Best glue for little chips

[Craig Bumgarner]

I'm trying to glue in some little bits of veneer where the router tore out. Pieces are 1-2mm max. Can't really clamp them. Need a glue that will set up quick with finger pressure. Tried hide glue, did not grab quick enough, hydrates the wood. Titebond would work but will show the glue lines. I've never had much luck with CA for this kind of thing, which grabs like holy hell to most everything but wood. I'm starting to think 5 minute epoxy, but I was wonder if there are any other ideas out there.

[Craig Bumgarner]

Need something tacky that sets up quick and doesn't take my fingertips with it.

[David King]

Maybe a thicker CA (much slower) and a blast of accelerator when you get it all in place? Titebond shouldn't leave glue lines if you scrub it down after it sets. I'd try it with a hot iron to get it to set up faster. Sometimes it's easier to do your repairs with melt-in lacquer stick than with the actual wood.

[Chuck Tweedy]

Don't use your finger tip.
Use a plastic stick to hold the chip in place. Then hit it with thin CA and hold it there while the CA sets up.
I actually use sticks of ebony for this - with an end like a toothpick.

[Chuck Tweedy]

Or tweezers

[Michael Lewis]

Practice, practice, practice. Learning how to handle the various glues and adhesives is a subject in itself, but that is what I see as the answer. I would use hide glue and figure a way to make it happen. If the parts fit together they should not need clamping.

If your chips already have other glues on them your best chance of making it invisible is already gone. Gluing dark woods doesn't usually show so much but lighter colored woods require a careful approach and you get one chance to get it right. Do your best to camouflage the area and move on, do better next time. You just got more experience.

[Steven Odut]

One tip for cyanoacrylate, which I think is one of the better choices for fixing small chips, it that cyanoacrylate cures when exposed to moisture. I live in a dry climate and found using cyanoacrylate hit or miss until I started adding a bit of moisture to the wood. What used to happen is that I would apply the cyano and the two pieces would not stick - they would just fall apart with zero adhesion to anything except my fingers.

Now I give one piece a quick little lick - not enough so it's wet - just a bit of moisture, and apply glue to the other piece. Then bring them together and there's an instant bond. I'll usually dampen the piece several minutes before I'm ready to glue and blot it with a paper towel.

I've never had much luck with cyanoacrylate accelerator - I would spray the accelerator, end up with a white spot on the wood, and the chip would fall out without adhesion. Not to mention that the accelerator smells very toxic.

Another tip is that I usually hold the chip on the end of a pin so that I don't glue the chip to my fingers, dampen the larger board, apply glue to the chip, put the chip into place using the pin and hold it there for several seconds, then remove the pin (hopefully the pin is not glued to the chip), cover with wax paper and then clamp if there is a way to clamp. If there isn't a way to clamp, I'll put down some wax paper and hold the chip in place with my fingers for a couple of minutes, usually wearing nitrile gloves, but this is tricky because the superglue will penetrate the wax paper and sometimes stick to the nitrile.

If it's a larger chip or if I have a lot of time, I like using liquid hide glue or fish glue to fix chips because those glues are easy to clean up. Put the chip in place, cover with wax paper and clamp, or even use tape to hold the chip in place and leave overnight. Same procedure with titebond, except you can unclamp after 30 minutes or so and cleanup.

Reading the above, it seems like I must screw up a lot because I have lots of experience fixing stupid little things like chips.

[Steven Odut]

ps. I always use safety glasses when opening a bottle of superglue. This is because I once opened a bottle and some glue shot out under pressure and almost hit me in the eye. I don't know why the bottle pressurized as it was a bottle I had opened weeks earlier then recorked; not like it was a new bottle packed at sea level then shipped to my elevation.

[David King]

Steven you might find it useful to know that it's not just moisture content that causes CA to bond. It is also affected by how acidic or basic the substrate is. This is why skin and cocobolo (basic) bond almost instantly while spruce and cedar (acidic) take forever. An old trick is to dust the surface with a little baking soda or even brush on a solution of baking soda and water (which then needs to dry) first.

[Craig Bumgarner]

Thanks for all the great ideas guys! I used a combination of the suggestions and got it done. I like the discussion on how to improve the use of CA on wood.

[David King]

We never even got to discussing bondo...

[Rick Rosenberg]

Hello

Edited to remove obvious self-promotion.
We have found some phenomenal products for chips that works amazingly well here http://www.GearUpProducts.com. Thanks

Regards,

Rick

[David King]

Rick, Your website order page doesn't specify quantities. That might be a consideration for folks taking a wild chance on a product that no one has ever heard of let alone tried.

[Rick Rosenberg]

Hi David

Please pm me for more details. I don't want to break Forum protocol. Thanks.

Rick

[Rick Rosenberg]

Some guys use an accelerator and some CA. They lay the CA in the area for application and then spray the chip with the accelerator and put them together. Works great and if you use the correct viscosity, you will have enough open time for a great fit.

[Michael Lewis]

The moisture in your breath is enough to help the CA cure. Use the baking soda if you need to change the PH.

[Rick Rosenberg]

Yes CA's cure by moisture and are also affected by acid in the wood as well as a variety of other factors. Thanks for the clarification Michael.