Is Glue On Both Sides Overkill? – Question of the Week

January 2, 2007 by thewoodwhisperer
Filed under: Viewer Questions 

This weeks question come from Dick. He writes, “I noticed on your cutting board tutorial (Part 1), you put glue only on one side of the joint. I’ve always glued both sides, whether it’s a cutting board or table top. Is that overkill?”

And here was my reply, “Hi Dick. Gluing both sides is absolutely not overkill. In fact, I almost always glue both sides of any joint, whether its a panel glue-up or something like a mortise and tenon. In this particular case, I only glued one side because it made things less messy and much faster than trying to glue both sides. Since I knew it would take alot of time to get my cauls in position, I needed to save time where I could. Otherwise, I would have been racing the clock in this dry Arizona air.
So hopefully, you noticed that I put on a really thick layer of glue. In fact, its just about double the quantity I would have applied if I had put glue on both sides. With that much glue, and moderate clamping pressure, I have no doubt that I got full coverage over the entire joint. Hope that clears things up. Thanks for watching the podcast!”

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