Best Wood Glue - Wood Glue Showdown

Pictured in the following order:
Type I PVA Glue
Slow-set Epoxy
PVA Glue
Liquid Hide Glue
Hot Hide Glue
Polyurethane Glue

It can be argued that the heart of do-it-yourself speakers is the actual enclosure being used since it can have such a large affect on the sound that is produced. More and more people these days are opting to build their own enclosures because of the amount of money that can be saved and to get the satisfaction of building it themselves. The glue being used on those enclosures can be a very important part depending on many different things, but we all want a strong enclosure.

Fine Woodworking Magazine has a glue showdown featured in this month's issue in which they use various glues on wood joints and then test the joints for strength. The strength testing was done by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The glued joints were tested using an Instron Fatigue System which applies an increasing amount of force until the joint fails.

A brief summary of the testing methods can be seen here in a short video: LINK

The most surprising result in my opinion was the Gorilla Glue being dominated in every aspect by all of the other glues for the most part. Unfortunately MDF was not one of the woods tested, but the results appear to be pretty clear cut from the three types of wood (maple, oak and ipe) that were used.

The average joint strengths for for the different woods were as follows:

2024 lbs - Type I PVA Glue
1994 lbs - Slow-set Epoxy
1924 lbs - PVA Glue
1595 lbs - Liquid Hide Glue
1531 lbs - Hot Hide Glue
1164 lbs - Polyurethane Glue

The article is a great read and goes into much more detail than we do here. You can purchase the July issue of Fine Woodworking at a local retailer or online HERE.