10 Best Wood Glues of 2022
We may earn commission from our brand partners when purchasing products through our links. Learn more.
Wood glue can serve a massive range of different purposes, from DIY work and small craft jobs to large-scale home restoration and construction projects. Being able to bond two pieces of wood together is a simple concept, but it’s often the backbone of much bigger projects that need wooden panels, supports, and details that can’t be done any other way.
However, not all wood glue is the same: some are meant to be used either indoors or outdoors exclusively, and others will only work for a certain type of wood or provide a specific level of support and bonding. Knowing what you’re actually buying and using is essential. The list below contains eight different brands of the best wood glue we could find, as well as some reasons you might want to use them for yourself.
Related: Hot Glue Guns.
View the Best Wood Glue, Below.
- Titebond 1413 III Ultimate Wood Glue
- Fastcap 2P-10 Super Glue Adhesive
- Gorilla Wood Glue
- Flex Seal Rubberized Waterproof Adhesive
- Glue Masters Cyanoacrylate Instant Glue
- Titebond 5004 II Premium Wood Glue
- Elmer’s E7310 Carpenter’s Wood Glue
- J-B Weld 8251 2 Ounce Epoxy Adhesive
1. Titebond 1413 III Ultimate Wood Glue
Titebond's Ultimate Wood Glue is water-resistant wood bonding formula that's meant to be quick and easy to use, applying a strong bond straight away to help you hold things in place during more complicated assembly jobs. Rather than slowly bonding two pieces together, the glue is sticky as soon as it leaves the container and gets even stronger after it's left alone for a while.
The formula also allows it to work correctly at lower temperatures, making it suitable for outdoor use and is non-toxic to a level where indirect contact won't taint any food you hold afterward. Not only that, but despite being waterproof, it can also easily be cleaned up with water if it spills on non-wooden surfaces.
This wood glue is ideal for bonding together wood that needs to be stable as soon as possible, providing an immediate bond that you can use to quickly set up larger structures.
Check Price on Amazon ➞2. Fastcap 2P-10 Super Glue Adhesive
FastCap’s 2P-10 superglue is an incredibly sticky and fast-drying adhesive that’s excellent for sticking together wood on short notice. Thanks to the exact formula used to create it, it won’t leak or run when it’s placed on a non-flat surface.
It’s versatile enough to stick onto a variety of different surfaces, not just wood – this helps when trying to build or fix more complex items or pieces of furniture, as well as vertical surfaces that need to be bonded together quickly so that they don’t collapse. As superglue, it can even be used as an extra supportive layer on top of joins that are already bonded together.
Superglue, in general, is excellent for bonding, but 2P-10 is incredibly strong and can work on a variety of wood and non-wood surfaces at almost any angle.
Check Price on Amazon ➞3. Gorilla Wood Glue
Gorilla glue is known for being strong, and this Gorilla Wood Glue is no exception, using a water-based formula that dries within half an hour and is completely ready to cover up in a day. Because of this, it’s also surprisingly water-resistant and can be used both inside and outside without running into any bonding issues.
It’s designed to work with any type of wood, including both hardwoods and softwoods as well as natural composites – this makes it easy to construct or repair objects that use a mixture of wood types and styles, and can act as an extra layer of support on weak joints or connections.
This glue is ideal for bonding wood together without standing out or making it obvious that you glued them together, hiding the bonds and creating a natural-looking connection.
Check Price on Amazon ➞4. Flex Seal Rubberized Waterproof Adhesive
This waterproof glue provides a thick, instant bond that can easily hold large amounts of wood together. The strong bonding helps keep surfaces together without needing you to hold it all together, and the durable formula is able to withstand mildew, UV light, and water without slipping or wearing away easily.
It also won't drip or run between surfaces, and can even be used on surfaces above you without leaking back down. This makes it really easy to use for repair work or construction in a range of different situations, including building supports in rooms or making complete structures outside.
This glue is surprisingly versatile and can be used at any angle, making it ideal for building larger wooden structures or repairing wooden items that need to be held in specific positions and places.
