Covering a Sticky Subject
Written: Jan 31 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Meets most woodworker's glue application needs
Cons: Holder is a little "tippy"
The Bottom Line: Gluing wooden horses? This is part of a nice team of different helpers. Not like a third hand maybe, but the color of time saved is better.
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| gamblin_man's Full Review: Robert Larson Glue Spreader Set |
When it comes to woodworking, one of the most exacting and sometimes frustrating tasks is gluing pieces of wood together to make an assembly. The glue needs to be just the right thickness and fully cover the area to be glued without encroaching on other places.
If you plan to finish a piece with a clear coating, maybe over stain, glue in the wrong place can just be terrible. If the glue line is too thin or not complete, the piece may well disassemble itself over time. If you are using the most popular glue today in the workshop, the ubiquitous "yellow" glue available everywhere in several different brands and formulations, a glue applicator can help make the job better and less messy.
Robert Larson Glue Spreader Set
In its simplest form, a glue applicator is a jar that can hold glue with a spout than can direct the glue where it should go. Robert Larson has carried this definition, perhaps, to its ultimate conclusion.
In woodworking there are many joints that hold wood together. Some are simply well machined long grain placed next to another like machined piece. When end grain is involved, more help is needed. The traditional quick joining method was wooden dowels. More recently biscuits have come into the picture as faster and easier to use.
The problem with these fastening methods is that proper application of glue is important. Too much and it squeezes out and onto surfaces where you don't want it to be. Too little and the joint is weakened. When you have holes for dowels or slots for biscuits, the problem is compounded by difficulty in reaching the surfaces needing the glue.
When Robert Larson introduced their new glue applicator set a couple of years ago, I was an early buyer. It didn't take long for this product to spread throughout all the mail order and internet sites for woodworkers. Like a better mousetrap, this was a better idea.
What you get
The set comes with a plastic stand to hold the glue bottle and all the accessory tips to dispense the glue in the bottle.
The bottle is a clear resilient plastic with a threaded top. A tight fitting cover holds the glue ready for use. A special roller applicator screws on and does a nice job of spreading glue over wide flat surfaces. Squeezing the bottle dispenses a line of glue. The plastic roller spreads it with a few pushes and pulls.
Another cover has a hole to handle the rest of the applicators which sit on the holder. There is a precision applicator for running a narrow glue bead. I use this along with an acid brush to cover the edges of wood to be edge joined. There are applicators made to fit all the popular dowel hole sizes. To use, push the tip into the hole, squeeze lightly to dispense some glue and pull the tip out with a twisting motion. Biscuit slots are just as easy with the applicator designed for them.
A nice touch is a small bottle with a snap-on lid. This is used to hold the glue bottle and its applicator in a bath of glue between uses. Just upend the bottle and drop its tip into the holder. A little glue will dribble out, sealing off air and keeping the glue in the tip from hardening between uses.
To get the glue back in the bottle when you are putting it away, hold the bottle upright, squeeze it to create a vacuum, place the tip in the glue and release.
But, does it work?
I have been using this set for nearly two years. It works and works quite well. With this set, some Titebond wood glue, and a couple of acid brushes, I am never in trouble when it comes to glue ups. I don't end up with my fingers sticking to things, have very little cleanup on the project, and cleanup of the set is easy with warm water and a little dish soap.
The stand is a mixed blessing, however. The small tips stay on the stand pretty well unless you knock it over. The slightest jar makes the pieces on top fall off, except for the holder bottle. The bottle, though, gets pretty tippy itself when the glue bottle and applicator are inserted in it.
It works. I would replace it in a minute if I lost it. It doesn't make gluing easy, but it sure is more pleasant.
This was written for the "Horse of a Different Color" contest in H&G to get more reviews available to readers in the categories of paint, glue and shop tool accessories.
Since this tool won't dispense hide glue, no horses will be hurt as a result of this review.
Recommended:
Yes
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gamblin_man
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Member: Larry
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