What is your technique for dealing with glue squeeze out?

[SixShooter]

When edge gluing boards for a body blank, I clamp them together with bar clamps and also sandwich the boards between culls in order to keep the board faces aligned in the same plane. A good glue application results in some squeeze out, but once the culls are in place it’s difficult to clean off the squeeze out. My planer isn’t wide enough for the 13” final blank so there is no easy way to clean dried glue from the face of the blank. What is a good technique to clean the squeeze out from the blank? Do you clamp the edges together first, then clean off the glue, and then clamp on the face culls? Is there a better way?

 

[rron99]

I use a hand plane when everything is dry and the clamps come off.

 

[CraigB]

If you don't have a hand plane, a scraper will do the trick.

 

[Picton]

A classical luthier named John Bogdanovich suggests clamping, setting a timer for 8-15 minutes, then gently removing the squeeze-out with a chisel or a scraper. Eight minutes or so is enough to make sure it's not going to smear across the adjacent wood, but not so long that it needs effort with the chisel.

Works for me. That, or handplane later on if the clamps make it tough to get a chisel in during the 15 minutes.

 

[oldteleguy]

Another method is to apply furniture wax along the glueline,on both sides of the blank. Glue
will not adhere to the wax.If you use a glue roller or brush,you will properly spread enough glue to insure a solid joint while minimizing squeeze-out.Any of these methods will
insure that you don't need to scrape or plane the blank-doing so can gouge or scar the blank.On a transparent finish this could be disastrous.

 

[Colt W. Knight]

I wipe the squeeze out off with a wet rag while its still wet.

 

[SixShooter]

A classical luthier named John Bogdanovich suggests clamping, setting a timer for 8-15 minutes, then gently removing the squeeze-out with a chisel or a scraper. Eight minutes or so is enough to make sure it's not going to smear across the adjacent wood, but not so long that it needs effort with the chisel.

Works for me. That, or handplane later on if the clamps make it tough to get a chisel in during the 15 minutes.

I wipe the squeeze out off with a wet rag while its still wet.

Are you guys clamping a cull across the face to keep the boards aligned? I'm wondering how to remove the glue if you have these culls covering up the joint.

 

[guitarbuilder]

Assuming you use yellow glue, after 30-45 minutes or so, you can unclamp the boards . The glue isnt' rock hard yet, so I use an old chisel as a scraper and just run it down the glue line. It has a cheese consistancy at this point in most places.

 

[SixShooter]

Assuming you use yellow glue, after 30-45 minutes or so, you can unclamp the boards . The glue isnt' rock hard yet, so I use an old chisel as a scraper and just run it down the glue line. It has a cheese consistancy at this point in most places.

Are you clamping a cull across the face for alignment?

 

[jefrs]

(hand) plane or broad chisel as a scraper.

But here's a thing, there's two ways of sharpening and setting a plane blade. The conventional way is to have it sharpened square and set straight, but it can be sharpened curved and set so the centre is off-set. Set very shallow the latter can remove imperfections without leaving any lines. This method is intended for truing the edge of medium-long boards by tilting the blade slightly, it can take a thick or thin cut depending how far it is across the edge. Takes a bit of craftsman skill but something no power tool can do.

Me, I'd probably remove one sash cramp at a time and use the damp rag on the glue before it sets solid.

 

[guitarbuilder]

Are you clamping a cull across the face for alignment?

I use C clamps at the end of the joints to align the boards and remove them after the glue sets up. I use cauls for clamping things but not in that application. On a fretboard glue up, I use a caul slightly narrower than the fretboard so I can go in and scrape glue off immediately. Only on a a glue up with many pieces (10-13) have I put a piece of wood across for alignment or on say a coffee table or dresser panel.

 

[Picton]

Are you guys clamping a cull across the face to keep the boards aligned? I'm wondering how to remove the glue if you have these culls covering up the joint.