Check Price on Amazon ➞5. Glue Masters Cyanoacrylate Instant Glue
This resin-based adhesive settles in under fifty seconds, bonding quickly and keeping everything held together without slipping or leaving any stains and drips that can interfere with other materials. The formula it uses is versatile enough to work on a range of different materials, not just wood – things like china and glass can be bonded to really well, making it a more multipurpose tool than most purpose-built wood glue.
The thicker solution takes less glue to make a proper bond than with most other brands, so a smaller container will last a lot longer than you might first expect.
While this isn't purely meant for wood, this glue is excellent for dealing with wooden objects and panels that need a quick, instant bond to a range of other surfaces.
Check Price on Amazon ➞6. Titebond 5004 II Premium Wood Glue
Titebond II uses a crosslinking PVA formula that's strong, reliable, and compatible with a range of different surfaces, both indoors and outdoors. As a one-part glue, it's simple and doesn't react poorly to any specific conditions, materials or chemicals that you may end up using it on or near.
The formula itself has passed the ANSI Type II water-resistance tests, meaning that it's suitable for use even in places where it rains often. Because of this, it's also resistant to mildew and mold and can keep wood held together even while it's rotting or being soaked by rainwater.
This PVA glue is surprisingly tough and durable and can hold a bond to wood (as well as a range of other materials) extremely well, even in wet or humid conditions.
Check Price on Amazon ➞7. Elmer’s E7310 Carpenter’s Wood Glue
This waterproof carpenter’s glue provides extra-strong bonds between wood, holding them together like nails without getting in the way of other parts of the construction or repair work. The painted formula helps keep each bond strong without needing extra glue, meaning that a single 16-ounce bottle can last a long, long time. On top of being waterproof, it’s heat-resistant, fights off mold and mildew, and doesn’t produce any toxic fumes.
Due to the way the formula works, you can also wash it up with water if you spill any, meaning that you won’t have to use special chemicals to get it off tile floors or carpets.
This wood glue can resist a vast range of environmental factors and problems, making it an excellent choice for anybody who needs to do frequent construction or repair work outdoors.
Check Price on Amazon ➞8. J-B Weld 8251 2 Ounce Epoxy Adhesive
This fast-setting glue is made of an epoxy system that allows for incredibly durable bonds. However, these bonds are also easy to alter once it’s set, meaning that you don’t need to chisel them off if you want to break it apart.
Not only are they more durable against natural damage, but they can still be adjusted after drying by most tools, making it an ideal glue for complicated projects where mistakes can be common. It dries in only six minutes and reaches full strength in as little as three hours, giving you a quick way to set up bonds between wooden surfaces.
This glue is ideal for anybody who spends a lot of time working on wood construction projects, whether it’s small hobby models or larger-scale home extensions and furniture pieces.
Check Price on Amazon ➞Wood Glue Buyer’s Guide
Wood glue, like normal glue, comes in a lot of different forms, all of which have their own positives and negative that can’t really be compared on a straightforward scale. The ones you’ll use, as well as the best wood glue types for your current situation, will depend on what you’re actually looking for and the circumstances surrounding the wood you need to glue together.
Glue Type
There are varying types and sub-types of glue in general, and many of these carry over to wood glue. They all perform the same function, but they still differ enough to need a separate name and category, especially since not all of them will work on all surfaces or material types.
Cold Press Veneer Glue is only really used for veneering (gluing thin slices of wood onto existing wood to smoothen out the surface, either for style, safety or protection), but can still be a handy type to use in smaller projects, since it’s designed especially for wood of any kind. Many will work with hardwoods and softwoods with equal effectiveness, and some can even function properly when used with natural untreated woods.
PVA (sometimes referred to by its non-acronym name Polyvinyl Acetate) is one of the most common types of glue in existence and appears most often in small craft projects. However, it also has a presence in larger-scale repairs and construction, since it dries quickly and takes a while to actually start drying, making it easy to check the position of the bonding objects before they start to get stuck together.
PVA is easy to identify, looking like a white, paint-like liquid that’s halfway between a semi-solid blob and a runny liquid. The only downside of this type is that it crumbles easily under heavy weight, and isn’t good for supports.
Melamine Glue is designed to bond porous and non-porous together, which can help you attach wood to things like vinyl and laminate. Although it’s designed for this specific purpose, it can also be used as a conventional wood-on-wood glue if needed.
