wipe glue or let it dry

[guest]

I have just completd buillding a canoe and I had a difficult time sanding the glue marks that bled into the wood between the strips. When I put on a strip, I wiped the excess glue squeeze out off with a wet rag. It appears that the water from the rag dilutes the glue squeeze out and causes it to weep into the wood fibers making it difficult to sand out easily. I now wonder if maybe I should not have wiped the glue off at all and instead just have let the glue squeeze out dry and then tried to scrape the drips with a scraper. Does anyone know if this would have resulted in less sanding. I am assuming that the glue would not have penetrated into the fibers of the wood as much as it did by my wetting it.

I am getting ready to build the next canoe and would appreciate any info.

Thanks

[Glen Smith]

I wipe off the excess glue using paper towels and I don't have any problem sanding the slight residue. You may want to try it with some scraps first. I use ordinary yellow carpenter's glue.

[Rod Tait]

I have never had any problems with wiping glue with a damp rag. Once dry, it only takes a little sanding to get rid of any marks. When you wet the hull down to raise grain, the glue will often swell again and will always need to be sanded before glassing.

I think you will have more work if you let glue dry and scrape off later.

What type of glue did you use and how much water on your wet cloth?

[philz]

On my 1st canoe I used lots of glue and wiped it off with paper towels, and had to sand out lots of glue streaks just like you (I didn't do a good job). My next canoes I ran a small bead down the cove and spread it out with my finger, and got almost no drips. After the ones I did get dried, I picked them off by hand. I had much less sanding to do.

philz

[Jim D]

First time builders often encounter this problem, I know I did ! Two tips, don't use as much glue next time, as epoxy will fill small voids and make the joint stronger, and use DARK wood glue, dark wood glue is easier to see while sanding, and that which you miss looks better than YELLOW WOOD GLUE !!! Jim

[Erik, Belgium]

I'm using ordinary white wood glue (Bison and Pattex), and wipe the excess off with a damp rag (wet cloth).
As Jim mentioned, don't apply too much glue. I also spread out the glue in the cove with my finger and pick off the glue once dried, if there are any.
I have had no headaches with glue marks showing when sanding.

[wilsonv]

I just finished stripping my canoe. I also had the same problem with the glue and wet rag wipe off. The glue appeared to get into the wood. The glue that I allowed to dry and then scraped off did not leave any kind of residue. The dark glue was great for the dark wood.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Erik and Philz,
You both said that you spread the glue in the bead with your finger. My fingers are stubby and too fat to get down in the bead, so I just did another pass with the tip of the syrnge to spread the glue out and it was much nicer. I didn't have to force anything and hardly had any squeeze out.
Thanks Guys

[Juneaudave]

Too little is said about using a syringe. That little tool really helps to get just about the right amount of glue in the joint to minimize squeeze out and make clean up easier....Dave

[Glen Smith]

Actually I gave up on using a syringe to apply glue to the cove. I now use a hair color applicator bottles. It holds 8oz of glue which is a heck of a lot more than a syringe. The tip is quite small so it fits into the cove and the hole is very small so it applies just a fine line of glue which is all that is needed.

[Doug/N. Alberta]

I've pretty much finished my first boat as far as glue problems go. I asked about this question on the old forum and i think the question was trivalized by some. Well i've learned a bit. I used a VERY slightly damp cloth on runs and those i missed I used a hooked utility (Lino) knife and just used the back of the blade,(occasionally sharpen on a 90 with a file. It knocks the glue of really good, better than a scraper. On drools that had appeared to have sunk into the wood i slightly dampened and the glue came off so much easier with the Lino knife back.