Shelf Life of Glue

When you bring home a bottle of glue from the store, how long will you have confidence that the glue will still be effective in holding your project together? What are the factors that shorten the useful life of woodworking glue? Is there anything that you can do to extend the life of your woodworking glue? You will be surprised by many of the things that you learn here.

When Bob Behnke, an adhesives expert from Franklin International (Titebond), stopped by to visit with George they covered a lot of ground on woodworking glue. One of the topics that they explored was the shelf life of woodworking glues. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have with woodworking glue, you will likely learn something here.

Some of the topics that George and Bob discussed include:

Effects of Temperature. What happens when you store woodworking glue at room temperature? Will that extend or shorten the life of your glue? Is there any special temperature control that would extend the life of glue? What happens if glue freezes? Is it immediately destroyed?

Effects of Time. Is glue shelf life as simple to determine as knowing the manufacturing date of the glue, and knowing the manufacturer’s general guidelines for how long that type of glue can be stored? What actually happens to glue as it ages in a sealed bottle within a controlled environment?

How to know when your glue is unusable. Bob helps us to understand when glue has reached the point where it should be discarded so that we can make a decision with confidence as to whether to use glue or discard it.

Understanding glue is important to help you build your projects with confidence. Check out some of the project videos and articles that WWGOA has to offer.