I’ve got a project that I’m working on here. It’s a flag case, a display case for a flag and I’ve got it all glued together. And as often happens, when I glue stuff together, I get a little bit of squeeze out there, still some right here on this corner. My preferred method for dealing with squeeze out is to let it get just a little bit dried, giving this about ten minutes time. In ten minutes, it became kind of rubbery. Now, I’ve got these beads of glue sitting on top. With a good chisel, I can go after those glue beads. Look at how nice that slices right off the surface of the work. I think this is much better than using a damp rag and rubbing the glue while it’s wet because I don’t want to smear the glue. I want to make sure that I get it all off.

If you’re leaving glue on the surface, you’re going to find out when you put finish on. You’ll have spots that won’t take finish. So this is a great tip for dealing with squeeze out. Let it get rubbery, use a good sharp chisel. Slice it right off the top. You’ll have a perfectly clean surface when you’re done.