greetings all, I am working on my knees or shoulders attachments on to top of my queen anne legs. basically two butt joints together, I drilled two nails in the joints to keep them from twisting while gluing. my problem is how to glue and clamp these. I am trying to hold a small piece claw shaped to a curved leg surface. nothing flat to clamp on to; and keep the joint tight. I’ve tried several of my various clamps, with out any luck. I can hold the piece by hand to a nice joint. questions is there another option or am I looking for some faster drying glue and sit and hold each of the 8 knees until they dry?? thanks for the help, Chris
Replies
In Normal Vandal's book he
In Normal Vandal’s book he uses two 1 ½ cut nails on the underside. He also uses a nail set to sink them. Not exactly sure what he means by “cut nails”.
Bill
Not sure but I think a "cut
Not sure but I think a “cut nails” is just a very old tapered square nail with a blunt point. I could be wrong? Not think not..
Bill,
Cut nails are the old-fashioned nails that look more like a chisel than a pointed dowel. Vandal may have used them because they are authentic to the period. They are cut from sheet steel, then the heads formed, rather than formed from wire, as today's wire nails are.
Somewhere I read once that a woodworker drove in couple thin nails, then cut them off about just above the surface. Cutting them off left a double bevel on the end, and the 2nd piece of wood was then pressed tight against the 1st piece so that holes were made in the 2nd piece for the protruding nails. Apply glue, then hold together with elastic staps, shrink wrap, band clamp, bar clamp, or something else until glue cures. The nails keep the pieces from shifting, and hopefully won't be exposed when carving finished. At least that's what is lurking in my diminishing gray matter.
This is what I did, cut off nails and pressed them together to keep the wood from shifting.
my problem is still how to hold the piece while the glue dries. the two curved surfaces are not helping my current clamping methods.
Chris
One option is to use the scrap from the stock from which the pieces were cut.
Ralph,
I echo that. That's
Ralph,
I echo that. That's the classic and the most uniform pressure hold.
BB
Don and Chris have given you the best advice so far. Use tape, elastic, stretch wrap etc. all will provide adequate pressure for this application.
How about elastic bands, tape, or shrink wrap?
If you use a hot hide glue you can just use a rub joint. Apply, rub the two parts together to ensure a complete spread and slide into position. In a few seconds you will not need to hold the joint and the glue will hold it. It won't be a really strong joint, but that's not a structural piece in any event.
Snapper,
I would try and leave the parts more square before gluing the blocks on , don't take them as far without the blocks glued on .
or, The spring miter clamps the hog ring style with the special pliers work well on odd shapes also .
try them you'll like them
regards dusty
Chris,
This was traditionally done with hide glue, as a rubbed joint. Using white or yellow glue, I like to apply a little pressure with a "spring" clamp. I have a bunch that I've made by cutting up old upholstery coil springs. These can be sprung open and the pointy ends placed to apply pressure on curved or oddly shaped pieces that are otherwise difficult to clamp.
One shop I worked in drilled and countersunk a screw from the back side of the apron into the knee blocks. This, or a nail or two, is best done after the glue is dry. As others have mentioned, square-shanked nails are period-correct, and somewhat less apt to split such a small shortgrained piece.
Ray
drill a hole along the same path you expect to nail.apply glue,put knee block in position,using a sheet rock type screw,gently turn screw,while aligning knee block.the screw if aligned correctly,will pull the block up and in at the same time.when glue is dry remove screw and install whatever nail you choose to use. Q
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