Glueing eastern red cedar

[jackpine]

What type of glue is recomended for cedar.? Does the oil have any affect on what glue is used? I mainly use Elmers woodworking glue and have had good results but have only glued cedar once and don't know what the long term results are.

I have to build a cedar chest for my dil so I'll have to live with the results this time :D

Thanks
Bill

[pineywoods]

The oil in cedar will affect some glues. I use gorilla glue, just don't get the stuff on your hands. No solvent known to man will cut the stuff.

[blaze83]

the cabinet shop I work in uses titebond...we glue every thing up we can using this glue and the biscut (lamello)  jointer, never had any problems

[leweee]

Ditto what pineywoods said....ureathane glue

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=22670.0

[4woody]

I use titebond to but for your hands try gojo orange

[4woody]

Hy for a finish try 1/3 polyurethane 1/3 linseed oil 1/3 thiner let use know how it wroks

[jackpine]

Thanks for the replys Gorilla glue, or equiv, is what i'll use.

Leweee, I had forgotten that thread but that explains why I had problems using tung oil on the only other cedar project i've done

[TexasTimbers]

Gorilla works on everything I have used it for. I glued and screwed the cross lams together for a floating dock roof frame  I built back in '99 and no problems at all from the stuff in a pretty harsh environment.
I buy it From These Guys by the 36 oz deal. That's over 2 pounds for $30 that's the best deal I have found.
Kind of misleading because what you actually get in the mail is two 18 oz bottles, but I like that better anyway.

[Tom]

I used Elmer's Yellow Glue on my cedar chest and it's held for over 10 years so far.

[mikeandike]

No problems with the wife's cedar "vainity" with the Elmer's
yellow.  3 years old now and has survived being used to blockade
the bathroom door and the subsequent buffeting. Pretty strong if
ask me.

[pigman]

All I have ever used to glue red cedar was regular yellow glue. I didn't know that it wouldn't hold. :P  Of course there are a lot of things that I don't know.

Bob

[TexasTimbers]

The yellow glues, Elmer's or Titebond, will also hold. I have used them both over the years on ERC too. Nothing wrong with them, although I have had some joints open up over time with the yellow glues on ERC I think it is because I put the pieces together too wet. I just say gorillla because it is so gawl darned awesome it will not let go.

[scsmith42]

Five years ago I built some saddle racks for my wife out of ERC.  Glued them up with Titebond - no problems to date.

These are in a tack room that is not insulated - so it goes through 100 degree temperature swings as well as major humidity changes.

Have also used the gorilla glue - they both have worked fine for me.

[WDH]

Yellow glue works fine with ERC.  Urethane glue can be messy to work with in tight places like the corners of a cedar chest.  Since it will not be outside in the weather, yellow glue would be the easiest to use.

[solodan]

I agree with WDH. If it is not outside use yellow glue, it is easier to clean up and does not ooze out when drying. That is hard to scrape off in tight places. Of course I am on the west coast and don't have any ERC, but it sounds like it glues up just fine. Some of the construction adhesives work well on furniture I have used PL-400 with good results, but again hard to clean up.

[TexasTimbers]

yellow glue does work fine, but urethane works great. messy but cleans off easy after dry; scrape with the grain not perp to it. if the wood is nice and dry yellow is fine. if it still oily urethane will outperform all others especially in end grain to end grain, and end grain to long grain where yellow is virtually worthless.


Edit: I am not saying that polyurethanes should be used in lieu of yellows in all cases. yellow glue has as good or nearly as good shear charactersitics like in long grain to long grain and should be used in these situations simply because it is cheaper than polyurethanes.

[solodan]

I agree kevjay, endgrain glue up does not work with yellow glues. I try to avoid ever gluing end grain, but if it needs to be done, than I think urathane glue is the only choice. With some oily woods it is best to spray the gluing surface  with water when using urathane glues.

[TexasTimbers]

.....it is best to spray the gluing surface with water when using urathane glues.

Thanks for the reminder I don't know why I have such a hard time remembering such a fundamental step when using my favorite adhesive.  :(
I consider myself a semi-knowledgable woodworker when it comes to adhesives especially  polyurethane and I can't remember to do this half the time !  :-\  

[solodan]

I only learned this because I made some outdoor dining tables out of ironwood. Well guess what?  I didn't spray it with water. :-[ :-[ The restaurant they were for, kept getting inquries about who made these great tables. 8) Then after they started falling apart everyone wanted to know "Who made these *DanG tables"  :-[ :'( : :D

[Ianab]

Yup, the polyurethane glues need moisture to cure. They work fine for me here because my wood is usually about 12% MC. I dont have to moisten it any more. But if your wood is below 10% a light spray will help the glue cure properly.

Cheers

Ian