LePage has an extensive selection of wood glues to help make your DIY projects a success.
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Want to know how to glue wood without clamps? You’ll appreciate learning this clever trick. The details are in our guide.
Don’t have clamps or they just aren’t handy? No worries. We’ll show you how to glue wood without clamps. You’ll be amazed at this clever method.
Wood glue is well-known for the powerful bond that it forms between pieces of wood. Typically, a craftsperson would clamp the boards together while the glue dries. It often takes at least 10 minutes for the glue to begin to bond the pieces.
What about those occasions when clamps may be unavailable or maybe the shape or position of the items being glued won’t allow for clamps? Well, we have a solution for those situations.
The idea is to use a few drops of superglue to hold the items in place until the wood glue cures. Super glue forms a bond very quickly, usually in about a minute or less, and a few drops are strong enough to hold even relatively large pieces of wood together long enough for the wood glue to take firm hold.
So, by using both adhesives, you can glue wood together without clamps quickly and easily.
Aiming at techniques of how to glue wood without clamps? Do first prepare timber surfaces for a precision join, by carefully aligning the wooden pieces
Now let’s cover the step-by-step procedure:
- Ensure the pieces of wood to be joined are clean, dry, and fit together tightly.
- Apply wood glue to one surface. Dispense the glue in lines or “dots” along the length of the piece of wood. Be careful not to place glue too close to the edge as this will cause it to squeeze out once the boards are joined.
- Apply several drops of super glue in between lines of the wood glue.
- Press the two boards together. Hold firmly in place for about 30 seconds to one minute. This will allow the super glue to bond the pieces of wood together.
- Put the wood in a place where it will not be disturbed for several hours. The wood glue will begin to bond in 10 to 15 minutes but will not fully cure for about 24 hours.
Other methods to glue boards together without clamps include using masking tape or twine to hold them in place, but the super glue method is more secure.
Let’s look first at wood glue, since that is the adhesive that will do the bulk of the bonding once it has cured.
Most wood glue is based on polyvinyl acetate (PVA), which offers a high-strength hold, is non-toxic, and dries to a translucent yellow. (This is the common yellow glue often called “carpenter’s glue.”)
LePage Express Wood Glue is a premium-quality PVA wood glue that dries to a durable, high-strength bond in just 10 minutes, making it perfect for our method.
If the project you are working on will be exposed to outdoor conditions, be sure to choose an exterior-grade wood glue. Weatherproof PVA glue is an option, but polyurethane wood glue will be your best bet for super-strong outdoor woodworking.
The other adhesive needed to glue wood without clamps is super glue. For this method, we recommend LePage Super Glue Liquid Pro. It contains a patented additive that enables faster grab and stronger bonds to porous surfaces (such as wood), as well as many non-porous materials. Liquid Pro sets in 15–30 seconds so you can glue your boards together without clamps.
Super glue is also available in a brush-on variety. If the pieces of wood you are joining are large and more than a few drops of super glue are needed, a brush-on application may be more convenient.
For an even easier solution, try LePage No More Clamp. This is the first instant-hold wood glue on the market, and it has been a hit. Offering an almost immediate vertical hold, No More Clamp remains repositionable for up to 10 minutes for those small adjustments.
No More Clamp dries translucent and is sandable and paintable once cured. It’s the perfect one-step solution for delicate work and hard to clamp joinery.