Customer Reviews

Gorilla Glue 50004 Adhesive, 4-Ounces

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

1) Elmers "Ultimate High Performance" is also a Polyurethane glue and it's as good as Gorilla (As far as I can tell) but cheaper. also used the PL brand glue and can't tell any notable difference between the three. Have not used Sumo and from what I understand it sets up faster and as a result apparently has a much more limited shelf life (this is generally not a good thing - see item #2)

2) This has a limited shelf life and you probably don't need as much as you think. PU glue foams up and you use a LOT less than other types of glue. 4 oz should be more than enough for most people, 8 oz is a BIG bottle - I can't even imagine buying the 16 oz bottle. PU Glues suck moisture out of the air so unless you plan on using it up within a year or two, a LOT is going to go to waste. Don't ask me how I know this.

3) PU Glue is FANTASTIC for lots of things but woodworking glues are still better for woodworking. They are stronger and you can't clean PU glues up with water the way you can even with the waterproof Titebond products. Also if you use biscuits you will have to moisten them separately to get them to swell.

4) KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN AND ANIMALS! Although the glue itself is not toxic and is food safe once cured, it can kill your pets - like antifreeze it apparently tastes good to animals and will swell and harden inside the digestive tract creating a blockage. There is NO antidote and surgery is typically the only solution. There have been MANY cases - just search Google "Dog Gorilla Glue" Wear gloves (rubber or vinyl) and use lots of wax paper.

5) Wood glues (Like Titebond II) are still better for wood to wood bonding. Fine Woodworking did a test (Issue #192) and found Polyurethane glues to be about half as strong in this application. Search "HowStrongisYourGlue_FWW" for the article

If you've found this review helpful, please let me know!

I purchased this Gorilla Glue to see if I could salvage a resin molded rocking horse decoration, about 10 inches tall, but heavy in weight. I've tried many other products, including super glues and super gels, to glue the resin horses leg back to the rocker bottom to no avail until I tried this product. The horses legs wanted to pull toward each other and it took some force to keep them anchored to the rocker bottom, where they original were spaced. My biggest challange was finding something to wedge between the front two legs to set the right spacing for the glue to dry in place. I was concerned that even if the glue dried, would it be strong enough to be secure when I removed the wedge holding the legs in place. I followed the directions on the bottle, moistening the pieces to be glued, waited the 4 hours, and it turned out perfect, very sturdy! I've also tried this product on a ceramic tea cup and is worked very well, and on wood is works probably the best. I had some miniature wooden cars where the roof broke off, on so I wet the wood down really good, applied the glue, watched the foam expand, checked the setting every 20 minutes and wiped any extra foam off, after the four hours dry time, it was as good as new. I've tried using this glue on plastic products but haven't had any luck with that. I've had some childrens' toys break with plastic and rubber surfaces and the glue doesn't seem to want to stick or set. The foaming is kind of a pain, and you might want to monitor that on your project, but if it works well that's something I'm willing to overlook. I was pleased that there is no odor at all using this glue, even when first applied. Overall, this glue works really well on most surfaces, and will be a good alternative when other glues don't perform. I don't think there's any one product that does job exceptionally.

I think this glue is best used for porous surfaces like stone, wood, drywall, foam, rug material, cloth and brickwork. It dries brittle, with practically no elasticity, so I don't recommend it for automotive applications where there is a lot of mechanical vibration. It also takes longer than 24 hours to dry, and it foams and leaves a lot of run-off. So if you have holes or voids to fill, this glue is perfect. I consider Gorilla Glue to be the new improved, waterproof version of white glue. The manufacturer claims this is the world's strongest glue, but I don't think so. And it's not an all-purpose glue like Household Goop, or The Welder.

Pros:
-Really tough glue
-More flexible than super glue
-Waterproof
-Works on many surfaces, metals, wood, ceramics, some plastics, etc. Best for wood applications.

Cons:
-It expands, drips and produce tiny bubbles during the drying process. Definitely not for repairing your Lladros or others applications that require hairline precision.
-Glue is not clear but yellow. Very noticeable, not good if you really want a clean finish.
-Make sure you really clean the tip of the bottle or it will be hard to open and use it the next time
-Expensive

"Gorilla Glue" has become one of the most used "tools" in our house. We have used it to repair wooden chairs, fix a wooden medicine chest, glue soles back on to sneekers, fill cracks in a wall, and at least half a dozen other fixes in the past month.

Here are my observations:

* You must read the directions!
* Surface needs to be damp for the glue to work
* Use clamps when possible
* It expands a *LOT*, use with caution or you might accidently glue your project to the table as it expands overnight! This happend to me :-)
* This is strong glue and hard to get off once it is on a surface

Highly recommended!

After having a bottle of Gorilla Glue sitting around unopened for over a year, I decided to use it on three repair projects. The first was for multiple joints on a flimsy Ikea Malm chest of drawers. The second project was the reattachment of a shoe sole. Both projects were successful. However, the significant expansion of this polyurethane adhesive caused quite a mess. This degree of expansion (~4X), while beneficial in many regards, is something every user should anticipate. As an experiment, I also tried Gorilla Glue on third item - a plastic handle of a pair of scissors. This was a failure as the glue didn't hold for more than a few uses.

