Clamping Miters? – Viewer Question
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.
Wood Movement on a Chess Board? – Viewer Question
This Viewer Question comes from Reggie who writes:
“Marc, first thanks for the wonderful website!!! Second, I am relatively new to woodworking and have a question about wood movement on a chess board I am building for my son. My choice of woods are 3/4″ hard maple with a very little curl, and walnut. My procedure so far was to face and edge joint, thickness plane, and saw 4 2″x 25″x 9/16″ sections of each wood. I then edge glued them to each other using Titebond II. Next was to cross cut the piece into 2 inch sections and flip every other section to give me the checkerboard pattern and re-glue. I have just finished hand planing one face perfectly flat. Now I want to edge/frame the board with mitered 3″ sections of walnut.”
“Now the problem. I currently live in Louisville, Ky but my son lives in Southern Louisiana. I know without a doubt that the climates are VERY different and I need to account for this, but how? He has taken to playing chess with his friends and I know that it would be very appreciated by him, so I don’t want to mess this up! The only advice I have been given is to glue the board I have made so far to some 1/4 inch plywood. Cut a slot in the mitered frame and let the board float in it. Would this work or do you have a better idea? Also, will Titebond II be good enough to hold the walnut through expansion when glued end grain to end grain on the corner miters (I don’t have a biscuit joiner and working for the military doesn’t allow me to afford one right now.) To sum up … HELP!!!!!!!!”
And my response was:
Hey Reggie. I am glad you emailed me BEFORE framing the board. I made a board almost exactly like this one. And I still have it today. I have it as an example of what NOT to do with your projects, lol. I didn’t know too much about wood movement at the time and surrounded the board with a frame anyway. Big mistake. I have posted a video that highlights my mistakes with this board.
Anyway, the idea about the plywood will work, but only if you glue the chess board to the ply at the center. If you glue the whole thing down, you aren’t allowing the wood to expand and contract. So a little glue at the center would be all you should do. Now this plywood trick is a slightly less elegant (but simpler) way to do what I would recommend. What I would do is cut a groove around the perimeter of the chess board. Cut a similar groove around the frame pieces. Then use strips of ply as splines that are cut just short enough to allow some movement all around the board (or at least the two sides that run with the grain). But the fit in terms of thickness of the strips and width of the groove is such that the board doesn’t wobble around. This will allow the chess board to move within the frame. Like I said, a different way of accomplishing the same thing that was recommended to you. But no big piece of ply involved.
And there aren’t many choices beyond that. One way or another, you need to allow the wood to move. And you could always get creative and suspend the board inside the frame using a dowel at each end, and cutting the holes a little extra deep to allow for movement. Kind of like the table top on my end table from a while back. But that completely changes the look. You could also cut your solid stock into veneer, and glue that down to a stable substrate as a method of eliminating wood movement. Something to consider. As for Titebond II, that should be strong enough assuming you have tight fitting joints and good pressure, and its a relatively light duty piece. Hope that helps and good luck!
PVA Glue Expiration? – Question of the Week
This week’s question comes from Knothead. He writes:
“I’ve heard that PVA glue has an expiration date of about 1year after opening. Is this tuely so, or does it just start hardening in the bottle? I bought a gallon jug and didn’t get it used up within a year but it still pours out. Can I use it until it is too thick to pour?”
And here was my reply: “Hey Knothead. The recommended shelf life on PVA glue is generally a way for the company to cover its butt. One year is simply the length of time they will guarantee the quality level. But most glues can go for two years or more if stored consistently at room temp. And fortunately, the glue will show signs of problems when it is bad. So if it still flows nice and smooth and its not clumpy and stringy, you should have no problems using the product. Here is a link to the Titebond FAQ where they cover these topics extensively.
From Titebond: “…as long as products like Titebond Original, Titebond II and Titebond III remain fluid, without drastic change in appearance, they will continue to perform as intended. Most of our yellow and white glues, including Titebond Original and Titebond II, remain usable beyond two years. Should Titebond Original become thick and stringy, or Titebond II turns into an orange colored gel, these changes signify that the glue is no longer usable.”
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