Trent has a question about clamps:
I am working on a set of cabinet doors with mitered corners and I am wondering what you have found to be the best clamps? I am not having much luck with the glue process using a set of cheap corner clamps that I picked up praying that they would work. I am new to wood working and have not put together a collection of good clamps but I have no problem spending the money to get anything that works like they are supposed to. I hope you have time to respond it would be very much appreciated.
P.S. I love your web site and it has been very helpful and entertaining.
And this was my response:
Hey Trent. I have never been a fan of those dedicated corner clamps. I just never get good results. For me, I get the best results doing a two part process. First off, I like to use a biscuit, dowel, or domino at each joint whenever possible. This helps keep the pieces from moving vertically during the glueup and takes a lot of the stress out of the equation. Not to mention it makes the mitered joint stronger. After adding glue, I use a band clamp to pull everything together. This is the one I use is made by Bessey (pictured left).
Once the frame is secure, I put the whole assembly on a set of clamps. I place two in one direction and two in the other direction, keeping them as close to the corners as possible. Using clamping pressure, I can then tweak the fit so that everything is lined up perfectly. Sometimes I use an additional clamp vertically on the joints themselves to make sure the pieces are sitting flush with one another (a nice alternative to using biscuits as I mentioned previously).
If you can, try to use a slower setting glue like Titebond Extend or 30 minute epoxy for this. The joint will be stronger and you’ll have plenty of working time. Most times its the fact that we’re rushing that makes miter glueups so difficult. Hope that helps. Good luck.
21 Responses to “Clamping Miters?”
Like any tools cheap means you will have to buy another later! I have learned this the expensive way! Get a good set of parallel clamps ( 40-50$) and a good set of strap clamp and you should be alright. Cheaper is never better ( with a few exceptions ) when it come to tools and woodworking. Now be wise on what you spend your hard earned dough on because there are a lot of cash grab offers out there.
For a really low tech solution, use hide glue to stick two ‘ears’ to the mitre pieces and then use ordinary clamps to pull the mitre joint together.
For the ears I use some mitre offcuts – if you stick them to the outside of the mitre pieces you get a long grain to long grain joint and a clamping direction exactly perpedicular to the mitre glue line.
To make sure the ears come off easily, you can put some paper between the ears and the mitre pieces when you glue s it is a weak joint which will easily break off.
Strap clamps are the way to go for sure. Tape works in a pinch. For the order of picture frames I just completed, I did the proto with tape. The others that followed were clamped with a cheaper version of what is shown above. Mine has a regular ratchet mechanism and metal corners. Worked better than I expected.
FWIW, one design criteria I now try to follow is to avoid miters whenever possible. As this thread helps illustrate, it’s a very fussy joint that’s not particularly strong, and takes quite a bit of effort to do really well. And once you go to all that trouble, what do you have? A pretty boring joint, and one that you see on many run-of-the-mill mass-produced pieces of factory furniture (albeit usually done badly).
This is actually a question I was wondering about last week. I had tried using a clamp set my father-in-law owned, but it just seemed to hold everything in place, and not apply any pressure on the joint. When it set, the only thing that really seemed to be of any strength were the biscuits I used (and boy do I love my joiner). I browsed through some of my books and found a ton of jigs that can be built for doing the same thing, so if you are interested you could try the Proven Shop Tips and also More Proven Shop Tips from Taunton Press, since I don’t have the room to show all the jigs.
I like the good old lie them flat outside up cover with packing tape, flip, glue and roll up method. Works for me.
Mike
Haha. I agree with BarryO. Miters are a pain. But I would say as an alternative to using biscuits or dowels, you could use a spline. It’ll add strength, help somewhat with the alignment and if you let it show through on the corner it can look pretty nice.
I like to tape my miters end to end, roll the frame up to check for a square fit. I carefully run the taped frame through my table saw spline fixture. With spline stock ready I brush glue on the face of each miter, roll up the taped frame, glue and insert my splines, trim them close with a hand saw (you can do this at the dry fit stage to shorten the open time) and then place my strap clamp around the whole assembly. After the assembly has dried, I flush the splines up with a hardwood sanding block.
While some may like to shy away from mitered joints, I feel that all joinery has its place, A properly constructed miter joint has plenty of strength to last in the right application, although the load tests in certain publications show that a half lap and others may hold up better under a hydraulic stress gauge. Often I’ll add two plugs through each miter stopping short of the face, to lock the spline into the joint. Just my $.02. Oh and the advise on the extended set glue, even Titebond III, is spot on. I use it regularly here in Tucson. blah blah blah.
for a slightly cheaper alternative to the bessey I use the no name brand from woodcraft it is about $19 each and is very very similar to the bessey. I have used it many times for picture frames and such and never had a problem with it
#141115 Corner Band Clamp
hope this helps
Marc – I agree with your assembly method and comment on being in a hurry.
Get the strap clamp or make a jig to hold the doors, use biscuits or dowels in the corner to aid in alignment, and just take your time.
Hi Trent I don’t know if this will be of any use but if you have a few doors to make I used a layout jig consisting of a 3/4 inch ply baseboard to which I glued & screwed a length of 1″x 2″ along one edge I then took the long rails from the doors & used them lengthways as a spacer to set a 1″x 2″rail at the other end of the board once in place lay your narrow rails alongside these 1″x2″ & pull the long rails in with standard clamps as you increase pressure on the long side rails the mitre has the effect of trying to force the narrow rails out & they tighten up against the 1″x 2″ & You get a nice tight mitre joint consistantly all you need are 2 sash cramps per door.
