CA glue vs wood glue

[TealaG]

Hi...I had been using screws exclusively.  But I've been trying wood glue and brad nails and I bought some CA glue with accelerator to try.    Can you tell me when I would use CA glue vs wood glue?  thanks!

 

[TSO_Products]

stay with woodglue - TITEBOND. Use CA adhesives for small areas where parts are close fitting and exclude air at the interface.
Last but not least, prepare some test joints and break them after the adhesives have set and you'll see if the glue joint is strong enough to hold while breaking the wood next to it.

Hans

 

[ChuckM]

Hi...I had been using screws exclusively.  But I've been trying wood glue and brad nails and I bought some CA glue with accelerator to try.    Can you tell me when I would use CA glue vs wood glue?  thanks!

In my shop, CA is for instant and small fix (you don't want to wait a couple of hours before you can come back to work on your project), woodturning projects, and metal to wood adhesion. There are also different CAs for different applications and they are all expensive.

For all others including large projects and where structural strength is to be assured, wood glue and liquid hide glue (e.g. Old Brown glue) are used. You can find countless materials on the Internet about wood glue (which can be yellow or white, the latter would be preferred if your project assembly is complicated).

Old Brown glue gives you a second chance if you screw up as it can be undone with moisture and heat (which however can be a time-consuming job).

If you work with MDF, glue alone may not be good enough too.

Whatever you use, remember this: never do your assembly without dry fitting. In most projects, it is a one-shot deal. I dry assemble my important projects two or three times.

 

[The.Handyman]

Try DAP RapidFuse for wood. It's great stuff. Not a pure CA glue but a hybrid. Great for small pieces and fixes.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[pettyconstruction]

CA glue works real well as was stated above.
I use it a lot in crown and base board assembly,but it does not replace a wood glue like Tightbond.
Tightbond and Collins clamps work well if you have the time to let it cure. (Cam clamps also).
Both have their place.

Also, you don’t have to use the spray every time, it cures slower without.
As was said, do a practice piece and compare.
Good luck,
Charlie

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ear3]

In terms of CA glue, 2P10 is great, especially if you can back it up with a pin nailer, like when joining miters on crown or other moulding:
https://www.fastcap.com/product/2p-10-adhesive-standard-rt?cat=48

I also use 2P10 when turning to affix a blank to a sacrificial piece in the chuck.

 

[ChuckM]

Try DAP RapidFuse for wood. It's great stuff. Not a pure CA glue but a hybrid. Great for small pieces and fixes.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

The RapidFuse is particularly useful when you don't want the wood to expand (e.g. shimming), because unlike CA glues, it is not moisture-based.

 

[TealaG]

Guys...thanks so much for your advice.  I have some 2P10, but now I know to use it for small areas.  I will say that it's really nice to use glue+brads so that I can hold it together long enough to put screws in.  I'm a newbie.  I build stuff, but it's not very good.  I'm slowly improving.  Getting better tools and techniques has really helped!

Thanks for your advice!

 

[grbmds]

Others say they wouldn't do this but I have used dots of CA glue in between Titebond to hold small (and even some larger parts) together immediately while the Titebond sets. It works well because the joint is essentially held together with regular wood glue.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Others say they wouldn't do this but I have used dots of CA glue in between Titebond to hold small (and even some larger parts) together immediately while the Titebond sets. It works well because the joint is essentially held together with regular wood glue.

I’ve used dots of Titebond with original Gorilla glue (urethane) when I needed to kick the gap filling feature up a notch.

 

[Birdhunter]

I remember reading a Fine Woodworking article testing a number of glues. I think Titebond came out either 1 or 2. Gorilla Glue was at or near the bottom.

 

[Chance Beasley]

Here is a good demonstration on youtube from a really good carpenter regarding different bonds. He doesn't use CA glue as one but does give you a good idea of strengths of different options. Hipur glue (a hot glue gun version for wood) is one of the options and something to consider if you aren't familiar with it.

 

[Cheese]

I’m a huge fan of the HiPur system of adhesives. They do have a limited life time though so I keep opened syringes in the freezer inside of a freezer bag. The stuff is strong, tough, fast setting and easy to use. The only real issue is the “all materials version” will actually bond all materials and will bond the aluminum pusher disc to the aluminum dispense syringe if it’s not placed in the freezer.

Make sure to check the “use by date” before purchasing a syringe of adhesive. Because the system is expensive, the syringes tend to be slow movers and are frequently out of date.

 

[Birdhunter]

I found the Fine Woodworking article.  Titebond first, T88 2-part slow set epoxy second, Elmer’s Carpenters glue third, hide glues 4th and 5th, and Gorilla Glue last.

The really poor results for Gorilla Glue surprised me. The tests used tight, medium tight, and loose bridle joints on 3 different woods. The loose fit joint was designed to test gap filling strength. This is where I thought Gorilla Glue would shine. It came out dead last in every test.

The test also proved that 2-part epoxy isn’t necessary on Ipe. Titebond worked as well.

 

[peter halle]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]  I have a project coming up where I might want to use Hipur.  After reading your post I went looking for a centralized source of info on the system but only found bits and pieces.  Is there a website on the cartridges or do you know of a website?

Peter

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]  I have a project coming up where I might want to use Hipur.  After reading your post I went looking for a centralized source of info on the system but only found bits and pieces.  Is there a website on the cartridges or do you know of a website?

Hey [member=1674]Peter Halle[/member] , the system was originally marketed by Steinel.
http://www.steinel.net/Customized/uploads/PDFs/HiPURformer_Data.pdf

Then Titebond handled them and now it's being marketed by Infinity.
https://www.infinitybond.com/collections/polyurethane-pur-hot-melt

In the same manner, Rockler distributed the system, and now it's Woodcraft.

Interesting, I just noticed that the MP 300 is no longer offered by Infinity. It had a set time of 5 minutes so you could manipulate the item for a couple of minutes.

 

[peter halle]

Thank you for the info [member=44099]Cheese[/member] .  This constant change of hands explained my searching difficulty.  Sad to see that a complete kit in a plastic case seems to not be available anymore/

Rats.

peter

 

[Cheese]

One thing I forgot to mention is that once heated up to the proper temp, the gun retains enough heat so that it can be used continuously for 10-15 minutes without having to return it to its cradle. Ya, the old kit was pretty sweet. [sad]  It held everything inside plus had enough room to hold 6 extra adhesive syringes.

I wonder if you talked with Rockler they may have some NOS Steinel/TiteBond stock left over as they weren't discontinued that long ago. The local Rockler still had the kits about 4-5 months ago.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Gorilla glue is better as a shim/filler than adhesive.