Warning: Test your glue prior to use.

[starwars]

I just bought a tube of PL Polyurethane Premium Construction Adhesive; the same glue I used on my last build - and this tube is defective. Fortunately I only glued one piece of wood.

If its good: It starts curing in 30 minutes and is hard overnight.

My bad tube had not "started" curing 4 hours later. Next day I could split the glue seam with a light hammer tap.

From now on I'm going to test each tube of whatever I buy FIRST!

[Airspeed]

You should try TiteBond II, It is far superior to PL and theres no need to test it! As long as it comes out of the tube it's good. Aaron

[halfdome, Danny]

You should try TiteBond II, It is far superior to PL and theres no need to test it! As long as it comes out of the tube it's good. Aaron

I use Tightbond II myself. I go through a gallon a month when I'm busy. They advertise that Tightbond III is just as good as any polyurethane glue and it's cheaper.
Once I use up an old tube of Gorilla glue I'm going to get some Tightbond III for replacement. Danny

[starwars]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll try some.


I have an update on the PL glue. I emailed PL and told them the story and gave them the lot number on the bottom of the tube.

I got a reply. They said that from the lot number that the tube was from 2003 and it has an 18 month shelf life (says on the tube itself). WOW. My Lowes store is selling 5 year old glue!

PL is going to send me a replacement tube. I asked them how to decode the lot number so that we can check ourselves - if they tell me, I'll reply again and post that very useful information.

Cheers to PL

Jeers to Lowes!

[starwars]

I got a reply from PL - fast!

Here is how to read the manufacturing date from the numbers on the end cap:

Using the lot code you gave previously, 03249, here is how you would interpret it:

- the '03' is the last two digits of the year of manufactuer, this case being 2003
- the 249 is the 249th day of the year out of 365.
- our products have a one year shelf life from this date of manufacture.

UPDATE: This is likely wrong - see my post below

[G-force]

The majority of my wood to wood joints on my build are Titebond 3 and I have been impressed with its strength. I had to remove a couple of feet worth of 1x2 poplar from the ply skins and it pretty much tore the first layer of the ply off instead of seperating at the glue line.

[mikeschn]

What G-force said. I used titebond III also. And when I took something apart, the wood broke before the glue joint did!!!

Mike...

[AmyH]

I have been using a Titebond, Gorilla and PL glue on my build. I have used the PL glue extensively, and I haven't had any problems at all with it. Looks like it is holding everything together wonderfully. I used MaryK's suggestion of heating up the tubes of PL glue with a heating pad, and man did that make it easy to work with! I had been struggling with it before I found that suggestion.

[Toytaco2]

I have used the PL premium in much of my build. I thought it was curing a little slower than it should, but, the weather has been cold and I assumed that probably had something to do with it. Anyway, the PL is supposed to be good down to about 40 degrees and the Titebond needs a little warmer temp, so thats why I chose the PL. Once cured, it seems to be very good. But, after reading your post I checked the code number on the bottoms of the two tubes I still have (I was buying the big 28 oz tubes at $6.87 from HD instead of the smaller tubes (about 11 or 12 oz I think) at a little over 4 bucks. Anyway, I checked the code dates, and found one of the tubes to be #03005 and the other to be #03016. I bought them in late February of this year. If they gave you the correct method for decoding, then HD is selling 5 year old glue as well. Makes me wonder if PL is distributing out of date product. I think I'll call them tomorrow and check it out further. ANYWAY, the weather is a lot warmer now and I think I'll switch over to Titebond the rest of the way. No need to risk problems over suspect glue.

[Lynn Coleman]

I'll chime in about Titebond III also. I love it works well and cleans up with water before it dries. I like the water solvent aspect of the glue because I can clean up the glue that spills out when your clamping the wood down. This is especially helpful if you are staining any wood work. imho

Lynn

[sdtripper2]

StarWars:

More information that touts Titebond product use:

Compare the Titebond products:
http://www.titebond.com/WNTitebondIIITB.asp

pdf file for Titebond products Clicky

The Great Glue Debate:
http://tnttt.com/viewto ... 573#225573
Titebond wins ~ in this experiment
SEE Video on the above link.

Also see sdtripper2's Index uPdated (Apr 08 ) (found on the top of forum)
Search (glue)
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=12276

[starwars]

Anyway, I checked the code dates, and found one of the tubes to be #03005 and the other to be #03016. I bought them in late February of this year. If they gave you the correct method for decoding, then HD is selling 5 year old glue as well.

I apologize for posting that information because I think the decoding instructions the guy from PL emailed are wrong!

Yesterday I went back to Lowes and looked through all their boxes. I saw numbers like 16xxx and 09xxx - which doesn't fit at all with what I was told. So please ignore that info - it doesn't look like its correct!

I'm really sorry for getting everyone excited about this. I'm wondering now, as Toytaco2 said, if the weather has alot to do with it. My wife thinks so, she's a chemical engineer and thinks its moisture cured and that there could be a big difference in behavior between 85 deg and humid and 60 deg and fairly dry. So there is probable cause that I'm an idiot.

I just checked my glued joint from the second PL tube and even though it cured slow - it seems good an bonded as I would expect, where-as that first tube wouldn't bond.

[halfdome, Danny]

The reason I wont use PL glue is the tightness I feel in my chest when using it. Check out the warning on the label. Danny