WT111 – Statistical Rant

Special thanks to our show sponsors: Bad Axe Tool Works and Benchcrafted!

On today’s show, we’re talking about hide glue and glueups.

What’s on the Bench?

Shannon has been doing lots of carving lately. Matt just finished up a child’s table base and took his Festool Sander for a spin in the process. Marc is working on the big platform bed’s footboard and is ecstatic to give his shop a workout. He feels like a “real” woodworker again!

Around the Web

Old 18th Century Wood Shop discovered!
More pictures on Peter Follansbee’s website.

– Matthias Wandel addresses the question, “Can you squeeze all of the glue out of a joint?” by doing a joint strength test. This sets Marc off on a mini-rant about joint tests and statistical flaws.

David Roentgen Exhibit

Poll of the Week

Are you building stuff for the holidays?

Email

I’ve been curious about the use of hide glue. Have any of you used it and if so, pros and cons? I build guitars and I know many companies use it for the fretboard glue up. I just haven’t explored that option yet. —- Dustin Whitcomb

I have never used hide glue but I’m starting to become more and more interested in its use. I know Titebond makes a ready to use version of hide glue which certainly offers convenience over the traditional variety, but Im wondering how the product differs (if at all) in terms of its function. Have any of you ever used traditional hide glue, the Titebond version, or both? I am curious to know your thoughts on hide glue in general. —— Scott

Marc recommends checking out a recent post in the forum titled No Love for HHG?

What y’all’s stance on polyurethane glue vs PVA glue like titebond. Is poly stronger? —– Paul Jordan

If you guys didn’t have the luxury of doing finishing and gluing up in a heated space how and what would you do to get through the winter months. I personally have 3 locations for my woodworking. 1. Saw dust in the garage, 2. Gluing up, sneaking things into my job’s warehouse or using my bedroom, 3. Spare bedroom for finishing. —– Richard Kresge

I’m new to wood working and would like to hear some thoughts on glue squeeze out cleanup. It is better to wipe it up early? Let it dry then chip it off? What about using sawdust and rubbing it in? Love the show, keep it up! —– Josh Doolin

iTunes Reviews

Special thanks to Thomas Porter and Barry65 for their 5-star iTunes reviews!

16 replies on “WT111 – Statistical Rant”

As usual woodtalk has touched yet another valuable topic with uncanny timing.
After hurricane Sandy, a friend of mine who owns a marine dock & bulkhead business asked me if I wanted any wood. He had a big mess to clean up at his yard and wanted to get rid of some materials. I stopped by to see what he had. To my great surprise, he gave me the mother load of Ipe. I have worked with Ipe before and find it to be incredibly dense, stable, and beautiful wood. Machines well but difficult to hand plane.
I’v been thinking of a project where I will have to laminate panels up. Shannon’s comment on polyurethane glue (what I was thinking of using), made sense. This stuff is dense and will not absorb water. I also found it to be somewhat oily, spar varnish had problems drying only on the areas of Ipe.
So the big question is what would be the best glue to use when laminating 2 1/2″ square Ipe stock to make a butcher block style slab? I would also be doing mortise and tennon work with it.

Thanks Marc, after listening to the show West System did enter my mind. It’s a bit messy and slow to dry though. On the positive side it may also be the safe way to glue up during the cold winter months. I use a propane heater in my shop and sometimes leave it on for an hour or two after doing a glue up.
Thanks again for another great woodtalk!

PS… Is there any way to move my above post to the forum?

re: Liquid Hide Glue
The Sept/Oct 2012 issue of Fine WoodWorking has a nice overview and a bit of comparison with PVAs written by Steve Latta. That convinced me to finally order a bottle. By the time the bottle arrived I forgot what had pushed me to finally give it a go.

Thanks for the reminder. I will use it on a couple of gift boxes I have in process at this time.

I was hoping someone would point out the statistics behind the testing done in Matthias Wandel’s videos. There is a video about how it isn’t possible to catch your hanging shirt sleeve in a rotating table saw blade that I cringe when I watch. I wonder if it was done a few more times if it might just be that once in a while (good statistical phrasing) it does catch in the blade and you bleed.

Actually that is a good reason to have a refrigerator in the shop … for helping to chill body parts while racing to the doctor.

Well just for the record, that wasn’t intended as a commentary about Matthias’ work or videos specifically. I was talking generically about pretty much all of the joint tests conducted by woodworking magazines and other woodworking entities over the years.

I am not actually familiar with the shirt sleeve test video. Sounds….a little scary! lol

I have been collecting tools mostly hand tools recently, but I do use a small bandsaw, lathe, and some bench sanders. So after using these I have been thinking it is time to do something about all of the dust they create. I have a central vacuum system that is in located in the corner of the garage that is in the perfect place to set up some branch lines that would reach the power tools listed above. Would the central vacuum system be appropriate for the needs of an occasional woodworker? Especially if I hook up one of those small cyclone dust collectors to a five gallon bucket as a prefilter.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

This episode hasn’t shown up on iTunes yet. Can someone check the status? I’m missing a few episodes of podcasts since the 11.0 upgrade

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