Cleaning dried glue squeeze out on corner joints

[Kodi Crescent]

Hi.  I'm building my first set of built ins.  They look pretty good, but I'm having some trouble cleaning up the glue squeeze out at each of the joints inside the box.  What do others use?  Cabinet scrapers?  Other things?

These are made of Baltic Birch and will be painted if either of those makes a difference.

Thanks!

 

[Knight Woodworks]

Best to get the squeeze out before it dries. Once dry I use a sharp chisel to remove blobs and a scraper on the thin bits.
If I have a lot to do I'll use a LN small chisel plane.

Good luck.

John

 

[butzla]

A chisel works ok but a chisel plane works best.  I have the LN small and find it very useful.

L-N Chisel Plane

 

[jmbfestool]

Like already mentioned best to get the glue off while its still wet.

If its set a sharp chisel.

Painting makes it alot easier because as long as u chisel thick off and sand smooth your ready for painting but if you was to stain it you could be in abit of trouble and would have do spend some time making sure all glue is gone before staining.

 

[Old School Carpenter]

As mentioned a sharp chisel or chisel plane works best, right after using prefinished ply and cleaning up as you go. Another option would be to not use glue on your carcass construction.

Mike

 

[RonMiller]

The Benchcrafted Skraper is made for this. Great reviews.

 

[mouppe]

Wait ten minutes and then use a paint scraper.

 

[Kodi Crescent]

I did wipe it off while wet and then I used a wet cloth to clean up what I could while it was still wet.  I'm left with a very thin skin of glue, and not necessarily blobs with any height.  Should I just leave them and paint over them?  Will the paint smooth over them?

 

[panelchat]

if there's a lot of squeeze out, you could try blue tape on the panel surfaces right up to the joint, like 1-2mm away.
then scraper, etc. as per above suggestions.
then wipe down and remove the tape, wipe down further as needed.
most of that glue smear happens on the tape, not the veneer.

if you are using biscuits, most of the time you can just glue the biscuits and not the whole edge.
less squeeze out, in fewer places.

i usually pre finish panels before construction, this can make glue wipe up very easy as the squeeze out doesn't absorb into the veneer. blue tape on the joint surface of the panels while finishing leaves the end bare for gluing..

 

[Knight Woodworks]

Nope, paint will not smooth it out. A cabinet scraper or sand paper on a block should do the trick. Remember to go with the grain.

John

 

[colevalleytim]

Try an offset chisel  sometimes called a cranked neck

Or a plane blade, flat on the opposing surfaces and scrape away the glue

 

[Kodi Crescent]

Thanks.  I ordered a LN small chisel plane.  Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Old School Carpenter]

Careful! Quality hand tools can be addictive also. [smile]

Mike

 

[TinyTiger]

I also like to blue tape the joints, followed by some scraping with a crooked-neck chisel if needed after the glue has set up a bit.  Woodcraft has a nice little chisel (a Wood River offering).