# dealing with glue squeezeouts, what about the bottom side?



## Spikes (Apr 11, 2018)

Hi,

I'm doing my first table top by laminating a bunch of rescued pallet strips and having problems with glue squeeze outs. First off, here's what I got out of some googling and youtube:

- you should have enough glue that when you apply pressure some will squeeze out, ie you want the squeeze out. no squeeze out = not enough glue
- water + rug is a common approach, however some people say it will actually spread the glue and push it in the pores of the wood, ie not recommended
- wait 10-15 mins and use a scraper/old chisel to remove the not-fully-hardened glue

As to the clamping, it seems the best way is to use clamps on both sides and a piece of taped wood on both ends with clamps to keep the board flat. This approach makes a lot of sense to me as far as applying uniform pressure and avoiding cupping, however it's also what the problem arises from.

I like the idea of using the scraper after 10-15 mins, and that works well for me, however with the clamps on the underside and the wood resting on it, I don't see a way to remove that glue and it makes no sense to remove the clamps at that point. Same for the boards and clamps keeping the edges down.

What am I missing? it seems to me that apart from cleaning as much as possible of the top/up face, the rest of the squeeze out has to be dealt with later with a scraper + ROS. is that the recommended method?

as a side question, it seems ppl are using paper/masking tape on the underside clamps to avoid glue sticking to them, however as far I can tell trying to glue a piece of wood to another covered in masking tape will leave a lot of tape residue on your top and be a mess. am I missing something?

thanks in advance as usual for all the precious feedback,

Spike


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## Ripper70 (Nov 30, 2015)

> I like the idea of using the scraper after 10-15 mins, and that works well for me, however with the clamps on the underside and the wood resting on it, I don t see a way to remove that glue and it makes no sense to remove the clamps at that point. Same for the boards and clamps keeping the edges down.
> 
> What am I missing? it seems to me that apart from cleaning as much as possible of the top/up face, the rest of the squeeze out has to be dealt with later with a scraper + ROS. is that the recommended method?


Do not remove the clamps until the glue cures. The residue between the clamps and the wood will need to be removed later. Still, using the scraper on the areas that you can access will save you 98% of the work you'd otherwise need to do to remove the dried glue residue. Flip the clamped piece over to get the underside. If the clamps are secure, it should hold together fine. Get a second pair of hands to help if needed. The stuff stuck between the clamps and the wood just needs extra attention. If you have enough clamps, say three on each side of the piece, you can loosen each clamp, one at a time, and move it just a few inches over, one way or the other, to get those hard to reach spots.



> as a side question, it seems ppl are using paper/masking tape on the underside clamps to avoid glue sticking to them, however as far I can tell trying to glue a piece of wood to another covered in masking tape will leave a lot of tape residue on your top and be a mess. am I missing something?


You can use wax paper to keep the glue from sticking to stuff that you don't want glued. There's always a fair amount of work to do after the glue dries and you're ready to move on to the next step. A belt sander, if you can get one, helps to make quick work of the cleanup. A ROS isn't really aggressive enough for the initial sanding, IMO, and will take much more time.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

Laminating some pallet strips already finished will save you time but it might be just as much work. 
So it's a 6 to one half a dozen to the other kind of thing.

When possible I like to mask off the glue areas and put a coat of Shellac on it and then add a bunch of 
glue during assembly without all the problems you have described.

Looking forward to your item in the project thread!

Best of luck


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## Spikes (Apr 11, 2018)

thank you @Ripper70 and @waho6o9.

I wish I had thought about adding more clamps so that I could move them a little during the curing process, I like that idea a lot and will do that in the future. The top came out ok, cleaning he squeezeout wasn't actually terrible, I went over it with and old chisel and it did he job pretty effectively before doing a pass with the ROS (I don't have a belt sander, but I hear you, and while i's kinda OT the other problem I'm having with the ROS is creating shallows if I hit the board at an angle too hard).

Finishin before glue up sounds interesting, never seen that done before, but I can see the benefit especially for some hard places to reach around joints etc. Like I said however my results with blue tape haven't been so great… by the time stuff cured the tape was stuck and a sort of tthin glue residue was left that I to take care of.

thanks again,

Spike


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## lumbering_on (Jan 21, 2017)

> thank you @Ripper70 and @waho6o9.
> 
> I wish I had thought about adding more clamps so that I could move them a little during the curing process, I like that idea a lot and will do that in the future. The top came out ok, cleaning he squeezeout wasn t actually terrible, I went over it with and old chisel and it did he job pretty effectively before doing a pass with the ROS (I don t have a belt sander, but I hear you, and while i s kinda OT the other problem I m having with the ROS is creating shallows if I hit the board at an angle too hard).
> 
> ...


I'm a bit curious as to why you would worry about sanding imperfections on the bottom of a table top? Or is this an issue you're having when you're using an ROS in general?


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

If your ROS is leaving shallow dig marks you are likely pushing sown too hard or using sand paper that is too coarse. I use a ROS with 220 grit paper after after scraping the glue lines to get the worst of the glue off. While I'm at it, I will lightly sand the rest of the board in case there were any glue drips. The ROS should be allowed to float on the wood. Generally, I hold it on the side rather than the top so I don't tip it one way or the other.

The key to a flat surface is making sure the boards are glued together so the top/bottoms are flush. No amount of sanding can compensate for boards that are mis-aligned. All you can do is run it through a drum sander or a planer to mill it down thinner.


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## jamsomito (Mar 26, 2017)

I have this exact same problem, except the squeeze-out from my cauls is usually thin and sharp and I get cuts from it all the time. I made a thread about it here: http://lumberjocks.com/topics/259018

I usually ignore the bottom because it's on a surface that won't be seen, and scrape it off after it's fully dry. This almost always gives me some tear-out that the glue takes with it when it's scraped off, but if it's not seen, who cares. If it will be seen, or if the table is more "minimal" in style and there's a chance someone might lean over to get something off the floor and happen to see the underside, then I try to flip it over after about an hour and scrape off whatever glue I can when it's skinned over. I like this method the best. I've had countless glued up panels warp on me so I wait until everything is completely dry before taking my cauls off. I always have remaining squeeze-out under my cauls that I just can't get with them on. I carefully chisel away the big chunks and then sand off the rest. It always gunks up a sheet of sandpaper, so I save old paper for just this before throwing it away. Works alright for me.

For clamps, I use the cheap black gas pipe versions, so I have to tape it up anyways or clamp them in such a way that the bar is off of the panel. This lets me always get underneath to get the squeezeout.


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## splintergroup (Jan 20, 2015)

a good technique is to dry-clamp the boards together then put on a generous coating of paste wax along the joint lines (1" on either side is good). The wax keeps the squeeze out from sticking to the surfaces and wax can be removed by sanding and wiping with mineral spirits.

Scrape the squeeze out off after the glue has dried at least 30 minutes or just let it dry overnight.


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