I see a number of suggestions posted, but I don't believe any single answer
always applies, here or anywhere. With many pines, the glue will quickly soak
below the surface and effect any later stain. If going to stain, I'd use tape
to mask the area. Sanding also effects this, as the coarser the grit, the more
the surface absorption. With denser pines or many hardwoods, you can often
wait until the glue just starts to set then pop it off with a chisel.

If you have an accident with pine, I'd quickly flood it with water. Take a
stiff brush and quickly scrub, wipe, then repeat. With find sanded oak, two
wipes with a damp cloth may be enough, or popping off semi-dried glue may
work.

I came to these conclusions by taking several samples of four different woods,
and applying each method to each wood type, letting it dry, then applying a
dark pigmented stain.

If you question if any particular method will work, and work the exact way
that you're doing it, then try it first with a small scrap piece. Remember,
change the wood, the sanding grit, the stain, the type of glue or the
temperature, and the results may vary.

GerryG

On Thu, 9 Sep 2004 23:23:55 -0500, "Phyloe" wrote:

I am new at woodworking. I was working on a small project where I was
gluing 1/8" x 3/4" strips of wood to some boards and then planned to stain
the whole thing. I had some glue squish out and used a wet clothe to wipe
that off. It looked fine until I stained it and then I found the glue had
not wiped off completely and soaked into the wood and would not take stain.
I was using pine and a dark stain so the glue spots showed up like pale
yellow smears along the strips. I tried using a very modest amount of glue
but it still squished out when I used clamps. How can I avoid this problem
on future projects?
Phyloe