PVAC glue for wood furniture.

PVAC (poly vinyl acetate) glue is most widely used in the woodworking industry. The glue is made from the polyvinyl acetate resin, the same material to make plastic. The PVAC glue is safe, non-toxic material, easy to be used with good gluing result. It is water based, that uses water as its main solvent, so he is very safe, non-toxic and very easy to be handled. This glue is the one component, make it is easy and simple in handling, storage and application. It is dry with evaporation of his water: when it solvent release then the glue will harden and produce a strong thermosetting bonding. After it is dry, it form thermosetting and strong bond that is not dissolved with water or solvent. The bond resulted can be finished with less risk off the glue dissolving. It is widely used to unify wood pieces in the: laminating process, finger joint and the assembling. With the right process, then it would constitute very strong bond. 

Since it is water based then it takes longer time to dry. The drying time is varying depend to the solid content and the type of the glue usually is varying from 30 minutes to 1 hour. During it is drying, the unified wood pieces must be hold and pressed to keep tightened. The pressing apparatus or machine either the automatic or manually is needed in the application.

The PVAC glue can also be used to form the texture effect in the wood finishing.  PVAC glue can be used alone or mixed with latex paint and be applied as the texture paint.  

 the wood pieces are laminated and pressed

The advantages of PVAC glue 

• Good bonding strength

The PVAC glue will give strong bonding capability. When it is used, it will penetrate wood fiber and fill the wood grain and pores. When dry, it is providing additional strength to the bonded wood structure.

• Good absorption ability

PVAC glue has the ability to enter and absorb into wood. It help to give a strong adhesion between the wood and the glue. This results in a better and more durable bond.

• Quick drying

PVAC glue generally dries quickly in the application. Normally the glue will dry in about 30 minutes in the ambient air. the drying time is affected by the glue thickness, the wood condition and the environment. 

• Paintable

Once dry, PVAC glue will form thermosetting bond with high resistant to solvent. The assembled product can be finished without any risk of dissolved glue. 

Here are some tips to use the PVAC glue

• Read and check the technical data and specifications of the glue

There are many suppliers of PVAC glue, each of them may offer their strong advantages and superiority, but each of them also may need special treatment.  Therefore, when we are going to use the glue, we must have read the technical data and specifications as well. Follow the instructions of how to use of the product. We need to read the data about the recommended concentration, pressure, and drying time required. Every wood species often has different properties and require a different process. Check the instruction of use according to the wood species if any. We may need to do some trial to get the best result.

• Moisture content of wood

PVAC glue uses water as a solvent, and the water will wet the wood surface when it is applied. The water must evaporate and go to make the glue dry and hard. To make the drying of the glue is done faster, then the wood pieces have to be dry. The water in the wood could make the glue to be thinner and may reduce the strength of the bond generated.
Wood also will shrink and swell when its moisture content changes. Since that, the wood pieces that are glued and unified need to have uniform moisture content. Too high variation in the moisture content is risk to create too much wood movement and make the crack or delaminating of the wood.

• Clean the glue excess at the surface.

When we applied the glue, there may some glue excess at the wood surface. The glue excess has to be cleaned since it will disturb the finishing material absorption. See our previous article: Glue splotches problem in the furniture. The glue excess will harden and difficult to be cleaned when it is dry. Then we better clean the glue when it is still wet. Use a wet cloth and wipe off the glue excess when it is still wet. Make sure the glue is left only inside the wood and there is no glue splotches at the wood surface.

• PVAC glue is not suitable for outdoor use.

Although when he is dry he become thermosetting and hard, but the PVAC glue is not strong enough for exterior uses. It is not recommended to do gluing process for outdoor product.