A Titebond Glue Question

[belbein]

That other glue question reminds me of something I've been wondering. How do you find fresh Titebond?

I was in a woodworking store of world reknown in Atlanta a few weeks ago and thought I'd score some fresh Titebond. All the bottles though had the same "born on" date... about 1 year ago. On the website TB claims that it's good for 2 to something years, so this stuff was half dead already. Home Depot is worse. Online will get me stuff that was born before I was. So what do yall do to get fresh TB glue?

[Jeff Mando]

I check the date code and throw it out every January. It's cheap enough not to be tempted to use outdated glue. (although, it probably would be fine for light duty craft and hobby use for years, just not structural repair -- but why have it around?) Seems like our local family-owned hardware always has fresh stock....

[sunburst]

I buy the smallest quantities I can find. Economy of scale doesn't exist when we have to throw away outdated glue, so although the cost is more per volume when buying small containers, throwing away less glue more than makes up for it.

When I worked at a cabinet shop many years ago we bought the stuff by the gallon. Now I use so little of it that I wish I could get even smaller bottles than I can normally find.

[belbein]

But where do you find it, John? I've tried everything within a light year of me and everybody has outdated glue.

[sunburst]

My local hardware store is my usual source, though when I'm in the "big box" anyway, I get it there if I need it at the time.
I don't really pay much attention to the date. If it is still in good liquid condition, if it still flows and spreads with ease, it is still good. The working characteristics change and it gets harder to work with as it ages. I replace it when that happens.

[Phil-D]

I had a gallon of Titebond that I thought went bad after a year, since it seemed to stay rubbery after it cured. When I called Titebond they assured me that it was still good, and the rubbery quality was designed to be that way. They assured me that if it was a bad batch, that they would have had a flood of calls on that particular batch. Somehow I didn’t trust their answer and I promptly brought the rest of the gallon back to the big box store. From now on I’ll buy in smaller quantities.

[O. Apitius]

The test I use to use when I was using Titebond was to rub some of the glue between my fore finger and thumb. It should feel smooth and creamy and remain that way. If it starts to break down and form little strands/lumps it's past its prime. Another rule I followed was, 'when in doubt, throw it out'. I don't want to risk a major repair down the road for the sake of saving 8 bucks worth of glue. As for buying it fresh, try to find a store that sells it regularly like a popular hardware store or even StewMac.

[belbein]

I've wrestled with how to deal with online stores. I'm figuring they will just send the order to their fulfillment center and the F. C. will send me whatever their person pulls off a shelf. If I could talk to someone and say, "Read me the date ***on the exact bottle you're going to send me***..." that would be fine. But I doubt that's going to happen.

Maybe I'll be aggressive for once and call Titebond and ask them how to solve this problem.

[soliver]

I was in a woodworking store of world reknown in Atlanta a few weeks ago and thought I'd score some fresh Titebond. ....

I used to work in that store,... remembering their price points, my assumption would be that they don't sell that much of what folks can buy at the big box stores. I agree with the idea to buy somewhere where it is sold frequently.... seems like a logical plan to me.

[rcc56]

I've seen expired bottles on the shelf at Ace Hardware.

The current date code is aymmddbat#. A means made in US, y=year, m=month, d=day, and the last 4 digits are a batch number.

I mark the date on the bottles of all glues when I buy them, and discard them after a year, except for Duco cement and other contact cements.

[Valerie Jestice]

The code on the bottle I got is A809130010. Does this mean it was made in 2008?

[rcc56]

The code on the bottle I got is A809130010. Does this mean it was made in 2008?

I would read it as September 13, 2018, batch number 0010.
From left to right, "USA," 2018, September, 13th day of the month, 4 digit batch number.

If I remember correctly, they were still stamping the date in plain English in 2008.

[belbein]

The code on the bottle I got is A809130010. Does this mean it was made in 2008?

So, according to Titebond's website, the code is still (as of 20 minutes ago on their website): AYMMDD...

A=American manufacture

Y=last number of the year (so in your case, 8=2018, presumably, maybe, but ambiguously because an equally valid solution would be 2008 or 1998)

MM=month, so in your case 09=September

DD=day, so in your case 13=13th.
So the good news is that your glue is either 1, 11 or 21 years old.

But there's reason to believe they may have changed the code.

I just bought a bottle of Titebond I at Home Depot on which this is the code:

A190215124
According to the old code, that should mean:

A=America

Y=2011!!!

MM=90!!!

DD=21!!!
Under the code decoder on the Titebond site as of today, it's gibberish.

There's another possibility. That's that Titebond got sick of everyone complaining about their crappy, unreadable, un-consumer-friendly codes, and decided to do what everyone else in the civilized world does, and make the code easily readable:

A=America

YY=19=2019

MM=02=February

DD=21=21st
Makes sense, no? Only a sufficient solution, not a necessary one; and only a solution, not a proof.

The corroborating evidence (not proof) that there's a new code in town is that Valerie's code doesn't work under my system, and mine doesn't work under hers.

[belbein]

And by the way, I award all of you gold stars for not pointing out that if we were mixing our own hide glue, we wouldn't be having this problem.

[Valerie Jestice]

So, according to Titebond's website, the code is still (as of 20 minutes ago on their website): AYMMDD...

A=American manufacture

Y=last number of the year (so in your case, 8=2018, presumably, maybe, but ambiguously because an equally valid solution would be 2008 or 1998)

MM=month, so in your case 09=September

DD=day, so in your case 13=13th.
So the good news is that your glue is either 1, 11 or 21 years old.

But there's reason to believe they may have changed the code.

I just bought a bottle of Titebond I at Home Depot on which this is the code:

A190215124
According to the old code, that should mean:

A=America

Y=2011!!!

MM=90!!!

DD=21!!!
Under the code decoder on the Titebond site as of today, it's gibberish.

There's another possibility. That's that Titebond got sick of everyone complaining about their crappy, unreadable, un-consumer-friendly codes, and decided to do what everyone else in the civilized world does, and make the code easily readable:

A=America

YY=19=2019

MM=02=February

DD=21=21st
Makes sense, no? Only a sufficient solution, not a necessary one; and only a solution, not a proof.

The corroborating evidence (not proof) that there's a new code in town is that Valerie's code doesn't work under my system, and mine doesn't work under hers.

I’ll just assume it was made in 2018. If the guitar I’m building comes apart, then I’ll know it wasn’t.

[belbein]

What started me on this was an instrument I built that came apart. In part I suspect the glue. It was heartbreaking.

[rcc56]

A couple of years ago, when I was having trouble finding a fresh bottle of glue locally, I ordered from Stew-mac and specifically asked them to check the date and send me a fresh bottle. They did.

Other causes of glue failure are dirty or oily gluing surfaces, not enough glue, or insufficient curing time. For high stress joints like guitar bridges, I now generally wait a minimum of 36 hours before stringing the instrument up. I knew an aspiring guitar maker who skimped on glue. Personally, if I don't see a little squeeze-out when I clamp, I take the joint apart, clean it off, and re-do it.

[belbein]

Stew-mac and fresh bottle.

Good to know. I'll call them next time.


... Other causes of glue failure ...

And let's not forget ... shoddy woodworking.