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Blotchy glue marks after finishingQuestion
Forum Responses
When you clamp two pieces of wood together, glue will squeeze out. Do not wipe this glue off. Let it form a skin on the little bulges (1-3 hrs) then take a chisel and carefully go down the joint at a right angle to that joint with the sharp edge of the chisel in kind of a stabbing motion, in and out. Now, pull the rubbery strip off with your fingers and still resist the temptation to wipe any off. You will need to do some minor sanding when it's totally dry. When you wipe glue on the surface of wood, you push it into the grain, where it dries invisibly. Then, when you stain the surface, the stain will not penetrate the grain that's sealed with glue. The result is ugly blotches. There is no fast and easy way. The glue must bulge out to get a completely glued joint and no glue can be pushed into the grain. To sand correctly, you must do so uniformly and the only way to see how well you've done it is to reflect light off of the surface from more than one direction. A single direction will almost never reveal a poorly sanded portion. This is because the lines you see that need sanding are really shadows formed by the lights that are shining on it at that particular angle. And by definition, a swirl that needs sanding has some part of its direction that won't cast a shadow from a single light source.
The comments below were added after this Forum discussion was archived as a Knowledge Base article (add your comment). Comment form contributor A:
Comment from contributor B: There is only one way to prevent ugly glue stains from appearing once wood is finished, and that is to ensure you have cleaned off all glue whilst it's wet. Immediately after clamping rub off excess glue with a damp cloth, then scrub that area with hot water and a toothbrush is excellent at cleaning out the grain. Dry off area with dry cloth and when fully dry sand area with a firm to hard block, perhaps wedge-shaped in order to gain best access to corners. Would you like to add information to this article? Interested in writing or submitting an article? Have a question about this article? Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below? 
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