Hello Forum,
I could use some advice on the best way to glue-up some cherry boards for a cradle I am building. Both ends of the cradle are going to be solid, each about 2 feet square. Would I be better off gluing up each smaller section separately (ease of clamping, etc.)? Or should I glue up a 2 foot by 4 foot section, and then cut it in half.
Thanks for your help.
Replies
If you have the clamps and the means to cut in half by all means do it in one glue up.
If you are gluing more than two boards together with simple joined edges, then I'd say:
Start with just two boards. Clamp them starting at one end and try to keep the joint smooth as you progress with clamps to the other end. If you can put every even clamp on top and the odd ones on bottom even better. When that joint is dry unclamp, rejoint one edge to remove any damage the clamps may have left, then glue the first two (now one) to the third. Repeat until you've got a wide enough panel for your project.
If you are using biscuits, dowels, or a "Z" shaper-cut glue joint, then you should be able to glue up several boards at one time with ease. But I still recommend having half the clamps on top, and perhaps using wedges under the clamp bars to make sure the panel glues up flat.
Also, alternate the end grain on each board: cup up, cup down, cup up...
I leave my boards a little thick, then glue up to the width limits of my planer. Then plane the wide panel down to final thickness. This way any minor slippage in the glue seams can be elimimated easily. If I need a panel wider than my planer's limits, I'll still make planer-wide segments to plane to final thickness, then very carefully glue those segments into the final wide panel.
4DThinker ;-)
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