Titebond II

Hello all, I just started my first build this week and apparently I have already made a mistake. I had some titebond II on hand and have already used it to glue my neck and tail blocks to the sides. Over coffee this morning, I read that Titebond II is not recommended for instrument building and that I should have used Titebond I.

Where to go from here...
Should I attempt to unglue the two joints? If so, how?

or should I leave those two joints as they are, and pick up some Titebond I for the rest of the build?

I knew I'd make some mistakes along the way, but this one seems silly and was avoidable.

No, don't take anything apart, just move forward with Tite-bond Original.

The issue is that Titebond 2 is a waterproof glue, and it would be harder to unglue to do any repairs. I doubt you'd ever need to unglue the end blocks.
The greater issue with Titebond 2 is that it doesn't cure as hard, so it is more possible to "creep" in the future.
I doubt any of these "failings" of the glue matter at all for ukes, they just are not under any stress to speak of.

I would keep things as they are and continue the build with Titebond original.

And I won't chime in at all. Most here know what I think of Titebond of any kind...

Frightbond???

Rick Turner said:

And I won't chime in at all. Most here know what I think of Titebond of any kind...

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I'm new to this portion of the forum, Rick. What do you think of Titebond? I take it you are not a fan?

Thanks for the responses and advise guys...I'll leave it and go buy some Titebond I at Woodcraft this afternoon.

Get LMI white glue instead...no, you can't buy it at the hardware store. Luthier's Mercantile International. Google 'em.

Which only really works if you live in the US Rick! I did import some about 7 years ago - LMI after shiping and tax wasn't really economically worth it considering I noticed no difference between it and Titebond...

The subject of glue is like religion on most forums. No one knows for sure what the one true glue is. Thankfully, no one has gotten killed for their beliefs or practices.

The LMI glue dries harder than the Titebonds, especially #3. I have been a Titebond 3 user for years. The creep issue caused problems on numerous occasions, but still... it was the top rated glue in a Fine Woodworking article. After trying out the LMI white glue, it is now the main glue I use, where that type of glue is applicable, though HHG is getting more play time now too.

Chris_H said:

The LMI glue dries harder than the Titebonds, especially #3. I have been a Titebond 3 user for years. The creep issue caused problems on numerous occasions, but still... it was the top rated glue in a Fine Woodworking article. After trying out the LMI white glue, it is now the main glue I use, where that type of glue is applicable, though HHG is getting more play time now too.

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As a matter of curiosity, could you please explain where on your ukes you had a problem with creep with any Titebond ?

Not on my ukes at all. Before I even touched an uke piece to a tool, I had already read about glue recommendations.

Below is a photo of a recent finished plinth. I used to glue the miters with Titebond 3. If I tried to finish the plinth within a couple weeks, the glue line would pop up. Ater completing a couple hundrerd of these, I started just putting it into my workflow that they would be glued up, and sit for as many months as possible before finishing, which I still do, but for different reasons. Titebond 3 would still creep and show glue line problems occasionally. With the LMI white glue, not one glue line issue since. It was not an issue with poor miters either, my miters are tight. I have made nearly 1000 of these, to date.

This is a top spec Linn Sondek LP12. That is an oil finish.

Chris, do you have a website for your turntable plinth work??

I've had my eye on Old Brown Glue since being in America but haven't heard of anyone using it for instrument construction.

Anyone here used it on their instruments???

http://www.oldbrownglue.com/

www.woodsongaudio.com It is a nice site, but looks totally amaturish to me right now. Most of my pics look amaturish to me also, as I was just getting the hang of the camera then. It has not had an update since the launch. There is a major overhaul about to happen. Someday there may be an uke page, if I can ever figure out how to build a decent one.

yer..........those pics..........look amaturish.......... I bet you didn't even use a $7500 1D body......... hahahh

Dude- the site looks fantastic! I like sites that make you want to crawl into the screen and touch what your looking at, which yours does.

Things on my luxury want list- a great camera, expresso machine, and turntable.

ps- if you use/want some Brazilian veneer for your plinths, i know a company in Colorado that sells it darn cheap

Chris_H said:

Not on my ukes at all. Before I even touched an uke piece to a tool, I had already read about glue recommendations.

Below is a photo of a recent finished plinth. I used to glue the miters with Titebond 3. If I tried to finish the plinth within a couple weeks, the glue line would pop up. Ater completing a couple hundrerd of these, I started just putting it into my workflow that they would be glued up, and sit for as many months as possible before finishing, which I still do, but for different reasons. Titebond 3 would still creep and show glue line problems occasionally. With the LMI white glue, not one glue line issue since. It was not an issue with poor miters either, my miters are tight. I have made nearly 1000 of these, to date.

This is a top spec Linn Sondek LP12. That is an oil finish.

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Interesting. So you have had no problem with any Titebond glue on you ukes. Also, when some talk about creep in reference to glue, I believe they are talking about one part moving when glued to another part, such as a bridge glued to the top plate. What you seem to be describing is not so much creep but glue expansion. An open corner seam on your plinths does not work with Titebond 3 because of this expansion, not because the glue failed to hold the corner together. Thanks for clarifying.

Chris_H said:

www.woodsongaudio.com It is a nice site, but looks totally amaturish to me right now. Most of my pics look amaturish to me also, as I was just getting the hang of the camera then. It has not had an update since the launch. There is a major overhaul about to happen. Someday there may be an uke page, if I can ever figure out how to build a decent one.

Click to expand...

Your site looks just fine to me and I have a BFA in Graphic Design and Photography, lol. Oh and your plinths look even better than your site. Well done!

Thank you ukeonthebeach.

Black Bear, I have not used Titebond on my ukes (almost all of which are not completed!) I will not be using Titebond on them either, no reason to. Yes, sure, glue expansion, but the fact that it moves is what also allows creep. And I was not talking about open corner seams, though on a microscopic level, I doubt there are ANY glue joints anywhere in woodworking that are not open to some degree.

Another thing I have experienced is how a glue affects the overall resonant frequency of the item. I have laminated many stacks of plywood, and other materials, mainly damping materials in a Constrained Layer Damping configuation, CLD. Laminations made with Titebond reval that Titebond has some damping effect when compared with Epoxy, or Urea Resin glues. My (albiet limited) experience with the LMI glue tells me that it will have less of a damping effect. In a stack of laminated plywood, the difference in tap tone is significant, between different glues. Controlling resonance, and shaping energy transfer is one of the main goals in a turntable plinth, similar, but totally different to building ukes. With some designs this is more important, or possible, than with others. Titebond is more like plastic, or rubber than the LMI white glue, or epoxy. It would be interesting to laminate several stacks in a vacuum bag, with different glues, and measure them with an accelerometer, to get some hard numbers and a frequency response graph. There is a difference.

The best thing about that site is my Web Mistress! She owns one of my decks, soon to be 2, and knows the industry intimately.


Sometimes I think I should quit drinking coffee... other times, I want a single gang LaMarzocco.. the glass Hario V60 pourover with the Hario kettle, and the Hario adjustable hand grinder with ceramic burrs works well enough. It is a connesseurs tool. One of my coffee snob roaster friends gave me a tour one evening, no turning back...

If you ever want a turntable, if you need, I can help to let you know a little about that world.


OOps... back to glue!