Submitted by ThatCraftyDragon t3_ygj3if in DIY
I'm repurposing sone dressers into shelves and I'm having a heck of a time sticking smaller planks together for the inserts (the part that the items sit on) . I want to run a long thin peice of wood across 5 small planks to stick them together but I can't get nails or screws to effectively go into the wood and stay there. I wanted to glue each small piece to the long thin peice with no more nails but will it work or fall apart? TIA.
I'll add the caveat that wood glue is only stronger than the wood itself if you've made a proper joint. If there is any significant gap between your boards that is essentially being "filled" with wood glue, it isn't very strong at all. As long as your joint in tight and clean though, there really isn't anything that performs better, and certainly not for the price and ease of use.
If your joint is janky though, a polyurethane construction adhesive like Liquid Nail is a better choice.
Out of curiosity. Would there be a situation when making a paste of wood glue and sawdust be desireable? Specifically in regards to “filling” small gaps, I wonder if it would be stronger or weaker.
That's a great way to fill old screw holes, like say you strip a screw or something.
But it's not going to bond a good joint that way. Wood glue works best when spread evenly between two square faces, and clamped with sufficient force to make it slightly seep out along the length of the joint.
And ideally avoid endgrain or anything with finish on it- you’re not gonna get wood glue to stick to something painted, clear coated, waxed or pre stained. I can’t tell from op’s description but if it’s gluing new pieces to prefinished, use a construction adhesive or nail in cleats to support the shelf
That's a good (and common) method for filling things cosmetically, but would not be a good structural bond.
Salt on the glue line? That's a neat trick! I'll have to remember this.
I wouldn’t recommend salt if you already experience high blood pressure during glue ups.
I genuinely lol.
Thanks!
Sugar will also work.
Do you want ants? Because its actually Mallory that asks.
Hey, thanks for the salt tip first time I've heard of it. Probably won't remember when I need it again but still a good tip.
Sawdust also works.
Would sand or any sort of grit also work?
Yes, because this works by physical action. Salt is recommended because it’s always around and it has a fine, consistent grit that is small enough that it won’t force your pieces apart. Personally I wouldn’t do sand because its grains are all different sizes but in a pinch it could work.
Cool thanks for the information
Fine sawdust works too.
Fine, sawdust works too.
I often hear that wood glue is stronger than wood but if you glue end grain to end grain and then apply stress it will break at that connection. What gives? I’m probably just stupid.
The caveat is that wood glue is stronger than wood if used correctly. Wood glue works best gluing grain to grain. It’s easy to split wood along the grain because the natural bond between the fibers is not that strong and it’s that bond that the wood glue is great at replicating. In your example the wood glue is being tested against the strength of the fibers rather than the bond between them
Also it usually won’t penetrate into endgrain to get a good bond- lots of YouTube videos on guys like Mathias Wendell and others strength testing different joints and glue joints! I recommend many diy’er to watch some so they have a comparative understanding of different basic construction methods - then you can pick appropriately
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>... put some salt on the glue line to get some grip.
I've also used some fine sawdust from my sander for this as well.
Huh, thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try next time
Wood glue. Or PVA glue. Both work very well, last for decades.
> I can’t get nails or screws to effectively go into the wood and stay there
You want pins.
You are correct, but just for clarification: wood glue is PVA glue.
so I spent 2 years as a cabinet maker, and it was staples and wood glue, no nails at all involved. the thing is that if applied properly the wood glue becomes stronger then actual plywood, it works great. I am not sure about the brand you are using, but elmers wood glue was what we used and it worked better then nails.
No
Wood glue is very easy to work with and is the best option for gluing wood hands down. The glue joints end up stronger than the wood itself in most cases. Just make sure you use some clamps, or at the very least lots of tape to hold the pieces together tightly for a day to ensure the glue joint sets up properly.
You want wood glue, not construction adhesive, and some clamps.
That said, I think we’re potentially missing some vital information here. What exactly is happening with the nails and screws that they don’t say in? That’s a red flag.
Idiot here. Why avoid construction adhesive? I'm using it for cinderblocks, but label says for wood, metal etc. Hope this isn't too dumb of a question.
Mostly it’s messy and looks like hammered dog poop. It’s also unnecessary it you’re going long grain to long grain with moderate clamping- pva is all you need.
For weird matériels or less than ideal situations/no clamps I prefer it or epoxy over wood glue. Wood glue loses most of its strength if there’s any gap or finish on the joint.
It’s a matter of using the most suitable material for the job.
Wood glue is meant for tight, flush joints and excels in this role as it’s thin enough to spread evenly, fill tiny cracks and dries either clear or very slightly yellow. Basically, it’s tidy.
Construction adhesive is meant for much rougher connections where surfaces that aren’t as smooth or flush and you’re probably only applying spots of adhesive rather than covering the whole surface. As such, the stuff is much thicker, more gloppy and you basically only want to apply it where it’s never going to be seen or touched because it’s messy, impossible to fine tune and looks like crap.
I’ll tell you what it’s not for - filling in nail holes in drywall. Had to explain this to my wife who thought it meant “no more nails!” As in it makes the holes disappear…
Just curious, did she take it constructively? 🪚
Wood glue and dowels will do it
I was just going to recommend this video. This guy's tests are very thorough and far surpasses any testing I would ever do on my own. He covers a lot of bases.
Between this guy and Mathias I just use TiteBond3 for basically everything. I like the water proof, the food safe, and the longer open time of that glue. I might buy a bottle of their dark glue for a specific project, but it’s not like I can afford walnut, I buy the expensive glue. (Joking of course, the $12 bottle lasts me like a year)
I used Elmer's wood glue on arborite for a desk I built 25 years ago. The guy at the lumber yard said that all the arborite on their sales desk is held in place by Elmer's. The arborite was worn down but there were no lifting corners.
Lots of comments about wood glue becoming stronger than the wood. Why can’t we have furniture that is entirely wood glue?
“Strong” in this case is tensile/shear strength. Glue two pieces of wood together. Then pull them apart with great force and chances are the wood will splinter somewhere that’s not the glue line.
However this doesn’t mean that a big hunk of dried wood glue has any strength under compression. A chair made of solid glue would probably buckle if you sat in it.
Use an mma and tape it for the first 24 hours
It is always best to be safe. Two words: Millennium Tower (SF)
I heard it all falls off. So, up to you.
Might aswell use wood glue
Wood glue, but make sure there is no wood finish on the edges you are gluing. Bare wood to bare wood
No More Nails “dries” to a rubbery substance and gets extremely hard over time. It’s good for putting paneling up air securing underpayment to floor joists. It is NOT okay to glue pieces of furniture together.
Certainly but you will need some nails too 😁
no it is not
It sounds like you're incredibly far off base from design through to implementation. I'd suggest watching a couple of simple furniture builds on Youtube because you seem to be a bit lost.
If you have something else pushing the pieces together it works quite well. But its not got a lot of gripping strength. You could go with something else like PL400 or similar but with what you are describing I am not sure that it will work. It kind off depends on the load of the smaller pieces. Small load, it will work. Heavier load, no.
Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyudWdOgrNc
Jb weld is it for me lol
Not for wood. For dissimilar materials, yes. For non-porous materials, yes.
SuckMeFillySideways t1_iu95q8w wrote
Get some wood glue. It doesn't matter if it's Titebond, Elmer's, or whatever. Wood glue is way stronger than No More Nails and is stronger than the wood itself.
Regardless, I'd recommend you use some clamping force (not the hand of God, that's unnecessary) until it dries. If you are finding that the pieces are slipping too much while trying to clamp, put some salt on the glue line to get some grip.