Elmers Stainable Wood Glue

[Onojutta]

Does anyone have any experience with Elmers Stainable Wood Glue? I need to glue a tiny piece for a chip out repair and came across this stuff. I have used Elmers Wood Glue MAX before, but even though that says it’s stainable and paintable, I’ve found that it only works with pigmented stains that sit on the surface like paint, and does not take water based penetrating stains Iike we use on rifles. The Elmers Stainable Wood Glue appears to be a different product and is significantly more expensive, so I’d like to know if anyone has had good results before I buy it. Thanks.

 

[deerstalkert]

yes. it is what it claims, BUT, it is best to stain the chip and cavity before gluing. that way no raw wood will be sealed from the final stain.
if left unstained the glue can form a "window" to the underlaying wood so to speak. even a tiny Lense of glue can expose the crack then.
clear as mud? past my beddy bye time!

 

[Onojutta]

Yep, I know what can happen if the lens of glue doesn't take the stain, but curious how the "stainable glue" might do in that regard.

 

[Ames]

Stain the chip. Then stain some scrap of the same species. Sand the scrap, collect the dust and mix it into your glue. Proceed as normal.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have used it thinking I could match the stain over it, it didn't stain well for me but I didn't stain the chip or the inlet for the chip before I started..

 

[doubleset]

The best way to do color matching with glue is to use sawdust from the wood you're gluing. Mix it with the glue, experimenting until you get the degree of match you like. If you can't get sawdust from the object you need to be gluing, then see if you have some scrap of similar wood that you can get it from. Or maybe even try staining some glue and creating sawdust from that, or make sawdust and stain it. Not sure how well those last couple of ideas would work because I've never done it -- so I'm a bit skeptical, but might be worth a try.

This process is a bit painful and perhaps tedious, but it actually will work if you take the time. In my experience "stainable glue" is a marketing term and not a functional description. But I haven't used every "stainable glue" available in the world.

Also, there is a point of diminishing returns. If you're not doing actual "restoration", and the piece you're gluing is small/tiny, and no one would notice a fine glue line (maybe using transparent or cynoacrylate glue), then just do that -- because no one else will know it ever happened, and you'll only "see" it because you know it's there.