Question about glueing - II

[Bill Wilson]

A member of our scrollsaw club is a relative beginner, but has jumped right in to doing a lot of portraits.  Sometimes he enlarges them, which makes for a lot of surface area to glue when attaching backer boards.  He's struggling to place glue in all the necessary areas and get the portrait positioned on the backer before the glue starts to dry.

For large, very detailed portraits, what techniques do you folks use to spread glue evenly and quickly over the piece, without getting too much on, but still managing to get some glue on all those tiny, fragile parts?  I wondered if perhaps a j-roller would work, but have never tried it and hesitate to suggest it for fear it would just create a huge mess. 

Any tips and suggestions?

Thanks!

[GrayBeard]

Well I use the Alene's Tacky glue spray in the TAN can and lay the portrait face down and give it a light spray. Let sit for 15 - 30 seconds and then lay backer on. Then I take a 'brayer' which is a small roller and roll over the whole thing to make sure the backer is adhered well.

Just MY method, not the only way!

~~~GB~~~

[Bill Wilson]

I was thinking along those lines.  Spray application would seem to be ideal and rolling it to even it out would make it even better.

Do you have any issues with overspray getting in the inside cuts?  I would think this would only be a problem if it interfered with stain or finish in these areas.  What has been your experience?

[GrayBeard]

If you hold the can too far away from the piece you tend to get little 'spider web' like strings especially if it is very humid. Keep the can about 8 - 10 inches from the piece and keep it moving so the spray doesn't build up. I inspect the sprayed piece while it is still laying down and remove any 'webs' with the tip of my Xacto knife. If you get the right distance and speed while spraying you shouldn't get any buildup.

~~~GB~~~

[tux_linux]

I use white glue (Ponal Super 3) and I simply apply some and I simply use a finger to get it into the small areas. The glue does not dry that fast (in fact it's even better to let it dry off a bit before attachment) and can easily be washed off with water.

[maritimer]

I've used a small glue brush...works well and able to spread the glue quickly.  I also use a toothpick.

[MOONIE]

I use a clear ''school glue''.  I typicaly use craft paper or poster board for my backers.   Dab it on the larger areas and pat with my finger on smaller areas.  Around the border just dab and spread the glue, lightly, with my finger.

[Retired Coastie]

Titebond makes a glue that I use for my cutting boards when I have a difficult glue up that takes a lot of time. It's Titebond II EXTEND. It has about 30 minutes of open clamp time. Once applied I leave it in a clamp for 1 hour, remove it and set it aside for 24 hrs. 

[dunk]

I use 2 methods.  One is the spray adhesive, which works fine and over spray can be delt with with Q-tips and Mineral spirits or a quick wipe down the edge of the piece with a ms soaked rag wipes off any on the outside edge.

The other method is using a J roller and roll out a thin coat of yellow glue or white glue on a sheet of wax paper that has been taped down on my work bench you will see why later.  I then simply lay my work piece on top for a few seconds and try not to slide it.  lift it straight up and lay it face down on another piece of wax paper and  place my backer material on and use a breyer to roll it lightly .  if you slide the work piece on the glue you get ugly build ups in the fret work of glue so don't slide it.

[crupiea]

I use good old fashioned wood glue and a paint brush.

I then smash the piece between a couple of heavy weight from my home gym and leave it for a day or 2.

Worked great never a problem.

i used to use spray glue but noticed that after a while the backers were starting to peel off.  its like the glued dried out of something and stopped working.  embarrassing because i had some pieces come back for it.

Never had a problem with the wood glue other then putting too much on to where it would squirt out the front and stick to the table. 

cleans up with water too so easy to use.