TITEBOND III , dry time??

[Daryl]

In cooler spring time temps what have you found the best time to allow for a full cure of TITEBOND III glue ? thanks much Daryl

[wannabefree]

Spring, summer, winter, doesn't matter. Clamps are off in half an hour. Of course, I live in sunny Arizona

[bbarry]

While you can remove the clamps within a relatively short period of time, I'd leave it overnight before working on the piece again. 24 hours should give you a full cure in just about any weather.

Brad

[Mark McD]

Dry time and cure time are two differnet animals. Most yellow wood glues have an initial tack time ,(workable time), of a few minutes but the cure time is usually a few hours. Leave it clamped up overnight if possible.

Weather certainely affects dry and cure times. Up North here were I live I have to plan my glue-ups carefully so I can be sure the heat doesn't drop below freezing while my projects cure. Yellow glue will freeze, not good If it's not cured.

[wannabefree]

Humidity and wood moisture content play a big role, which is why I mention I live in AZ. Here the wood is so dry (maybe 4% MC) it literally sucks the moisture out of the glue. Glue sets hard enough to work in half an hour. Often to extend working time I wet the edges I'm glueing and mix a little water in the glue. Like I said, clamps are off in half an hour and I'm working the piece unless I'm going to put a lot of stress on it. There is one condition where I do allow 24 hour dry time -- when edge glueing boards. If you surface edge glued material too soon you end up with gullies at the glue line because the wood swelled when it soaked up the mositure from the glue, then you surfaced it, then it shrank.

So the answer is: it depends. 2-4 hours clamp time is more than sufficient under most conditions, though. If in doubt, check the squeezeout. If it's stiff and plastic-like and can be scraped off with a blade without smearing, it's hard enough to take off the clamps. In fact, when the squeezeout is at this state it's the ideal time to remove it with a scraper.