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?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_jones1d 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.

spencer_ross1d 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.