Doug Goulden wrote:
I'm not an expert and have only completed a few projects, as a
matter of fact I had the same problem as you described. I helped to
solve it by masking off areas I don't want glue on and by verifying
there was no glue before I stained and finished the piece. I found
an article on the Internet that recommended wiping the piece down
with denatured alcohol before finishing it. Glue spots will show up
as white blotches. Its way better to detect your mistakes before you
put the finish on. By sanding and sraping you can usually get those
blotches off with a little effort.

"Phyloe" wrote in message
...
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

A lot of good ideas in this thread! I try to be extra careful with the
glue and to keep it where I want it, I apply glue to both surfaces of a
small project with an artist's paint brush and eyeball the surfaces,
flatten/remove any extra with a popcycle stick and then put the two
surfaces together. I often wonder if I'm taking chances the glue will be
weak in spots because it didn't squish out the sides (?) but so far so
good.

Josie