Gorilla glue was particularly effective on repairing my Ikea chest of drawers that had multiple broken joints. Where these joints had failed around the metal fasteners, chips of particle board broke free. Most were too small to recover and reattach. The expansion of polyurethane filled the voids. In fact, I which I used Gorilla glue when I first assembled it as the breaks probably would have never occurred in the first place.

The second repair project was for a shoe with a sole that had delaminated. After being gouged by the only shoe repair shop within a reasonable distance of my residence, I decided to do this repair myself. My concern originally was that I didn't have a hydraulic press to provide adequate compression during the drying process. Fortunately, I was able to find two hardware clamps that worked well. At the time, I didn't realize how important this was as Gorilla Glue expands so much that without mechanical clamps, too much polyurethane would have formed between the sole and body of the shoe. Hence, I was surprised to find a fairly significant mess the next morning as the expanded glue leaked out and dried onto the sides of the sole. While this mess was an irritation, the sole had remained firmly attached.

The third repair was with a cheap pair of scissors with plastic handles. As I expected, the bond didn't hold. Presumably, Gorilla Glue is more suited to porous materials.


Summary of Results:

1) Ikea Malm chest of drawers: Gorilla Glue worked well for the repair of the broken particle board and the securing of the metal pegs in the still intact sections. Some mess due to the expansion. Two weeks later and it is still rock solid.
2) Repair of shoe sole: Major mess due to the significant expansion but sole is still attached very securely. The yellowish adhesive that was squeezed out to the perimeter is very noticeable as it dripped down the sides and expanded further.
3) Repair of plastic scissor handle: Didn't hold. It appears that lack of a large, porous area made Gorilla glue a poor choice, which is what expected in the first place. Will try a cyanoacrylate alternative.



Pros:
Strong
Adheres to multiple substrates
Expansion can strengthen bonds by filling voids

Cons:

Expansion can create quite a mess
Bottle hole clogs easily
Doesn't seem to work well with plastics

easy to use,stores well, sandable, stainable, bonds extremely well. a truly excellent product for wood. I am now expanding my uses to other materials and find it excellent also. I highly recommend the product.

Mike says:
November 4, 2009 at 11:15 am

I think Gorilla Glue is crap. I made a repair with it and it failed costing me a job and a client. Sure it sticks to wood but what glue doesn't.
You want to do the job right use wood glue for wood and epoxy for anything else that really needs a good bond.
Seriously I used this stuff for numerous glue jobs and it expands, foams up and really does not stick very well.
I am 49 years old and was a professional carpenter for 7 years. I own a business that used to repair speakers and am quite experienced in the use of glue. Nothing sticks like a good epoxy.

As some have noted here, I have used several polyurethane adhesives in the past, and have found them to be capable of covering far more tough-to-do job applications than just about any other glue that is marketed to the public. Some have complained that this poly glue expands and makes a big super- gooey tough to remove mess. Really? They all do! Clamp, staple and WATCH the curing process to have a measure of control. Remove the curing excess with a solvent. I use gasoline or spray carburetor cleaner on a rag to clean the mess off the repaired item and myself, but your Sunday school teacher would advise to use some safer item that doesn't work as well. A clamping tip that I discovered myself: Use a few dabs of super glue to allow quick adhesion of your joining materials which simplifies clamping pieces that want to separate. Super glue cures VERY quickly and is compatible with Gorilla and other polys. Just try to keep it somewhat separate for a stronger bond. Another Tip: Use a heavy carpenter's stapler to join the peeling soles of athletic shoes that you have glued. Needle nose pliers will remove the staples after about 6-8 hours.

I purchased a 4 oz. bottle at my local hardware chain store. I used it for two repairs at one sitting. It did not hold a slightly separated sole on a pair of sneakers. I thought this would be a simple job but the "gorilla" was more like a little pet monkey. However, the glue did work well in the other repair. I understand that no product is made to perform its best on all surfaces so I give it an average grade for performance since my admittedly limited experience yielded 50/50 results.

My problem lies in the extremely short shelf life. After just the one use described above, I sealed the bottle per the instructions by squeezing out all of the air before tightening the cap down. When I tried to use the bottle for another repair 2 months later, the entire contents had hardened. I called customer service and they told me I should repeat the same process of removing the air before tightly capping the bottle but this time, I should store the bottle upside down so that any possible hardening would remain at the bottom of the bottle and the useable glue would be accessible at the tip. Thinking this was a fluke, I bought another bottle but this time it was the 2 oz. size. It sat in the original box, upside down on my home office desk. When I needed it about 10 weeks later I opened it only to find another useless hardened mass. The factory seal had never even been broken yet Gorilla Glue had screwed me again.

I reluctantly give it even a one star rating. I don't care how good the glue MAY be if it dries up so fast that you only get one use per bottle or in the case of my 2nd attempt NO USE AT ALL? Unless you plan to use the entire contents (or at least a good portion of it) within a couple of weeks of purchasing it AND at one sitting, don't waste your money! I've already thrown out two bottles of Gorilla Glue and one was never even touched. I won't be buying a 3rd.