I glued the top of a table to the base with gorilla glue. (I had screwed up
the design and couldn't get any mechanical fasteners in without being
conspicuous.

The glue foamed up, I cleaned it up and went to dinner. Three hours later
it was as strong as I hoped, but it had foamed a heck of a lot more than I
expected and some of the the foam had dripped down the work. For reasons I
won't go into now, I had already finished the parts before gluing so I have
no reasonable way to clean it up. I scrapped, sanded and refinished the
worst spots and my wife thinks it looks great. I however know that the
parts you can't see well are a mess, so I am going to rebuild the project.
(Actually I erred more than the gluing, or I would just refinish the whole
thing; the glue is just the final straw. Rebuilding it will give me the
chance to do it all correctly)

For future reference, how do you deal with the foam? Just plan and
scrapping and sanding it way, or can it somehow be contained. (Obviously
you don't use it on work that is already finished)

This will go down as my worst project to date. To bad cause the mahogany
was really pretty and now it is kindling.

I think gluing the table top is a mistake. The reason for mechanical
fasteners is to allow for wood expansion so the top won't split or
crack later due to stresses.

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:14:55 GMT, "toller" wrote:

I glued the top of a table to the base with gorilla glue. (I had screwed up
the design and couldn't get any mechanical fasteners in without being
conspicuous.

This is the first time I ever heard about gluing a tabletop to the
base. Tisk Tisk. Save the gorilla glue for outdoor projects.

Painter's blue masking tape can catch most. That plus using it
sparingly AND coming back a hour or so later to scrape off the still
soft foam is about all that is needed.

However, in this situation there is probably NO advantage to Gorilla
glue over something like TiteBond, where you wipe up the squeeze out
at the time you clamp things up - and with TiteBond the blue masking
tape is also a help

John




On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:14:55 GMT, "toller" wrote:

I glued the top of a table to the base with gorilla glue. (I had screwed up
the design and couldn't get any mechanical fasteners in without being
conspicuous.

The glue foamed up, I cleaned it up and went to dinner. Three hours later
it was as strong as I hoped, but it had foamed a heck of a lot more than I
expected and some of the the foam had dripped down the work. For reasons I
won't go into now, I had already finished the parts before gluing so I have
no reasonable way to clean it up. I scrapped, sanded and refinished the
worst spots and my wife thinks it looks great. I however know that the
parts you can't see well are a mess, so I am going to rebuild the project.
(Actually I erred more than the gluing, or I would just refinish the whole
thing; the glue is just the final straw. Rebuilding it will give me the
chance to do it all correctly)

For future reference, how do you deal with the foam? Just plan and
scrapping and sanding it way, or can it somehow be contained. (Obviously
you don't use it on work that is already finished)

This will go down as my worst project to date. To bad cause the mahogany
was really pretty and now it is kindling.

Blue masking tape is the new duct tape.

-j


"John" wrote in message
...
Painter's blue masking tape can catch most. That plus using it
sparingly AND coming back a hour or so later to scrape off the still
soft foam is about all that is needed.

However, in this situation there is probably NO advantage to Gorilla
glue over something like TiteBond, where you wipe up the squeeze out
at the time you clamp things up - and with TiteBond the blue masking
tape is also a help

John




On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:14:55 GMT, "toller" wrote:

I glued the top of a table to the base with gorilla glue. (I had screwed
up
the design and couldn't get any mechanical fasteners in without being
conspicuous.

The glue foamed up, I cleaned it up and went to dinner. Three hours
later
it was as strong as I hoped, but it had foamed a heck of a lot more than
I
expected and some of the the foam had dripped down the work. For reasons
I
won't go into now, I had already finished the parts before gluing so I
have
no reasonable way to clean it up. I scrapped, sanded and refinished the
worst spots and my wife thinks it looks great. I however know that the
parts you can't see well are a mess, so I am going to rebuild the
project.
(Actually I erred more than the gluing, or I would just refinish the
whole
thing; the glue is just the final straw. Rebuilding it will give me the
chance to do it all correctly)

For future reference, how do you deal with the foam? Just plan and
scrapping and sanding it way, or can it somehow be contained. (Obviously
you don't use it on work that is already finished)

This will go down as my worst project to date. To bad cause the mahogany
was really pretty and now it is kindling.

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 13:26:06 -0800, "J" wrote:

Blue masking tape is the new duct tape.

Actually they are quite complementary. Duct tape is very sticky and
is intended to hold for a long long time. Blue Masking tape is
intended to be very temporary with virtually no sticky residue.
Between the two of them you can 'fix' 'anything'...

TWS

"TWS" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 13:26:06 -0800, "J" wrote:

Blue masking tape is the new duct tape.

Actually they are quite complementary. Duct tape is very sticky and
is intended to hold for a long long time. Blue Masking tape is
intended to be very temporary with virtually no sticky residue.
Between the two of them you can 'fix' 'anything'...

TWS

Exactly. What I mean is that it has become indispensable.

-j

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:14:55 GMT, "toller" wrote:

I glued the top of a table to the base with gorilla glue. (I had screwed up
the design and couldn't get any mechanical fasteners in without being
conspicuous.

The glue foamed up, I cleaned it up and went to dinner. Three hours later
it was as strong as I hoped, but it had foamed a heck of a lot more than I
expected and some of the the foam had dripped down the work. For reasons I
won't go into now, I had already finished the parts before gluing so I have
no reasonable way to clean it up. I scrapped, sanded and refinished the
worst spots and my wife thinks it looks great. I however know that the
parts you can't see well are a mess, so I am going to rebuild the project.
(Actually I erred more than the gluing, or I would just refinish the whole
thing; the glue is just the final straw. Rebuilding it will give me the
chance to do it all correctly)

For future reference, how do you deal with the foam? Just plan and
scrapping and sanding it way, or can it somehow be contained. (Obviously
you don't use it on work that is already finished)

This will go down as my worst project to date. To bad cause the mahogany
was really pretty and now it is kindling.


I use Gorilla glue all the time. Mostly for it's long open time than
it's waterproofness. Yes, if it's over applied it'll foam. It cleans
up well from the surfaces you don't want it on with lacquer thinner
while it's still wet or tacky. Water doesn't work here as it does
with yellow glue. Use blue tape as others suggest.

I wouldn't rigidly attach a table top to the base. A solid wood top
has to expand/contract. Use Z clips or buttons instead.