The Framers Forum

How do you keep your glue flowing?
I use thick Evo-stick wood glue, and maybe make a frame every couple of weeks. I like the glue, the mitres never break open as far as I know.

But when I squeeze the glue through the twist top valve, it's invariably difficult and too thick, and takes a bit of picking at.

My old art teacher who was a framer in his younger years, used to water down his glue.
But I remember his joints breaking in the studio.

How do you keep the glue so that it is easy to use on demand, please.

I use evostick and have done for years, it’s good glue and we find it holds very well. We make 10-20 frames a day so it’s well used. The nozzles are rubbish though and block very quickly. Not fit for purpose in any way. We end up pulling the top cap off and removing the pointy bit and its supporting plastic and replacing the top cap. Allows for better flow but still blocks overtime. I’ve made my peace with the fact that every so often I’ll need to remove the cap and poke the dried up glue out. A suitably sized nail punch does the trick.

I use the Titebond range of glues but all wood glues will do the job.
If you want the glue to be a little more runny warm the glue first in a jug of boiled water for about 5 min.
That should sort it.

Titebond used to be very hard to get in the UK and the only place I could find selling it was from a luthier's supply.
That sort of signaled that this was a more serious glue than the usual off the shelf DIY wood glues.
There are three grades available, Titebond 1 is the easiest to use, cleans up well and I use it for veneer work as it melts and reworks under a hot iron.
For constuction work I use Titebond 3. This always needs cleaning up as any residue is almost impossible to remove.

To get the best out of any sort of wood glue, the mitre joint needs put under sustained pressure. This pushes the glue into the surface pores of the timber. So if you are lucky enough to be making a very large frame, it would be good practice to leave it drying inside a tight band clamp overnight.

On the subject of clampage, Justintime mentioned how useful underpinner clamps can be when dealing with poorly cut 'chop' mouldings.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to over measure the chops by 10mm, then trim them accurately on the morso?

All of these twist top hotties are fine for a while but eventually, unless you frequently take them apart and clean them out in hot water, they clog up.

When that happens I just cut the top off and plug the hole with a tight fitting screw.

My favourite glue bottles are the type you just cut the end off and there’s a cap attached to a plastic ring for sealing. But I think a plug is better than a cap. If it’s not going to be used for a while, wrap it in cling film too.

As for dodgy chops - whatever that has to do with anything, if you’re prepared to charge properly for the extra time to mitre both ends of each length individually, then fine, but it sort of defeats the object. You’re paying quite a premium, like 80% of the length price. Send the damn things back!

As we segue the wood glue question into a 'chop' subject, isn't the idea of ordering by chop so as not to have to buy and hold stock of a rarely used moulding?
Having to send it back will only delay sale of that job.

Ah, not just me who has to declog the nozzle, then.
I have put a screw in place before, but it does stain the glue it is contact with an orange colour. Which really isn't an issue, but has to be thought about if I am gluing white frames.

I think I shall go back to the screw in the top to bung the glue top up again, as it is just a little bit easier.

(Titebond, I shall look at when my glue stash is finished, thank you for the recommendation).

vintage frames wrote: Sun 04 Jan, 2026 1:54 pm As we segue the wood glue question into a 'chop' subject, isn't the idea of ordering by chop so as not to have to buy and hold stock of a rarely used moulding?
Having to send it back will only delay sale of that job.

It may delay the collection of the job but that depends on things like how long before it’s due did you find the problem etc.
Good companies have swift reparation policies and will
make errors good overnight. Larson juhl’s chop is overnight anyway and you can order until 4 pm! (Unless that’s changed)

But if a company is so consistently bad that you feel you have to order and pay for (remember they also round things up to the nearest half metre and that extra cm may just push it to the next one!) oversized lengths, well personally I’d drop them!

It’s also about more than having to buy and hold stock of rarely used mouldings. Some framers use chop for most mouldings and a few for everything.
I used it for aluminium, and wooden mouldings that were Morso-unfriendly, although those would have to really have something going for them to even be shown!
I only ever used Nielsen and L Juhl for chop and never had one problem.

I second Titebond 3. But be aware that it dries light brown so it's important to clean up before it goes off. I don't have any issue with blockages with the Titebond bottles. Lions sell bottles with dispensing tops that you can decant your preferred glue into.

I have a round plastic tub and I 'decant' the glue into it and slap it on with a 1" wide cheapo brush.
I put about 1" in at a time. The brush is slightly chopped down so that I can leave it in the tub with the lid on.

I tend to be a bit lavish with the glue. but you can use a finer brush for smaller profiles.

I buy the EvoStick glue in 1L bottles. When the glue bottle get nearly empty I slash it in half so I can use as much of it as possible.

I use Evostick but I gave up trying to use the nozzle a long time ago. I just take the cap off and dig a suitable stick into the glue, then smear the stick on to the mitred edges. I clean the stick so that it can be re-used until the next time I want a Magnum

Magnum's rock!
But I also have a lot of long flat sticks that will do nicely.

Mekol PVA wood glue comes with a replacable rubber cap for the glue nozzle; it's a snap-on kinda thing rather than a twisty top (well, push-down-til-it-clicks anyway), airtight and seems to do the job pretty well. Lion carry it, it might be worth giving it a go if you ever order from them

Thank you, Green Manic.
I do have an order to put in with Lion, as I've not got much left of my plain natural wood moulding.
That will help push the £££ into free delivery.

Hey, no problem; hope it works out

Hi,
I use Titebond from Framers Equipment Ltd.
I put what I need in a plastic syringe for the day, this way I can control the flow and wipe it clean and put a plastic cap on it after use.
At the end of the day a squeeze back it to the main bottle and wash out under the tap, repeat next day.
Regards
Mitreman

MITREMAN wrote: Tue 20 Jan, 2026 7:23 am Hi,
I use Titebond from Framers Equipment Ltd.
I put what I need in a plastic syringe for the day, this way I can control the flow and wipe it clean and put a plastic cap on it after use.
At the end of the day a squeeze back it to the main bottle and wash out under the tap, repeat next day.
Regards
Mitreman

Tip of the week! Genius.