Superglue (Cyanoacrylate Glue) bonds very quickly and is hard to remove, often taking less than ten seconds to reach a point where the average person would struggle to pull it apart with brute strength alone.
It’s excellent for creating permanent bonds that won’t wear down easily and acts as an excellent tool for fixing things in ways where they can’t accidentally be pulled apart again. However, they’re often runny and can seep into other objects if you’re not careful, which can be a problem on pieces of furniture that need opening doors or moving parts.
Polyurethane Glue is a general-purpose glue that will work on nearly any surface, allowing you to glue almost any two objects or materials together without running into bonding problems. Although it can take a full day to dry properly, this type is often suited to both indoor and outdoor work and will be almost completely water and solvent resistant once it’s dried properly.
There are various other smaller types of glue, but there are far too many to list in one place, especially when many of them are slight variations of an existing formula.
Drying Time
Not all glues will take a day to dry properly, and you don’t always need fast-drying glue depending on the situation you’re in. The main benefit to having glue that dries quickly is the fact that you don’t need to hold it in place for long while it dries, but this can be resolved using a clamp or even just by placing it on an object of a suitable height or shape.
There are two metrics to watch out for: “open time” and “curing time.” Open time is how long you have before it actually starts drying – longer periods may give you a few minute to adjust the position and angle of the wood before it starts to set, whereas shorter ones may not even have an open period and will begin to dry immediately (super glue is the most extreme example of this, which explains why it’s often difficult to wash it off a surface even if it’s just been placed there).
Curing time is the time until the glue is fully dry. This doesn’t mean the time it’s safe to touch – many types of glue are safe to touch within a few hours, but aren’t considered fully dry and can still be damaged or removed under certain circumstances. “Safe” also doesn’t mean ‘safe to walk on’ and you can still damage it if you step on it too early.
Bonding Strength
The strength of the bond is one of the most important parts of any glue since it essentially dictates how useful it can actually be. Stronger bonds provide a more solid connection between both surfaces, but they can also be harder to remove or clean up, especially once the bond is fully formed.
Not all glues will provide the same level of bonding onto all materials, and there will be some cases where you can’t easily connect two different materials properly, with the glue sticking to one more than the other. It’s good to look into which materials your glue is designed to deal with, especially since certain glues are only designed for very specific purposes and types of material.
Visibility
The visibility of the glue once it’s dried can vary between different glue types and formulas. Some will be completely transparent and effectively invisible in most situations, whereas others will be quite a visible solid color that can stand out if you don’t cover it up properly.
PVA glue is one of the most obvious since it usually retains a very clear white color – this doesn’t stop you from using it, but you’ll need to cover it up with part of the material to make sure that it’s not visible.
This can also affect how it dries, since many types of glue dry based on air and light. The further away from a light area full of air it is, the longer it can take to dry, especially in wet conditions that can slow down the curing and drying times significantly.
How is Wood Glue Different from Regular Glue?
Wood glue has one obvious difference compared to regular glue – it’s meant to mainly be used on wood and is sometimes designed to only work on wood exclusively.
However, many of them can be used as a general-purpose glue while still having a significant bias towards wood: for example, regular glue that falls onto a tile floor will often stick there straight away, creating a glue layer that needs to be removed with special chemicals, whereas wood glue will generally sit there and take a lot longer to dry due to it not bonding properly with the surface.
As a side effect, these glues can often be cleaned up with water, like any other spilled liquid. However, some wood glues will stick to nearly anything – in these cases, though, they’ll often form much weaker bonds when wood isn’t involved, and it’ll be far easier to break the bond compared to if you used it on two pieces of wood. This isn’t always the case, and some will still retain a decent bond level to allow you to stick wood to another material, but it varies from formula to formula.
There’s also always a chance that some of these wood glues will dry at different rates on certain surfaces. For example, a glue that reaches a ‘safe’ drying point in ten minutes on wood might take an hour to try properly on plastic, but will still form the same bond when it manages to actually dry.
Expert Tip
Most types of glue have a specific shelf life, and some will harden inside the bottle if it’s left exposed to open air. Make sure you keep the lids on tight if you’re hoping to re-use the same bottle or container of glue.
Did you know?
Many types of glue need air to properly dry or cure – you can squeeze the air out of their container to prevent it from drying while it’s being stored.