On Mar 15, 8:15*pm, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote:

Actually you only need enough glue to cover both surfaces. *Anything
beyond that ends up on the work table.

After only 35 or so years of doing this I have learned to apply enough
to form a very slight bead after clamping. *And after 35 years I have
learned to keep my fingers out of the glue. *:~).

Around '69 or so, I took a school shop class and we did some small
layups. We used a lot of glue, and we actually used Elmer's white
glue as preferred by my shop teacher. I don't think there was
widespread use of yellow glue at that time. We put enough glue on our
layups that cleanup and was always a huge issue.

Next year, I was in a better school with a better shop, and layed up
some walnut to make 5"X5"X12" blocks to use as blanks to make
candlesticks on the lathes. More glue on the floor than was on the
rest of my projects that semester.

When I got out of high school and went into the trades I worked with a
professional carpenter for the first time. His goal when doing a glue
up was to have a "detectable" squeeze out. So I learned when laying
up to put a tiny line on an edge, making sure the wood was moist with
glue from edge to edge and then clamped.

After that, I found that my own glue usage dropped by about 75%. And
using that method to this day, never had a liquid glue failure.

I think the glue bath technique was started by people that were unsure
of what they were doing, and were of the "more must be better camp".
It could also be associated with the fact that adhesives from 50 years
ago weren't nearly as effective and forgiving to use as they are now.
Since a lot of woodworking is taught by selling folklore and stuff
someone saw their grandfather do to one another, the idea of the glue
bath has hung on.

Robert