- Q. Some builders use hot-melt glue for temporary jigs. Can hot-melt glue also be used for a permanent bond? What types of applications make sense for hot-melt glue?
A.The use of hot-melt as a "permanent" adhesive has been debated. Personally, I don’t use it for permanent bonds, but the furniture industry does, using it for a whole array of purposes, including edging and face-lamination of vinyl.
Hot-melt doesn’t penetrate and "wet" a wooden surface the way other glues do, so the bond it forms isn’t as rigid. Applications for which I would consider using hot-melt include gluing fabric and applying melamine edging to particleboard. One thing is for certain: The consumer grades are far different from the industrial grades used by the furniture industry.
— J.J.
