Tabletop glue up question

[Tom Porter]

I'm building a table out of reclaimed cedar fencing and am ready to glue up the top. I'm gluing the strips face to face. What I'd like to do is apply the glue to the strips, clamp them, pin them with brads and then remove the clamps, add the next glued strip, clamp, pin, etc. However, I suspect that even pinned, the joint will not be tight enough if the clamps are not left on until the glue has set. Should I just forgo the brads and glue several strips and clamp? I will probably have to do so in sections because I know I wouldn't be able to get the entire process done properly within the working time of the glue.

In case you hadn't figured, I'm still pretty inexperienced in woodworking. This project is much more about learning techniques and using some tools I have little experience with than it is about the final product.

table top.jpg

[Bob Michaels]

Looks like you have maybe 50 strips. I would glue them up in groups of 10 and then glue the 5 groups together the next day. Use a cheap 1" chip brush or just a piece of cardboard to spread the glue quickly. If you have a planer, send them through in the groups of 10 before you do the master glue up. If you don't have enough clamps make up "u" shaped clamps out of 2 x 4's about 1 1/2" wider than the 10 pieces and use shims to tighten things up. Do the same later for the master glue up if you don't have enough clamps the size you need.

[Andrew Hughes]

I also agree with Bob glue up fast and bundles that will fit in your planer.I also use cheapo foam roller that comes with a paint tray.Roll it out like paint.Dont be afraid to thin your glue a bit to spread it faster,you'll also get a longer open time.Good luck Aj

[Roy Turbett]

+1 on what Bob said. You might also consider using Titebond III because it has a longer open time.

[Joe O'Connor]

When clamping a soft wood like cedar it is important to protect the edges from your clamps. Big dents from your clamps on each section will turn into big gaps in your final glue up.

[Randy Red Bemont]

I agree. Glue up in bundles then glue the bundles up the next day. If you need more open time with the glue, I would use liquid hide glue that comes in the little brown bottle. This will give you much more working time. You could probably do two bundles of 25 this way. The only downfall is you need to keep them clamped longer. Good luck. You'll do fine.

Red

[Peter Quinn]

Do you have a jointer? If so glue up in widths as wide as your jointer can handle. You need to have a few calls running perpendicular to the face of each section to keep those slippery pieces from scissoring, and pads on each edge to protect from clamp damage. I'd get a 3" roller head and cut a 9" foam roller into 3 sections, use that to spread glue quickly. Remember to cover any caul surfaces that may touch glue with celofane tape or wax them so they don't get glued on.

[John Schweikert]

Use cauls:
https://www.google.com/search?q=caul...sm=91&ie=UTF-8

[Prashun Patel]

If this is your first time, I wouldn't even do bundles. I would start at the center and glue one strip to each side. Let it dry for about 1 hour, then come back and add another strip to each outside edge. Repeat. This will allow the glue to set up enough to keep the center bundle from moving while you manipulate the outside pieces.

This will allow you to keep the strips flush easier. Also, it allows the pieces to be brought together tighter if there are tiny imperfections in the jointing.

It will also make it less nerve-wracking to get everything in place before the glue sets.

One more thing, do you have long cauls? If you don't have a million clamps, then you should invest in making some. Without even clamping pressure, despite your best jointing efforts, it's likely you'll have a gap somewhere in that massive glue up. Google 'cambered cauls' or 'clamping cauls'

[Tom Porter]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm definitely going to use cauls. But as I've read the posts here and thought about it, I realized I had forgotten something. It may not be obvious but the strips are of varied length so there will be end joints as well. I don't think I'll be able to clamp them end to end and I'm concerned that the end joints won't be tight enough. Any thoughts on that?

[Andrew Hughes]

Yea the end joints in the field of the table will need to be dowled together.That would be the easiest and simple way to keep them from moving too much.Your probably gonna see some gaps and thick glue lines.But what the heck it may not win you any awards but it's still going to be a table that will serve its purpose.So I say go for it.Aj

[Jerry Miner]

I don't want to step on Andrew's toes, but I don't think you need to dowel the end joints. Just butt them up tight--you can tap the ends as you tighten the clamps to keep them snug. The long-grain joints will keep the end-to-end connections together. I've done it. Works fine.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm with Jerry. I made a workbench from maple and a counter top from cherry this way. I half-lapped and pinned the cherry joints but did nothing but butt the maple pieces together. Both look fine. It does appear in these two cases that the side pieces keep the butt joints honest.

This is another reason to glue up one layer at a time. Keeping your butts honest will take a little effort. After the glue sets enough to keep it in place (about an hour) do another layer. You'll end up with a slab that requires far less clean up than if you try to do it all at once. Gluing up a large slab in one session is not for the faint of heart.

[Tom Porter]

So I thought I'd post a follow up. I appreciated all of the advice and used a lot of it. I made 4 sets of 24" cauls and a set of 48" cauls. Using the 24" cauls, I glued up the strips in sets of 8. The first couple were tricky but after a few, I got a little better at them. I did a reasonable job with cauls of getting them flat, though not perfect. But working in sections allowed me to run them through the planer when I was done. Then I glued 3 sections together, then another 3, then glued these two larger sections together, sandwiching the remaining small section between them, using the 48" cauls. Again, it was an ok job. I removed most of the glue squeeze out before it had completely hardened. As you might expect, during all the glue stages, there was a lot of glue clean up. Once the final glue up had sat overnight, I took a hand plane to it and cleaned it up a lot. This went better than expected; I'm not very good with a plane, in part because I struggle to get them sharpened and set up properly. But it worked pretty well in this case. Then I filled in some knot holes with epoxy mixed with coffee grounds. I'm still in the process of sanding it but so far, I'm pretty happy with it.

Now all I have to do is decide what kind of base I'm going to build and how I'm going to finish the thing. Anyway, I appreciate all the help.

[Chris Padilla]

No pics, Tom?! No pics...didn't happen!