In this Test Tuesday we are testing wood glue. For these tests I am using Elmer’s brand CraftBond wood glue. The product’s label states that it contains wood. This glue is much thicker than the white glue we tested previously and is an ivory color instead of white.
Unlike the white glue this glue does not dry clear, which is expected considering it contains wood. The wood is obvious in the dried glue texture on the surface of the foam board.
All the standard Readi-Board, Adams Premium foam board, no paper and Readi-Grid samples performed the same as they did with our white glue test. I won’t go into great detail about the bond as the similar description can be found on our White Glue Test Tuesday post.
The Readi Water Resistant and Readi-Erase samples performed very poorly in this test. Both samples came apart easily with very little effort. The bond was so poor that I could remove the dried glue in a thin sheet.
Seeing as this glue isn’t designed for paper use, I decided to test foam board to wood. I have wood shelving in my work space and attached a small piece of Readi-Board as well as a small piece of Adams Premium foam board to the shelves. I used a bit of masking tape to hold the foam board in place and allowed the glue to dry for 24 hours. The tape was removed once the glue had dried.
My plan initially was to simply attempt to pull off the piece of foam board, but as I was moving about my workspace I hung my bag on the Adams Premium foam board piece temporarily. My bag weighs (on average) just under 5 pounds. You might expect the foam board sample to fall off (it is, after all, not a very large piece) but it held. It was so convenient having the little tab of foam board to hang things on, that I just let it be. I expected that at some point I’d hear my bag crash to the floor.
I placed my bag on the Adams Premium sample the morning of April 11th, and since have placed it there every day when I arrive and remove it when I leave. This means the foam board is holding up my bag for a little over 8 hours Monday through Friday. As of publishing this Test Tuesday, I still use my little foam board hook. If my hook ever fails me and breaks off, I will update this post.
*Update: June 6th the Adams Premium sample broke. (Article was originally published 05/09/2017)
Standard Readi-Board also adhered well to wood, but the paper face detached from the foam core after approximately 10 hours of holding up the same amount of weight.
Overall I see no added benefit to using wood glue when attaching two pieces of foam board to one another. With the exception of the Water Resistant and Readi-Erase boards, I see no downfall to using wood glue either. If you are attaching foam board to wood I would most certainly recommend it. Personally, I will continue to use white glue as my go-to adhesive, but it is good to know that wood glue will work in a pinch.
