A woodworking adhesive composition prepared by a two stage emulsion polymerization procedure wherein the first stage comprises the step of emulsion polymerizing vinyl acetate with 0.1 to 6% by weight of a post-crosslinking monomer in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol to produce a polyvinyl alcohol stabilized copolymer having a Tg within the range of +10.degree. to +40.degree. C. and containing no pre-crosslinking monomers and the second stage comprises the step of emulsion polymerizing methyl methacrylate to produce a methyl methacrylate homo- or copolymer containing at least 75% by weight methyl methacrylate and having a Tg within the range of +50.degree. to +120.degree. C., further characterized in that the ratio of the polymer produced in the first stage to the polymer produced in the second stage is within the range of 10:1 to 10:6 and wherein the first stage polymer and second stage monomer mixture are not equilibrated prior to the second stage polymerization.