Overheard a guy at the lumberyard say he uses a hair dryer on his glue-ups

I was picking up some maple in Springfield and heard a guy telling his buddy about it. He said he keeps a cheap hair dryer in his shop and runs it over the joints for about two minutes after clamping. The idea is it sets the glue skin faster so he can move pieces sooner without them shifting. I tried it yesterday on a drawer box and it actually worked pretty well. Has anyone else found a weird tool that helps with glue?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly_hart284d ago

That trick works but you gotta be careful. Heat makes the glue skin over fast, but the joint underneath is still wet. If you move it too soon, the bond is weak. I learned that the hard way on a table leg that popped loose a day later. Letting it sit for the full clamp time is still the best way.

brown.wesley4d ago

You're totally right, @kelly_hart28, that skin-over trap is a real problem. I've rushed a few glue-ups with a heat gun and paid for it later, just like your table leg. The surface looks and feels set, but it's just a thin shell. For anything that needs to hold weight or stress, waiting out the full cure time in the clamps is the only safe bet. That quick heat method is maybe okay for a small craft project you don't care about, but never for real woodworking.