I keep seeing people use wood glue for everything and it's not always right

Last month I was fixing a wobbly chair leg in my kitchen and my buddy told me to just slather on more wood glue. I did, and a week later it broke again because the joint was loose. Wood glue needs a tight fit to work, it's not a gap filler. For that chair, I had to shave a thin piece of wood to make a shim for a snug fit before gluing. Has anyone else had a project fail because they used glue wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

felix_jones2mo ago

Wait, your buddy seriously told you to just slather on more glue? That's wild. It's like trying to fix a loose screw by adding more screws without tightening the first one. Glue is not magic putty, it needs something to grab onto. I'm not surprised it broke again in a week.

amy8582mo agoTop Commenter

Yeah, that "glue needs something to grab onto" part is so true. People forget that old glue residue can actually stop new glue from sticking at all. You have to clean the surface completely before trying again, or it just fails.

spencer_ross2mo ago

Totally agree. I tried to fix a loose drawer slide with a ton of glue once. Same thing, it just cracked apart under pressure. The wood fibers have to be touching for that bond to form. Ended up using a toothpick and wood filler to take up the space first.