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O. S. Cutting Board: Glue-Up

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This group of strips then get glued together and clamped up tight for the night. Because the board is wider than my surface planer, I leave one glue joint near the center unglued so I can surface the two halves, then glue them together afterward.

GluingWhen using black iron pipe clamps I lay a strip of masking tape along the pipe to prevent glue squeeze-out from reacting with the oil in the pipe and causing black marks that will run deep into the wood and be difficult to sand out.

For cutting boards I use a Type III polyurethane glue because of it's water resistance and strength.  This new generation of poly glues does not foam out all over the place like the first ones did, and they don't turn my hands black for a week if some glue gets on them, yet they are at least as strong as the first generation poly glues were.

I use a small stiff brush to apply the glue.  Getting the right amount is a matter of experience; too little and the joint won't bond properly, too much and it just comes gooshing out all over.  When in doubt, go heavy and do the clean-up, you will learn how much is enough after you've done it a few times.  A perfect glue joint will just have little balls of glue (or what I call glue pips) standing above the surface of the wood when it's dry.  If you have a solid ridge, cut back a little next time, if you have no squeeze out at all, the joint may not hold, use more next time.

You must work quickly, this glues working time is short, then it starts to dry out before the bond is completed.

ClampingWhen all the joints have been glued, use a straight edge or fence to align the cut ends of your strips and square the assembly to the fence, then start snugging up the clamps.  Tap the outer strips with a mallet after some tension is put on them to be sure they are not drawing up away from the pipe -- a problem with this style of clamp.  The really expensive parallel jaw clamps don't do this, but for the same money I can buy three pipe clamps for what one parallel jaw clamp costs, and if you know what to watch for, these will do the job just fine.

Because these strips are under all manner of tension in this glue-up we will allow the assembly to sit in the clamps overnight so the glue reaches maximum strength before we remove them; we don't want anything to pop loose.


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