kinds of materials you are going to bond/glue together to the point of destruction and see if the adhesive or the material fails. Tempatures, air flow and humidity can change the way an adhesive reacts so that too needs to be taken into account.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Hi Alison!

Thanks for sharing your information….........I didn’t know either!

Robin Renee’

AKA….....Woodchic

-- Robin Renee'

...just a thought… check your finishes!

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

I only found out fairly recently. Prior to that, I had used some Titebond that was over three years old and it seemed to work fine, but I didn’t really test it. I still haven’t thrown it away because it still looks good, although I have already bought some more. Maybe it’s time to do a test with the old stuff.

-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY

I usually buy a bottle that’s easy enough to work with. Ya, I might have to buy a new bottle every project or two depending on the size but it makes it that much easier to deploy. This is the reason I don’t buy it by the gallon and transfer it to a smaller bottle.

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful. http://web.me.com/deceiver6/Deceiver/Craftsman_on_the_lake/Craftsman_on_the_lake.html

I understand wood glue is affected by uva and maybe you could keep or extend the shelf life by keeping it in a dark box in a cool place might be worth trying Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Hey, a reason to be even more of a throwback and use a hot glue pot with animal hide glue! Hurray! In favor of animal hide glue is the fact that I can still see pieces of furniture held together with it after a couple hundred years. I can’t say that about PVA glues though. I have wondered about the longevity of Titebond, since it hasn’t really been around for centuries. Guess our descendants will find out :)

-- Ooo, er.

Thanks for the info. I’ve always kept it at moderate temperatures, but didn’t know that it could go bad if kept closed.

-- Rich, Seattle, WA

SCOTSMAN, “most” adhesives and finishes can be kept in cold storage to prolong their shelf life but not frozzen unless the manufacturer so denotes. Still if over the recommened shelf life they should be tested before used.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Hey Allison
I always use a felt pen and write on the bottle the date I purchased it. I find glue will last longer that what they claim as Kindlemaker states do a test. Of course I’m not going to gamble on a major project with questionable glue. Some times are glue my fail because of how we use it . I had a student that glued up a nice chest she had made and it started coming apart. The problem she had glued mahogany without cleaning
it with acetone first because of the oils in mahorany the glue could not hold.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

I see it as expired candy. Just because they don’t taste as good doesn’t mean they don’t taste good.

But fresh glue on important projects is a good idea

-- Ed

Something I didn’t know either. I am working on a gallon of glue I bought about a year ago and still have about a quart left, I hope it holds up a little longer. Thanks for the info.

-- Doug, Cass City, Michigan

I use gorilla wood glue it gets about a year life per bottle.

-- Measure once cut twice....oh wait....ooops.

Never knew it would go bad if sealed properly, and kept at good temps.

Will heve to test what I have before my daughter(Scrappys Squirt) and I glue up her husbands “Man Box” we are building.

Thanks for the info.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Somewhere I saw a brief article explaining the date code on Titebond bottles.

The first number on the code is the year and the next letter represents the month.

A=Jan, B=Feb, C=Mar…........ They do not use “I” and “J” in the code therfore N= Dec.

I keep this posted inside the cabinet with my glue. I have not had any trouble with glue up to two years old.

-- Jeff, Dayton, OH

Some good information. I knew this but we use it so fast it never goes bad. But I do need to check what I have in my workshop.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

I found a good web page about wood glue a while back.

http://www.woodworking.com/ww101glue.cfm

I bookmarked it!

-- Carving

It is a problem Allison, particularly in hot climates. I tend to squeeze the air out and seal the bottle to minimise the effect of air getting to the product. This works OK on sqeezeable (if there is such a word) bottles.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

I usually buy a gallon of titebond about once a year. Then I will use a little squeeze (mustard type) bottle for convenience. I don’t think I have gone beyond a 1 1/2 years yet on a gallon.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

with intarsia like I do sometimes you are gluing literally over a hundred pieces together. If just one fails you have yourself a problem. @a1jim, I too am one that uses a felt pen to mark certain items, just never thought of doing it to glue, which I will from now on. I still am shocked that NEVER been opened glue also goes bad after a period of time!

-- Allison, Northeastern Ca. Remember, Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic!

I learned this about 10 years ago. Like a1Jim, I mark mine with a date and seldom use it if it is over a year old. Same applies to “super” glues only it can go bad in as little as 6 months. They say refrigerating it helps but I don’t have a fridge in the shop. YOu get a clue super glue is going bad when it takes a long time for it to set up. Urethane glues doesn’t last forever either and are quite susceptible to contamination from moisture in the air. Squeezing air out of the container helps. I have had it go hard in the bottle in less than a year.

-- Les B, Oregon

Have a two litre bottle of glue I bought cheap over 12 months ago, is still unopened so looks like it not going to be a bargain after all. Thanks for the info.

