What’s the worst thing you can do with super glue? Glue yourself to yourself comes to mind, but the answer I was thinking of doesn’t have anything to do with adhered body parts. It’s adding water to the adhesive during the manufacturing process. It always makes the glue weaker and it definitely takes a lot longer to dry. As Nexabond instant wood adhesive’s motto goes: water-free means trouble-free! After we scouted Nexabond at the AWFS trade show earlier this year, we thought we’d go hands-on (without gluing our hands) to review a glue that’s marketed as more versatile and easy to work with than traditional CA or instant glues.
So why is water in glue a problem? Most wood adhesives have loads of water in them. This allows the glue manufacturer to thin out their product so they can make more money. It also makes the adhesive take a lot longer to dry. Last but not least, it especially makes the product weaker once it has dried.
It’s a lot like a piece of metal. If you heat metal, it gets weaker until eventually it breaks. But if you temper it with water while it’s still hot, it actually gets stronger. The same is true for your glue. It gets weaker and weaker the more water that has to evaporate out of the adhesives. Without water in the glue, you will need less glue for a stronger bond – plus it won’t take a fortnight to dry.
Nexabond 2500 – Wood Glue With or Without the Wait
The manufacturer, Bioformix, sent us three samples of the Nexabond 2500 glue types; short, medium and long handling times. Each one is designed to dry at a different speed. This enables you to get materials glued together instantly, or, if you need to work with the materials for a few minutes while the glue is drying, you can do that too.
I had never seen wood glue that looks quite like super glue before, or that works as well with stains and finishes. Super Glue seemed a lot more constraining compared to the Nexabond 2500, or at least that’s one of the issues I was determined to find out more about.
Nexabond Glue-Fest
It seems that no matter how much glue I buy, I can’t get enough of it. Not that I’m huffing the stuff in a brown paper bag in my van down by the river or something, it’s just that I have a lot of broken stuff, and things to build. So when the samples of Nexabond 2500 came in, I knew that I’d be putting this adhesive all over the place for weeks to come.
One of the first things I did with the glue was to fix a small piece of wood that peeled off my vanity. A small sliver of the tongue and grove peeled away and it was starting to drive me bonkers because every time I leaned over the sink to brush my teeth, the little piece would get caught on my clothes.
I used the fast drying stuff, aka Nexabond 2500S, to seal the deal on my clothes-catching splinter. No prep work is needed like with Gorilla Glue where you’ve got to get the wood damp first. Just a few drops and some light pressure and it was instantly glued for good. There also wasn’t any bubbling expansion to worry about. I was impressed at how fast it set, just like Super Glue it was hurry up and use it before it dries!
Bioformix, the company that makes Nexabond 2500, also states that their glue will adhere to other materials like metal, ceramic or glass to wood, so I thought I’d give that a try as well. I have a theater sectional that has these nifty little cup holders built into each arm rest. Two of them just won’t stay put and keep coming out of their sockets when the cup you put into the cup holder is too big to fit. It’s got a metal screw that stripped out of the wood and it’s been something I’ve been meaning to fix for a while. Unfortunately, I never think about it until I try to take a drink and the cup holder is still attached to the cup.
This time, I used the medium drying time Nexabond 2500M for the job. I put a few drops of adhesive down the stripped hole, threaded the screw into the cup holder and mashed it back into the arm rest. No more loose cup holders thanks to this speedy but still workable adhesive.
Last but not least, I wanted to see how well the Nexabond 2500L worked and if the handling time was slower than the other two bottles they had sent. So I decided to use it on the loose metal pivot wheel on my bi-fold closet doors. The top pin had been progressively getting worse over the last few weeks and the Nexabond 2500L couldn’t have come at a better time.
After I removed the door from the track, I added the glue into the hole where the loose pivot wheel was located. I reinserted the pivot with a few small slivers of wood to help it stay snug and glued it with the long handling time stuff.
It said I had about 5 minutes before it dried, so I didn’t waste time reassembling the door. I think it took about 7-10 minutes to dry inside my air conditioned house and I’m sure if I was out in the heat of the day, it would dry in 5 minutes or less.
So far, everything I have glued has stayed together. Next time I need to glue things together instantly, or, at least in the next few minutes, I’m going to use some Nexabond 2500 for the job for sure. Do you want to know more about this great glue? Take a look at the Bioformix website here and get the scoop on this extra sticky goop. You can also pick up a bottle of Nexabond via Rockler.com for under $10.
