Glue, and adhesives

Susan May

PFG, Picture Framing God
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I have noticed some people are still having trouble knowing what kind of glue or adheasive to use. All glues have their reasons, and types of jobs they are good for. (Sorry Captian English.)

Elmors Glue- (The white kind) It dries brittle, so it is not recommended for building frames. If the frame it bumped, the glue will let go. (Nice temporary glue.) Also, if it dries on the outside of a frame, water will not wash it off. Once it dries, it is dry.

Elmors Wood Glue- (The yellow glue) It dries flexible, and is very strong. It is designed for fixing thinge like chairs, and kids projects. Ok for building frames, but still not recommended.

Hot Glue- (Both the crafts store, and Hardware kinds) It is designed to melt when hot. (IE:Hot glue) If you use it in frameing, and then the customer hanges it near a fireplace, or heat vent, it might remelt. Not recomended for framing. (I don't even recomend it for crafts anymore. Too many wreaths falling apart on front doors.) :D

Cornerweld glue is designed to join frames. It dries flexible, and is water soluble, so it cleans up quickly with water.

Now there are new Hot melt glues that "Cure" and do not remelt with aditional heat. Good for joining frames... but don't make any mistakes.

Susan May
(Over 22 years working in a craft store pays off!)
 
There ought to be a class on adhesives.

It's incredible how often misuse them, such as using a water-based paste to bond non-hygroscopic surfaces. Translation: Using starch paste on Mylar-D.
 
The amount of confusion that exists with Tapes and Adhesives is one reason that there is a FACTS committee for the subject.

We're not to the point of answering questions right now, but I'll put any concerns or questions on the list to be considered by the committee.
 
The reason I needed to ask for clarification re: "white glue" was because someone emailed me suggesting dabbing "white glue" between the fillet and foamboard/matboard. Since there are a number of "white glues", I asked. We use Cornerweld for our wood. And usually Elmer's for certain paper needs. Affixing wood with paper....sounds like Cornerweld.

Thanks Susan for taking the time to add more to the subject!
 
Susan--just attended a workshop with Marc Bluestone and Greg Perkins. Very informative. One interesting tidbit on adhesives was that Greg mentioned that some things in a shadow box were glued to glass with Cornerweld. He said that that wasn`t a problem. Maybe weight would be a problem but he didn`t mention that. Came as a surprise to some of us. Will try it in the near future. Have a great day!!!!! Bud Cole
 
Give me some Duct tape and a tube of Silly Cone and I can stick ANYTHING together!!
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(OK, I got that out of my system now.)

Jim, you have a great idea for a workshop! There is so much confusion about which adhesives to use for what procedure and somebody ought to just sit down and iron out this mess once and for all!

I nominate Ron since he hasn't had his name published for any earth shattering concepts in his FACTS committee. (Yes, I read very closely every word that comes out of the FACTS committees!)

Mr. Eggers, if you choose to accept this mission, your official title will be changed to "Guru of Glue". If you stick yourself in an irreversible fashion to any immovable object in your testing, we will disavow any knowledge of your existance in the framing world.

As always this <strike>tape</strike> post will self-destruct in 20 seconds.

FGII
 
There ya go again, flaunting your authority!!
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FGII
 
As for using glue on glass, I would guess it would depend on what is being glued. 527 Cement is a good glue for adhearing glass to wood, it also works well on Ceramics. It dries flexible, and clear, and if any oozes out, you can trim it off. (After it dries)

You must remember that when you glue on ANY non-porus surface, you need a glue that is designed for that purpose.So far, I have never seen a good strong hold from any waterbased glue, when used on glass, or metal.
 
I attended the same seminar as did Bud. I was also surprised to hear Greg recommend Cornerweld for adhering things to glass. I always thought it needed some kind of porous or toothy surface for adesion. I do use it for quite a few purposes around the shop. Alternating dabs of it with ATG is great for installing spacer strips in shadow boxes. they will stay put, but if you ever need to remove them, you can do so without destroying everything.
I also learned from the Bienfang rep that they have just acquired the company that makes Elmer's glue. Aha. That explains why I've just seen my first ad for Elmer's Glue in PFM (or was it Decor ?). Sorry,Elmer- Cornerweld rules!
Nice to see you, Bud.

:cool: Rick
 
Those interested in adhesives might want to arrange a mini seminar on the subject given by a conservation scientist. This would be especially useful for the folks on the FACTS committee.

Although the specific formulations of many of adhesives we commonly use are proprietary (secret formula), they do all fall with in general classes - e.g. epoxies, polyvinyl acetate emulsions (the Elmer white glues), acrylic emulsions (like acrylic gesso's, Moge Pog (!?), Laxcaux), rubber based adhesives (rubber cement, masking tape), starches, gums, etc. etc.

Once you have a handle on the general classes and their specific properties, and which brand names fall into which category, you'll have a much better idea of what adhesive is best for what job.

Richard Wolbers, the conservation science teacher at Winterthur is a wonderful teacher, and might well be lured into giving such a course.

The Canadian Conservation Institute also has guns for hire in the teaching area.

And my personal favorite, Tim Padfield, (independent conservation scientist now?) might be approached. He's easily googled.

You don't need to be a chemist to get the general gist of adhesive classes, and it sure does take some of the voodoo mystery out of them!

Rebecca
 
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