Glue question

[Peanut6]

I'm using Titebond white wood glue on my Jolly Boat.  I really want to avoid using CA glue if at all possible.  The instructions for Titebond say to clamp for 30 minutes and not to stress the joint for 24 hours.  How long do you folks let the glue dry before you feel good about "stressing the the joint"?  I'm planking the hull now and would like to get more than one plank glued down a day.  The stress that I would be applying is trimming the plank at the bow so there is room for the bending/gluing of its counter part on the other side and just normal handling while I continue planking.  I vaguely think I want to believe that I might have possibly read somewhere that using a hair dryer on a warm/hot setting could speed up the dry time considerably.  Is that true?  And if it is, how significant does it reduce the drying time?  I currently use a hair drying on my soaked planks after they are pinned/clamped into place as heat and air flow really speed things up.  During my first planking attempt years ago I was working full time so it wasn't a big deal at the end of the evening to do up a plank.  This time around I'm unemployed and it's driving me batty to just sit and watch glue dry during the day.  Your guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[jhearl]

As with many things, the answer can be found with a simple experiment. Glue some scrap planking to another piece of wood then see how long it takes to set up. I typically use generic yellow glue and I am often surprised to find it has set up in just a few minutes. 

[Bill Hudson]

Over my years of model building I have had my best luck with plain old Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue.  I save milk carton or milk jug lids and use bamboo cocktail sticks for most of my glue jobs. I squeeze out a couple of good size drops of glue in the lid. The glue, fresh out of bottle is a little too liquid but it will become thicker but will set up quickly in the joint. You can control the thickness by adding a couple more drops to the lid. If you set aside for a while a scum will form.  Just peel the scum  off and add a little glue. If left over night, the glue in the lid will harden and turn yellow. Just pull it out of the lid and start again.

 

[TBlack]

Hi Kev,

I, too, use the titebond, but the yellow stuff. It's more water resistant. I find that 20 minutes is a good wait time. And while you're waiting, can't you be preparing the second plank or work on some other part of the model?

Tom

[noel_colledge]

I would agree with Tom for the time, but it will all depend on how much you are stressing the plank. If you are pre-forming the plank so you are just laying it on then 20 mins is more than enough. If on the other hand you are not pre-forming, and expecting it to hold then yes I would say you will need several hours so it does not spring back.

 

Noel

[allanyed]

I agree with all of the above regarding using carpenter's glue versus white glue.    Based on my own experience it generally takes more time to prepare the next piece while the glue is curing on the previous piece, but in a nutshell, for me, light stress-5 minutes or less; medium stress- 20 minutes is plenty; an hour is more than enough for everything else.  If the stress is still too much, something is probably wrong with the fit/shape of the parts, not the glue.   

Edited April 18, 2021 by allanyed

[Jaager]

7 hours ago, Peanut6 said:

This time around I'm unemployed and it's driving me batty to just sit and watch glue dry during the day.

Kev,

 

I leave any clamping on for ~12 hrs  ( I have been using Titebond II  since 1972 and have seen no reason to change. But I chose the water resistant version because we live on a water planet. )  Rather than rush the planking and possibly stress the bond, why not run two parallel projects?  And skip to on coming sub assemblies on the Jolly boat?

5 hours ago, Bill Hudson said:

milk carton or milk jug lids

Bill,

I use a square of Cut-Rite for the same purpose.  I use a miniature sponge on a toothpick as an applicator and after the first leftover dries, I have an amber base for the next puddle.  Several weeks and the base gets pert thick.

By the way, a gold star for the near free plank bender that is about the perfect tool for doing the bending. It should not get as excessively hot as the soldering iron adaptions that are the more common alternatives.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

I pre-bent a plank (more or less) so that the final positioning would not take much force to hold it in position.  Then I mixed a little 2-part "3 minute" epoxy with my index finger on the end of apiece of wood (door shims are great for this), applied epoxy to the contact points, wiped off my finger (a rag or the underside of a desk would do) then used 'finger clamps' (yup, prestidigitation) to hold the piece in place for three minutes while watching TV or listening to music.  Nothing ever came loose.  Titebond is also used for parts made to fit into or against each other ... the semi-set time isn't that long.

[Peanut6]

Thank you all for your input and suggestions, it is greatly appreciated.  It is comforting to know that some of the things I do are also practiced by more skilled builders than I.  Now to clarify a couple things.  I said I used Titebond white glue only because it comes out of the bottle white.  When it dries it is yellow so I guess it is yellow glue.  I had never seen yellow glue as it comes out of the bottle, so I was expecting some special something-something.  I also use Elemer's carpenters glue and to be honest, I use which ever bottle I grab first as they sit side by side.  I do pre-bend my planks before gluing them down.  So they are under no stress while the glue is drying.  I actually chamfer the one edge before I soak my planks.  And using the hair dryer with both settings on high really speeds up that process, thanks for the thumbs up on that one Jaager.  During my first planking attempt I did do some building forward while I was waiting.  There isn't really much left to do without having the hull complete so I'm trying to only concentrate on the re-planking right now.  The one thing that wasn't touched on I believe has become a moot point.  If the glue sets up in about 30 minutes, using a the hair dryer doesn't really gain me anything.  Thanks again everyone.