Nope. With wood as thick as a Tele, I've never needed a caul. If it's thinner, like say 1/4" for a drop-top, I've put in a light-duty clamp at each end to keep the joint immobile. But it's never really been a problem.

There's another active thread right now about clamping and jointing techniques; might help you. It includes pics of various peoples' clamping methods. Mine looks like Colt's, but (usually) minus the clamps on the ends. It helps to use either pipe clamps or some old-fashioned panel clamps; they'll help everything stay aligned.

 

[Colt W. Knight]

Here is my typically setup. After everything is in place, I just wipe the squeeze out off with a wet rag on top. Flip it over, and wipe that squeeze out off with a wet rag. Takes about 30 seconds.

 

[SixShooter]

Nope. With wood as thick as a Tele, I've never needed a caul. If it's thinner, like say 1/4" for a drop-top, I've put in a light-duty clamp at each end to keep the joint immobile. But it's never really been a problem.

You know, that's very true. My prior experience have been with thinner (~3/4") boards.

Here is my typically setup. After everything is in place, I just wipe the squeeze out off with a wet rag on top. Flip it over, and wipe that squeeze out off with a wet rag. Takes about 30 seconds.

Thanks for sharing that (BTW, nice product placement!). I just got finished doing a glue up using this setup and it worked well.

I thought I read somewhere that when it comes to scraping off the glue, it's better to do it after 30 minutes or so. If you wipe it off with water it could interfere more with stain absorption due to the water spreading the glue around and also driving it into the wood pores. Any thoughts on this? But for the bodies I am working on I am not using a stain so this is not an issue.

 

[Picton]

I thought I read somewhere that when it comes to scraping off the glue, it's better to do it after 30 minutes or so. If you wipe it off with water it could interfere more with stain absorption due to the water spreading the glue around and also driving it into the wood pores. Any thoughts on this? But for the bodies I am working on I am not using a stain so this is not an issue.

This is why I'm a scraper, not a wiper. I once had that problem on a non-guitar project.

With that said, though, you could do worse things than follow Colt's advice. He sorta knows how to build guitars...

Some folks also lay down tape along the faces of the boards prior to gluing, then lift the tape to clear the squeeze-out after clamping. I'm sure that works fine, too, though it seems to me to be a waste of tape. Bogdanovich's method works just fine for me.

 

[SixShooter]

This is why I'm a scraper, not a wiper. I once had that problem on a non-guitar project.

With that said, though, you could do worse things than follow Colt's advice. He sorta knows how to build guitars...

Some folks also lay down tape along the faces of the boards prior to gluing, then lift the tape to clear the squeeze-out after clamping. I'm sure that works fine, too, though it seems to me to be a waste of tape. Bogdanovich's method works just fine for me.

I used the scraping method last night (along with the 'Colt Style' clamping method) and the glue came off surprisingly clean. It helped to have just the right amount of glue in the joint. Enough to get just a small amount of squeeze out. I scraped it with a putty knife after about 45-60 minutes.

 

[CapnCrunch]

Wiping glue off with a wet rag will NOT interfere with staining/finishing. The trick is to use enough water. Your rag must be wet enough to flush the glue off. Change positions on the rag each swipe so that you are removing glue rather than moving it from one place to another. This greatly reduces the work later. A sharp chisel as a scraper, or with the bevel down, makes short work of any small squeeze out the appears after you wipe. Just wait til the clamps come off. I take clamps off at about the 1 hour mark. Glue is set up but is still soft enough to easily remove with a chisel or scraper. I don't work the blank til the next day, but clamps come off after an hour.

 

[joshwertheimer]

I've taped the edges, and it makes it a lot easier.

 

[Mongo Park]

Yes scraping the glue when it is part dry is thr way to go, the trick is to get it at the state when it is just dry enough to come off nicely and not so dry it is getting tough to scrape off, this way their is no after effects like not taking a stain or finish discoloring.
Cheers Ron.

 

[Colt W. Knight]

Wiping glue off with a wet rag will NOT interfere with staining/finishing. .

+1

Now super glue is another story all together.