Just make sure the pieces are all cut to the same length & it works great. By the way if you do use this method put some paper on the baseboard so that the squeeze out from the joint doesnt stick the frame to the board. Lastly I added a 3rd piece of 1″x 2″ using a framing square at right angles to the other 2 pieces creating a kind of 3 sided fence, it’s quicker for gluing & automatically squares the frame. Hope you try it it’s worth the effort It still works with biscuits
Best regards
Trevor
I use a fantastic tool for clamping picture frame miters.
You can see the video of it in use here. If you search the web or ebay … you can still find some for sale. It is the best tool for this type of clamping IMHO.
http://www.panofish.net/how-to.....ure-frame/
Serendipitous… I just got an email from woodpeckers…
The gross stabil clamp is now readily available again and it’s on sale.. I highly recommend it!
http://www.woodpeck.com/multiangleclamp.html
This is the same clamp I use in my video:
http://panofish.net/how-to-build-a-picture-frame/
Hi, I think you need a good set of parallel clamps and a set of strap clamp and hopefully this can do your work.
I am in the same situation. Just bought a band clamp before reading this thread and glad Marc uses it since I wasn’t sure it will work. I also like the procedure in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P9pAeti57Y
They are making picture frame but pretty much same thing.
Doesn’t get any cheaper then rubber bands, and I saw big fat ones at Harbor Freight (sorry I am beginner so still try to go as cheap as I can :-) ) today.
P.S I like mitered joints they look … eh … classy, but they are a pain, I am yet to make tight one on all corners.
For certain things I just nail a few blocks into the table around the workpiece, then hammer a wedge shaped block of wood sideways between the workpiece and the block, if that makes sense. I saw it on a woodworker’s website.. but I can’t remember his name right now.
You can get equal pressure on each joint by tapping the wedges. In order to hold the workpiece down, I’ve made wedges that overlay the workpiece a little, and also go under a lip on the stationary block. Not sure if I’m explaining this clearly. This could also be a common trick – I’m a total novice, but it’s worked out for me as a really cheap and effective way to clamp some things
I am building a trunk (19″ wide x 36″ long x 17″ deep) and in the corners I’m using 1″ x 2″ strips of purple heart with miters so the corners are clean. What would you recommend for clamping technique on this? I was thinking of attaching the purple heart to the mahogany the then doing the miter and gluing. But would it be better to miter and glue the purple heart and then attach it to the mahogany? Or some derivation there of :-) As you can see I’m confused! Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Hey Craig. Not sure I understand what you’re doing. Are you just gluing one a cross-grain strip of purpleheart to the end of the panel. If so, yes I would definitely glue the strip to the panel first, and then cut the miter. Should save you some work since you are cutting both pieces at once. But there is a bigger issue that concerns me here. If you are using solid mahogany for your panel, you really shouldn’t glue on a cross grain strip. That will constrict the movement of the panel and could result in disaster when the panels expand and contract.
Thanks very much for the reply and I cannot believe I hadn’t thought of what I was about to do :-( Gluing up the end grain that is. Above is a very crude representation of what I have in mind. These two parts are the purple heart with a 45* miter and are 19″ in length. You can see where the mahogany panels, which are the same thickness, are going to be joining.
My plan is to give this as a Christmas gift and I’ve maybe spent too much time laying out inlay that I’m doing on the lid, and I’m feeling a little nervous about completing the project in time. You have no idea how much I appreciate your response and stopping me from making a HUGE mistake. Do you have an idea about how I can “redesign” the corners. Should I do away with the purple heart here and just do large box joints? I just had a thought, don’t box joints also restrict lateral movement? I know there done all the time so maybe not. I don’t have enough purple heart (or the money to get more) to frame in the mahogany and use spacers so it can ‘float’ so that option will have to be out. Any ideas and help are greatly appreciated.
Craig
PS, I have spent many hours over the last week or so watching your videos and reading you site. It is very well done and very informative. I also love your sense of humor. Keep up the great work and thanks again.
I clicked submit and saw that my “digital diagram” got scrambled. Basically the purple heart is 1″x2″x19″ and I was going to route a 1/4″ slot down the middle and then cut a mating notch on the mahogany. These two surfaces will end up flush. Each corner will be made up, or WERE going to be made up, of two pieces of the purple heart joined by the 45* miter.
Hope this helps you understand my screwed up thinking :-)
Thanks yet again.
Hey Craig. No worries about the diagram. Your description was good enough. Ultimately, there’s just no way you can do that unless you run the purplerheart’s grain direction the other way. In other woods, the same grain orientation as the panels. I think box joints would be a great idea, but of course this doesn’t really give you the look you’re after. And no, box joints don’t restrict movement at all. The wood simply expands and contracts together as one. This is how all solid casework works. As long as all the panels have the grain running the same way, its all good.
Now one alternative you might consider is using plywood for the panels. If you do that, you can run those purpleheart strips vertically and you won’t have any issues with movement. But of course you’ll either have to veneer your own mahogany panels or buy some fairly expensive plywood.