-- Bob C, Australia. There are two theories to arguing with a woman and neither of them work.

Allison,

I do know that some of the Elmers Glue, and I do have some that I’ve not tossed away just yet, has Mold on it.

I never knew that Glue could get mold, I thought that it would have to be a Consumable item i guess before it could get mold…

But you can’t Glue 2 pieces of Wood together with Bread neither…

Handi

-- Jimmy "Handi" Warner, http://jwarner75.etsy.com, http://handisworkshop.blogspot.com

I learnt that the hard way i used some out of date glue one time on a turning job and it let go and destroyed the job the glue did not hold properly so i always buy new small amounts of glue at a time to be sure its freash
Bill

Allison, I recently contacted TiteBond and here is there respons … very interesting. I asked why they didn’t post the manufacture date and … read their response:
The first digit of the lot number is a number. It is the last digit of
the year of manufacture. The second digit is a letter. It indicates the
month. We use the letters A through M, excluding the letter I. The third
digit is a number. It represents the manufacturing division the product
was made for. The next four numbers represent the internal lot or batch
number. That is followed by a decimal point and two numbers which
represent the day of manufacture.
Example:
6L12455.23 – This material was manufactured on November 23rd of 2006.
OR
The first digit of the lot number is a number. It is the last digit of
the year of manufacture. The second digit is a letter. It indicates the
month. We use the letters A through M, excluding the letter I. The
remaining number and/or letter combinations are an internal lot number.
Example:
9L12455 – This material was manufacturer in November of 1999.
OR
The first digit represents A for America (made in), the second digit is
the last digit of the year of manufacture, the third and fourth digits
represent the month, the fifth and sixth digits represent the day of the
month and the last four digits represent the lot number.
Example:
A904270023 – This material was manufactured on April 24, 2009

When we place the actual date or an expiration date on the material, the
retailers have complained and enough sent them back that we no longer
could do so.
We warrant the product for one year, because we have no control over how
the Titebond III is stored. When stored well, the product has a usable
shelf life of 4 years.

——-Original Message——-
From: Don Slaughter [mailto:don2laughs@cox.net]
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 9:03 PM
To: contechserv
Subject: Titebond III

How can I determine the age of this product? There is a faint 7
digits stamped on the upper portion of the (16 oz) bottle but it must
be code of some kind. What is your reason for not posting the date
clearly on the label?
Thanks,
Don Slaughter

-- Don in San Diego, Ca.

Wow, This is sooo interesting, Thank you.

-- Allison, Northeastern Ca. Remember, Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic!

You’re welcome, Allison. Your topic caught my eye because I recently had to throw about $20 worth of TiteBond away. Living in San Diego where the weather is always warm, my shop is even warmer because there is a huge boiler at one end. TiteBond is good for a year if it is stored correctly which means 70 degrees. I got a little angry at myself because I had bought the glue on sale and now realize it was on sale because it was 11 months old … then it sat in my shop for another 15 months. Live & learn.

good luck,
Don

-- Don in San Diego, Ca.

I keep titebond 2 in the house where room temperature is constant. I suspect the expiration idea is a bit exagerated. Brought to us by the same mentality that insist we change oil in our cars every 3000 miles and day old bread will kill you.

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

I guess buying the bigger bottle to save money isn’t the best way to go anymore. I never really gave the shelf life of glue a thought. Thanks for the info.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Titebond has a good explanation of shelf life, aging, and a test to ascertain if the glue is still usable. See questions number 4 & 5.

JIm

I go in halves on a gallon with my father means I get two quarts at a time. I keep my glue in two quart containers and then move it in dispenseing aprarati as needed. Go through it fast enough that I don’t have to worry about it.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Allison, ANY chemical degrades with time. Putting something in a liquid state (solution, suspension, emulsion) accelerates this process by allowing the molecules to move around more and bump into more of the molecules that cause breakdown. A perfect example of this is shellac. The flakes have a much longer shelf life than the solution, but still go bad over time.

The problem with glues like PVA is that they work by changing chemically as they cure. This means that they are more sensitive to internal chemical breakdown than something like hide glue that forms more of a physical bond as it cools.

I guess the moral of the story is to never buy more than you can use in a practical period of time. Doing marquetry, a pint at a time might be sufficient. For a pro shop doing lots of large projects, five gallons might be a small purchase. It just depends on how you work.

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

Allison,
I’ve had glue go bad on me over the years. Now I buy only what I can use up within six months or so, except for 2 part epoxy (the stuff seems to last forever). I use 5 types of glue;
Titebond II for interior work
Titebond III, polyurethane glue or 2 part epoxy for exterior.
And 2 part epoxy for gap filling.
Finally for marine use there is West System Epoxy made by Gougeon Brothers.