Monday, March 19, 2007

The Gorilla Glue Debate

Gorilla Glue at Woodcraft.com
Lately, I've been talking to carpenter friends of mine and Gorilla Glue has come up in more than one conversation. I haven't solicited for any opinions on glue, but it's ironic that Gorilla Glue has been a topic of late.
Most of the friends that I have talked to don't like Gorilla Glue. They don't think it holds any better than yellow wood glue-or are put off by the fact that it is super messy.
When I ask them if they wet the surfaces they are trying to bond-most answer no-and I believe that is a big reason they are not getting a good result. The reason you wet the bonding surface is to activate the foaming polyurethane- which then allows the glue to expand and seep deeper than the surface of the join-bonding it tighter.
I work with all kinds of glue for all kinds of jobs and I like to use expanding polyurethane glue (like gorilla glue) for gluing solid wood boards together or interior joinery. Since it expands as you work with it, the join needs to be held in place with clamps. It has a pretty slow drying time and you have to machine sand your surface to remove the excess foam to get a nice seamless finish. Just be sure to wear gloves or it will be on your hands for weeks.
Gorilla glue isn't good for small repairs that can't be held tightly in place. If you can't squeeze what you're gluing together-it will just make a big foamy blob.
I work with many brands of expanding polyurethane glue. Elmer's Ultimate is what I use most, but Gorilla Glue is the marquee brand and surprisingly a hot topic among carpenters.

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

but does the GG still have reasonable strength if the aurface has not been wet. I ask because I glued some carbon rods to epp foam, and didn't add moisture. I'm wondering if I'll have to redo the glue join with moisture?

 

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