Bamboo Glue Brush – Cheap and Pretty Good
My frugality sometimes gets the best of me. I’m too cheap to buy acid brushes to use for spreading glue, even though they only cost 15-25 cents apiece. Every now and then I get some, but I don’t want to take the time to clean them, and I feel guilty if I don’t. I don’t need a glue brush often. Most of the time I lay on a bead from the glue bottle and rub the two pieces of wood together. The other day I was putting together some mortise and tenon joints, and decided I should spread the glue before assembly.
My glue-brush alternate is often a sliver of scrap wood, but I didn’t happen to have the right size handy. What I did have was a box of bamboo skewers. I use them mostly to make ka-bob, but they can be handy around the shop. A buck and a half for a hundred of them is a pretty good deal, but you can find them at restaurant supply places in boxes of 1000 for less than $10. 1000 bamboo skewers will last awhile, even if you make kabob all the time.
The standard skewer works as well as a little stick, but while I was spreading glue in my second mortise, inspiration struck. I picked up my hammer and bashed the end of the skewer. That separates the fibers and spreads them out. The more you pound, the more brush-like it becomes. I turned it a few times as I pounded to even out the bashing.
Total time for this operation is about ten seconds. The result is a nice, stiff brush, small enough to reach into narrow places and just the right consistency for spreading glue evenly. It worked so well that I contemplated going into the bamboo glue brush business. If I could get the right people to jump on the band wagon, this could be the next big thing.
I continued to assemble the project and set my new glue brush aside. I didn’t bother to clean it, and because I bought the box of 1000 (my cost was less than a penny) I didn’t feel guilty about it. The next morning I had a dried out and useless brush, but so what. As I was on my way to throw it in the trash, inspiration struck again.
Only about 1/2″ on the end of the skewer was no good, I still had the rest of the skewer. So I picked up a chisel and cut off the end. If I don’t lose the skewer, I should be able to repeat the process of smash, glue and cut 15 or 20 times before it becomes to short to use. And if I do lose it, I still have hundreds of these kicking around.
Brilliant! Way better than the silicone pastry brushes that glue won’t stick to. But they’re a $1.39
Good idea.
Thanks Bob.
Brilliant bit of frugality Bob. Any Scotsman reading this has a tear in his eye. ;^)
Cheers
I tend to think that the ghost of my grandfather (arrived in the US from Paisley ca. 1910) pokes me now and then with ideas like this.
Bob
I like, thanks for sharing Bob, and Merry Christmas.
Interesting.
Sometime I need a little stiff brush to scrub something. I’ll have to try this.
Sylvain
Great idea, and I consider it a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas to you and your followers. As usual the best ideas are the simplest!
Merry Christmas to you and your family as well.
Bob
I”m a little late to the party here, but have tried this out and it works fantastic. I always have a supply of these in my shop because I use them as decorative dowels in the small boxes that I make, because end grain bamboo looks cool on contrasting woods. I would also like to mention that corn dog sticks work just as well for larger glue brushes, I also have a ready supply of these as I use them in the same way I use the skewers. Thanks for the great tip.