How to Glue Wood Without Ruining the Grain

When building a woodworking project, it’s important to use a good-quality glue on the glue joint.

But after you screw the parts together, you always get a little bit of glue squeezing out at the joint itself.

You could wipe it away with a damp cloth, which most woodworkers do, but then you’ll drive the glue into the grain and we want to avoid that.

So, what you want to do is scoop up as much of the glue as possible before you wipe it away.

And all you need is a straw. You can use a paper straw, but I prefer the larger, plastic straws that are called smoothie straws.

Just take a pair of scissors, snip the end off at a sharp angle, and then pinch so it forms a little spout.

And then all you can do is slide it along that joint to scoop up almost all of that glue.

You see, it gets caught in the straw, and I just wipe it off and use it again.

You come back and see there’s a little glue left, and you can just wipe it down.

With most of that glue wiped away, it has not had the chance to soak into the wood grain, and it’s ready to be finished with your stain.

Watch the video above to see Joe’s Simple Solution.