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i'm about to bind another guitar and wondering if there's anything i can add to titebond to lengthen the open time a little without sacrificing strength. past experiences with titebond have felt too rushed. past experiences with ca have felt too toxic.
any suggestions or advice?
phil

Apply your Titebond to a short section of the binding ledge at a time. Work in sections and you won't feel so rushed.

Phil buddy I use Titebond for binding (wood) and find the open time more than enough.

My process is to start at the tail and only butter up the binding channel with Titebond for say 1/4 of the length of the channel. Then I tape the binding in place with brown binding tape from Stew-Mac and when I get within 3" or so of the dry part of the channel I butter up more channel, perhaps another 25% of the channel and repeat.

If you are filling the entire channel with glue before you start to tape I can see how the open time would not be long enough.

I hope this helps.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Sorry Barry you beat me to it - I didn't see a window this time indicating that there had been a post since my reply.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I think Lance said they disabled that feature(?) because it was what was causing posts to disappear.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

thanks guys.
kind of what i expected and what i have done in the past.
the problem i had a few guitars ago was that a thin purf cracked when i got the waist - at which point i had to back everything off and start again. but i made a huge mess of the channel because the stuff i had glued and taped about 5 minutes earlier was well on its way to setting.
after that i've used the ca method a few times. really handy because you know exactly how it's going to look before you start gluing. but then there's the fume factor.
so i thought i'd throw the question out here to see if there was any other method or other glue that maybe afforded more time.
again, thanks for the input.
phil

Phil something else that you could use is Fish glue - much longer open time then Titebond and an excellent instrument glue.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Strongly recommend you try Norland fish glue. Dries hard and clear like hide glue, but no heat needed. Longer clamp time along with the longer open time. GREAT addition to your glue arsenal, it's a big hit in my shop (thanks again to Mike Collins!)

Phil, you could also try Titebond "Extend". It's available from Woodcraft.

I was going to suggest fish glue as well but Hesh beat me to it. It has a set time of 12 hours, so this should solve the problem you are having. I just bought a half gallon of it and am planning on trying it myself on my next binding job. I hate to get rushed on my bindings also.

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Reguards,

Ken H

I've used fish glue for a couple of guitars. I probably wouldn't try it on bindings. Don't get me wrong, I like the glue, but it is a pain to use if the job is messy. It does not clean off from your fingers as easy as Titebond. I'd keep a spray bottle of soapy water and several rags nearby if I was going to try it. I think working with Titebond, a little at a time is easier and cleaner.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I tape everything up dry and glue with thin CA. I does not get more relaxed than that, provided the end grain of light colored woods are sealed to prevent stains and you don't get glue drips all inside the box.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

It seems the glue issue has been covered...

When something goes wrong with a binding such as a broken purfling, I find that the best thing to do is to just stop and let the work you have done fully dry. Don't try to pull the binding off. Once it is dry, scrape it level and re-cut the channel the same way you did in the first place. Then, make a new binding and try again.

Mark

Excellent! I'm putting this one in my notes and committing it to memory pronto. Thank you.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Great tip Mark...

Remember - woodworking is 50% making mistakes, and 50% learning how to correct them.

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Mitch

thanks for the help guys.
sounds like we're about 50/50 on the fish glue. i'll make sure to remember it as an option.
mark, great advice. with my building habits and personality type, advice to slow down and not compound mistakes is always appreciated!!
phil

Phil,
I too have had similar issues and usually end up teaching my 4yo some choice new words every time I get to the binding stage... Until the last one.
The difference? I slowed down.
Most people recommend starting at one end or another, but it seems most of my problems are encountered in the middle.
So, I meticulously pre-bent the wood binding, then applied about 3 inches of glue to the waist area and glued it up. The next step was a hard one.... I walked away and let it dry.
Finishing the rest really was a breeze because the hard part was done and stable!

Some people will surely cringe or tell me the evils of the other step, but I did mix a few drops of water with the Titebond to thin it down so it would spread and penetrate a little easier into the thin sections where the waist was glued.

My 4yo spread the glue with a small paint brush and she tore tape like mad. Plus, she didn't learn anything she couldn't repeat at preschool!


Good luck,

DAVE!