There are new products coming on the market at a rapid pace and trying to keep up with them can be a chore. Recently I found a new kind of glue that one of my suppliers spoke quite highly of. I haven't tried any new glues for a long time so I decided this might be a good idea to see if maybe it's time for me to switch glues. I thought the best way of seeing if the glue lived up to the recommendation or not would be to compare it with what I am using now, What really caught my attention was the label on the bottle that said "Accepts Stain" and "Fast Setting".
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I wasn't looking to see which glue was better than the other, but more than I already have been using Titebond Original glue for many, many years so I know what it does and it would be a good glue to use as a comparison to this new glue. I found pricing to be very similar so that was a good start ...
Testing for "Fast Setting" and Strength
Fast setting is not always a benefit, sometimes we want slower setting especially when we need to set up clamps or make sure the wood is aligned, but fast setting is a benefit to me sometimes so I am looking for faster setting.
My idea here was to set up some identical boards with smaller strips of wood glued to it using both types of glue, then at intervals from 5 to 60 minutes, I would test to see which chunks of wood set up more quickly by trying to break them off the main board. The first test was at 5 minutes and the Titebond had set more and was stronger. This same effect was identical at 10, 15, 30 and 60 minutes. At each time slot, the Titebond was had set faster and was tougher to break off the main board, than was the Bondrite.
Testing for "Accepts Stain"
I would love for a glue to accept a stain or in my case, a dye ... as many of you know I use dyes almost exclusively whenever I want to color wood, I just find variety and mixing capabilities more to my liking. I would love for a glue to be able to soak up some color for those time that a little bit of squeeze out or a small drop of glue gets on a board and you don't see it, and try to stain or dye over top and because most glues repel dyes and stains, after they dry on the wood you can often see a lighter spot where the glue was cleaned off the wood and the color did not adhere to the glue.
I was skeptical about this part, my expectation is that in order for a glue to work and to hold 2 pieces of wood together firmly the glue needs to seal if the glue is porous and allows dye or stain to penetrate, I thought was that it probably would not hold very well ... BUT, my mind can always be changed. Who knows what new technology has come about in the world of making glue, and I'm up for trying this out.
I laid down 2 rows of glue, one Titebond, the other Bondrite. The coatings for both were quite lean and I allow both to dry for about 2 hours.
Then I applied first my water-bourne dye, then 2 variations of Stain, one water, and another an oil variant ... then let these sit for about 5 minutes. Typically we don't let the dye sit on wood for 5 minutes before wiping off, in fact, we don't wipe dye off, but in this case, it was dry and soaked into the wood. the dye that was sitting ON the glue was also dry but when I rubbed it with my finger, I could see it was coming off. I added a bit of water to a cloth and the dye wiped right off both glue stips.
Next, I wiped off the stain, which you are supposed to do with these types and to my dismay, both stains wiped off the glue strips easily with little if any evidence that any stain had been absorbed by the glue.
Summary
In the end, I didn't find that the Bondrite live up to my expectations. It appears to be an average glue and I'm sure does an adequate job, it just didn't do what I was hoping it might do, based on what I read on the label or heard from the supplier. I will use up the glue I have but would probably not invest in more at this time but rather will continue to use the same glue I have been using for many years ...
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Copyright Colin Knecht
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