I have a job that I laminate up 8/4 kiln dried clear Western Red Cedar boards into blocks approximately 3.5″ x8″x5-8′. I joint one face of the boards and then plane the other. I currently use a hardware store house brand pva type glue that I spread with a notched piece of hardboard. I clamp the boards together using clamps both sides of the boards about every 8″. I then leave the boards clamped up for a minimum of 12 hours usually 24.
The problem I am having is sometimes the even after 24 hours of curing my glue joint will open up as I am edge jointing and ripping the glued up block. If I then re clamp the block I get a little bit of wet glue squeeze out. I have tried more expensive pva type glues (titebond and Lee valley glue) and the problem is much worse. I regularly glue up blocks of White pine, Mahogany, Sapele, and Poplar, the Cedar is the only wood I have had a problem with. The Cedar boards are used in an industrial process that glue colour does not matter. Would a Resicorinol glue be a better choice for this gluing?
Replies
John,
Thank you for the question.
Are you gluing the face of one board to the edge of the other board? My initial research suggests that gluing cedar requires a lot of clamp pressure. Posts in our boards, show that white and yellow glue are traditionally used for cedar.
Could you possibly upload an image of the joint? That would help us give you a good answer. Also, are you hand planing the face of one board or using a machine?
Sincerely,
Gerald La Starza
Fine Woodworking
I am gluing face to face. The last ones I did I glued up three blocks of wood and had a problem with one of them, it had 16 cabinet clamps clamped hard enough that some left depressions in the wood, most of these were Bessey heavy duty clamps not light duty calmps with small pads.
I have to glue one up next week and I could take a picture of this glue up.
John Newman
Newman Forge & Pattern
J,
Sounds like you've got the right clamps and glue from my research.One fact that I did find is that cedar absorb a lot of glue and requires extra in application.A digital image will give us a better opportunity to investigate further.Sincerely,
Gerald
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