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Overheard a builder saying they'd let the glue tack up for 10 seconds and call it good
I was grabbing supplies at the lumberyard in Green Bay yesterday and heard a contractor tell his helper that 10 seconds was plenty of dry time for full spread wood glue. How long do you actually wait before you lay the boards down?
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grace_white5mo ago
Depends on the glue. Titebond II needs like 30-60 seconds. But for regular old Elmer's? Yeah 10 seconds ain't gonna cut it.
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lunakim5mo ago
Yeah but are you actually counting seconds or just guessing? Because I swear people say 30 seconds and it's more like a rushed 10 count in their head. Tested this on a shelf I built last week and Titebond II definitely got tacky faster than I expected but full hold took way longer. Like I clamped it for a full minute and still had some squeeze out. Does that clamping pressure matter more than the open time? Been wondering if I'm just bad at this or if there's actually a sweet spot between glue type and how hard you press.
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jesser795mo ago
lunakim I think you're onto something about the counting. I caught myself doing the same thing until I actually timed it with my phone. But here's an angle you might not have considered - the temperature of your shop matters a lot more than people talk about. If your glue or the wood is cold, that 30 second window can turn into 2 minutes easy. I had a project in my garage last winter where Titebond II sat open for almost 5 minutes before clamping and it still bonded fine. So maybe your open time is less about the glue type and more about what the thermostat says.
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