APPLYING GLUE
All surfaces to which glue is to be applied should be warm and dry. Hot glue will chill if applied to a cold surface, and if wood is being glued, moisture will have the effect of clogging the pores of the wood. Heat dries and expands the pores, allowing the glue-fibres to penetrate deeply, thus insuring perfect adhesion.
At the same time there is danger of getting wood too dry, making it absorb too much glue, and too speedily. This causes a very quick setting, and may result in “starving” the glue joint.
Some users on this account recommend adding a little moisture to the surface of stock, by steaming or by application of a little warm water. There is more or less uncertainty on this subject. As a general conclusion it is safe to say that stock must always be warm; surplus moisture must be expelled; no “green” stock must be used.
Here again, as in so many other problems of the glue-room, observation of results under actual conditions should be the guide to practice.