Official Luthiers Forum!

The other day I was bracing up a top and looked around for something
to wipe the glue ooze with (I know, should have been prepared....) and
saw an open box from LMI or Allied etc and it was full to the brim with those
little white packing pieces you get all over the floor when you open a box.
Well, turns out they are very good at absorbing excess glue, just wipe it
down the brace and toss it out. It's very good for getting into smaller places
and taking off a lot of glue. For a final touch, keep a little jar of water around,
dip the packing ball into the water and clean up the area, leaves a very
clean surface.

Best
Bruce

_________________
Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

You are talking packing peanuts right?

Hope ya don't get the bio-degradable ones then! One touch of the wet glue and they turn into mush.

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Joe

Bruce buddy LMI uses special "green" peanuts and I don't mean green in color.

Throw some of them in the sink and add water and watch them disappear - they are biodegradable. Use one for very long to wipe up water based glue and it may disappear in your hand.....

Maybe that's why they work. Very absorbent as they dissolve, and glue is probably just thick enough to keep them from dissolving very fast. As they do, they form themselves to the corner, and when slightly damp, they act as a tiny sponge. Also, you paid for them, why not find a use for them.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

These are white, absorb very well and allow for all the pressure you need to get into small joints. When slightly wet, they
just wick up the remains of the glue you just removed. I know there are some that would not work for this process, they
do dissolve ( cellulose based?) and are probably kinder to the environment. I just got sick of these things being all over
the place so now just stick them in a white trash bag and keep them around for gluing projects.....

_________________
Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

OK, here's a good example of too much information but this might help differentiate peanuts from peanuts.
There are, as you guys know, several types of these things, made of different materials. Some probably last
in land-fills for thousands of years, the others melt away nicely. Here are a couple of photos.
The first shows the type I use, the white ones. They are soft and pliable and do, indeed, melt away if you
get them wet enough. But, as Waddy said, that's the reason they work so well. Dry, they soak up glue
very well. A drop of water, very little, and they clean up tops well.
The green ones tend to be brittle and break in half quite easily. They will probably be around when we are long
gone.
The white ones I've seen seem to have the S shape, maybe that's a good way to tell if you've got right one to try.
How's that for beating a subject into the ground!
Anyway, it helps me, maybe somebody else will get some use out of it. Hope so.

_________________
Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

a little more beating about the foam and the environment, I went to a ladies house whose ground floor had been %90 termite eaten, the most remarkable thing i weill never forget , the termites also ate all the pink "dow" styrofoam insulation . Jody

Beats hunting rags!

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I