Which Wood Glue Brand Wins?
This head-to-head test of 8 wood glue options has the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video. Shoppers cross-shopping titebond original wood glue, wood adhesive, wood adhesive glue and woodworking glue land here for the head to head that settles it.
Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue
Price shown in test: $6.99
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Tensile strength dry (3 samples)
- 1Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue4020 lbs
up some to 5370 lbs, down slightly to 4950 lbs
- 2Elmer's Max Wood Glue Max4370 lbs
down slightly to 4070 lbs, down a little more to 2450 lbs
- 3Elmer's Original Carpenter's Wood Glue4960 lbs
even better at 5960 lbs (narrator says this nearly destroyed the new crane scale), down quite a bit to 2950 lbs
- 4Titebond II5670 lbs
down a little to 2115 lbs, up some to 3325 lbs (narrator notes this third sample's test piece broke, or it would have been higher)
- 5Titebond Original4535 lbs
down a lot to 2525 lbs, only 550 lbs on the third
- 6Gorilla Wood Glue1580 lbs
up quite a bit to 4145 lbs, back down to 2210 lbs
- 7Elmer's Craft Glue Glue-All (multi-purpose)525 lbs
up quite a bit to 2415 lbs, up again to 3580 lbs
- 8Flex Glue650 lbs
up slightly to 750 lbs, down slightly to 555 lbs
Shear strength (3 samples)
- 1Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue1500
45 pounds on the first sample (garbled caption, likely 1,545 lbs, kept verbatim), up a little to 1835 lbs on the second, up to 2235 lbs on the third
- 2Elmer's Max Wood Glue Max2050 lbs
on the first sample, down slightly to 1935 lbs, best on the third at 2100 and 75 pounds (garbled caption, likely 2,175 lbs, kept verbatim)
- 3Elmer's Original Carpenter's Wood Glue1675 lbs
down slightly to 1375 lbs, up a little to 1465 lbs on the third
- 4Titebond II1825 lbs
down slightly to 1655 lbs, down slightly again to 1585 lbs
- 5Titebond Original1250 lbs
up a little to 1685 lbs, down slightly to 1260 lbs
- 6Gorilla Wood Glue1635 lbs
down slightly to 1560 lbs, down 5 lbs to 1555 lbs (narrator calls these very consistent results, finishing fourth in the shear recap)
- 7Elmer's Craft Glue Glue-All (multi-purpose)1395 lbs
nearly as good at 1275 lbs, up slightly to 1535 lbs
- 8Flex Glue825 lbs
750 5 pounds on the second (garbled caption, likely 755 lbs, kept verbatim), remained at 755 lbs on the third
Tensile strength after 24hr water soak (3 samples)
- 1Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue1230 lbs
up to 1525 lbs, up to 2205 lbs
- 2Elmer's Max Wood Glue Max3575 lbs
down to 1050 lbs, up to 1575 lbs
- 3Elmer's Original Carpenter's Wood Glue2915 lbs
way down to only 20 lbs on the second, did great on the third at 2430 lbs
- 4Titebond II540 lbs
up to 1495 lbs, up to 3695 lbs
- 5Titebond Original3350 lbs
way down to 1,000 165 lbs (garbled caption, likely 1,165 lbs, kept verbatim), third sample failed before the test could begin
- 6Gorilla Wood Glue3535 lbs
way down to 535 lbs, up quite a bit to 2160 lbs
- 7Elmer's Craft Glue Glue-All (multi-purpose)1110 lbs
up slightly to 1180 lbs, down a lot to only 15 lbs on the third
- 8Flex Glue705 lbs
down quite a bit to 185 lbs, up again to 845 lbs
All measurements (1 more)+
Recap
- 1Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue
narrator states its lowest single water-soak sample still delivered over 1,000 lbs of tensile strength, alongside Elmer's Max
- 2Elmer's Max Wood Glue Maxnot tested
- 3Elmer's Original Carpenter's Wood Gluenot tested
- 4Titebond IInot tested
- 5Titebond Originalnot tested
- 6Gorilla Wood Gluenot tested
- 7Elmer's Craft Glue Glue-All (multi-purpose)not tested
- 8Flex Gluenot tested
How it was tested
- tensile strength test, dry, 3 samples per brand
- shear strength test, dry, 3 samples per brand
- tensile strength test after 24 hour water soak, 3 samples per brand
- real-world load test: a cut pole repaired with the top glue supporting the weight of a tractor
