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I a beginning woodworker (picking up on retirement a hobby I enjoyed while in school) and my first major project is a large (50″ x 80″) butcher block table. As a warmup, I made a butcher block cutting board (14 x 18 x 1 3/4 thick”) using alternating strips (1 /3/4 wide) of red and white oak. It looks very nice. I joined the strips with biscuits and glue (Titebond II). I gather from some of the discussions here that this may not be the best choice and that urea formaldehyde may be better for the table. My question is the glued surface … I have a new Forrest WWII blade on my cabinet saw that leaves a glassy smooth and flat surface. Is this the best for glue, or should I try to “rough up” the oak before I clamp it together?
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Charles,
IMO, the edge joints should always be like "glass". After time your blade will no longer leave such perfect cuts and you will need to joint the edges.
A glass smooth edge joint will minimize the glue line, in fact I use TiteBond II and the glue lines are invisible. Wood, and especially oak, is porous enough to absorb the glue. The most common mistake in edge gluing is not applying enough glue. You always want to have "squeeze out" along with uniform clamping pressure as this insures a good bond. To remove the excess I wait until the glue has skimmed over and use a plastic putty knife to "peel" the excess off. FWIW.
Dano
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