living in Az, temps do get chilley, but rarely freezing here in central Az. regardless i always heat shop to mid 60s and leave overnite to allow glue to cure, have seen no difference between the two types in regards to drying, can say here in Az. when summer is here, the glue sets so fast due to no humidity one wants to scream sometimes, even with shop cooled i sometimes foul up and don't get it placed in time, its that fast.
best of luck, follow manuf. info generally will keep you on the right path. imo
rj in az

 

My suggestion would be to test some identical glue ups timed 30 min apart, then let the shop cool and test those a day or so later. Remember also that the air temp may be 50 but cold wood will take a lot longer time to warm to 50 than the ambient air so... applications to 30 degree wood will not be a good idea.

You don't say what the project is but I would consider partitioning your work to allow component builds inside where it is warmer and then connect the subcomponents at a later date.
Also, again not knowing the details of the work, you could switch entirely or partly to CA glue which will cure rapidly but it comes with a whole different build technique so if you do not have a lot of experience with CA you might avoid this route.

My instinct is that an hour of cure time on a TB glue up may be enough to not have TB joints fail later but its only my gut reaction.

 

Just leave the heater on, or bring it inside the house overnight to cure.

Cheers,
Brad

 

When gluing up in the winter I bring the project inside. My garage isn’t heated either. I also make sure the glue gets stored inside once the temps start dropping below 60.

 

TBIII states on the label that temps of glue and materials should be above 45 deg.
I believe the type I & II recommend 50+

I use it a lot when I walk into the shop and the overnight temps have dropped the shop temp to 48.

No issues noted with chalking or bonding.

 

I’ve left it on trucks in winter over night and it’s froze. As long as it thaws out and doesnt look or act funny, it should be okay..

 

Not sure you going to find a hard rule on cure time above 50°?

Want the adhesive to fully cure, and that depends on local RH and wood moisture levels. Wet wood in Seattle will need days to cure, while dry wood in Phoenix only needs 12 hours.

Suggest that need to keep joint above chalking temp for 24 hours in average work shop environment? Maybe 48 hours with 14% moisture level wood, and 85% humidity.
In production, used to use RF induction heaters on thick PVA glue joints in Philippines, due ridiculously high RH levels, even when lumber was stored in hot box to keep moisture levels low. The parts came out of the RF chamber steaming hot, and needed to cool down before additional work. Can also elevate the center of the joint above 120° for 30-60 min with heat lamp (used on thinner joints in production), and gain 70-90% adhesive strength. Once the joint is set, and strong enough; then let it cool down at night with no issues.

BTW - Chalking during cure in thin film is different than separation created by freezing crystallization in bulk mass. As long as PVA bottle is fresh will tolerate a short freeze. As it begins to age and self polymerize; freezing creates faster separation when it gets warm; especially with Type 2 or 3 PVA with higher moisture resist polymers in the mix.

Best Luck finding an answer without making and collecting your own empirical data.

 

Thanks for the responses! I hadn't considered cure time varying with temperature and humidity.

Are there strength curves published out there somewhere showing cure times in different conditions? Kind of like this concrete strength curve on Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Age-Compressive_strength_%28concrete-curing%29.png

 

Everything varies with temperature and humidity with glue..

 

If you haven't already, I'd check out the Titebond resource guide

 

I live in Central NJ and have an unheated shop. I use mostly TB III for the water resistance as my primary glue. I keep my glues inside during the winter so they do not freeze. I suppose this also has the benefit of having the glue warm when I apply it.

We get a wide swing of temps, 20 one day and 60 the next, so I get opportunities to hit the shop from time to time. I work when it is 45 and over as it not pleasant on my hands colder than that.

I leave the piece in the clamps overnight and even if it gets down to freezing I have never had a glue joint fail. I think as long as you hit the recommended clamp time (30 minutes for TB III) at or above 50 that's all you need for temperature cure time.

At least that is my experience.

 

Titebond has an excellent online help. Suggest yoy go to them with details of your situation