Mike Circo
07-06-2009, 11:19 AM
Good news is that the glue-up of my son’s computer desk ended up just fine.
The bad news is that it was a stress inducing, “arggh” inducing moment.
The setup:
I’m trying loose tenon joints for the first time. No reason, just trying something different and wanted to see how it went together. So that leaves me with a lot of mortises, lots of tenon pieces, lots of legs, stiles, rails and panels. I smartly labeled everything on the end grain so it wouldn’t show and prepared for the glue up.
The good decision:
Since this is a glue up with lots of pieces I decided I wanted the long open time that a poly glue gives me. (I’ve had excellent results with Polyurethane glue despite many folks who hate it. I call it a lack of experience.) Anyway… I start the glue application process and all is going well. Lots of gluing to do and I thank my lucky stars that I opted for a long open time glue.
The bad decision:
As I start assembly, I notice that the glue obscures my pencil marks for piece orientation. Oops! Don’t put marks in an area where they will be covered by glue. (I did not mark the work faces as I wanted to avoid additional cleaning and/or erasing). I did not worry as I was pretty sure about all the pieces.
The panic:
Glue up is done and assembled. Clamps on and I’m checking for square. Then I notice that there is a ½” gap at the top of the rail to leg section. I installed the entire back panel upside down! The bottom rails don’t line up and the top doesn’t align with the leg tops.
The good decision saves me:
Quickly I attempt to disassemble the desk. A bit of a strain and a few wacks with a rubber mallet and it comes apart okay. The glue had barely started to grip, but did not yet foam up. I QUICKLY flipped the piece, reapplied glue where needed and clamped it back together the right way.
Poly glue to the rescue:
That reassembly seems easy, but as I rushed, and the piece was big, and some of the loose tenons stuck in leg mortises and some in rail mortises, I had a LOT of manipulation of large unwieldy and GLUE COVERED pieces. After the clamps were on, I had glue in a lot of unintended places. But… paper towels, mineral spirits, a lot of wiping I got 90% of the glue cleaned off. The last 10% was easily handled by sanding. I can detect no interference with finish from that adventure.
Lessons:
- Use easy to see assembly marks. I’ll use blue tape next time.
- Have all the tools on hand. If I was out of Minerals spirits I would have been dead.
- Watch carefully as you assemble. I could have seen that upside down panel if I was just a bit more aware.
- Don’t dismiss Poly glue for big glue-ups. The biggest complaint is clean-up and Mineral spirits work perfect.
- “Scrambling” is part of the woodworking adventure.
The bad news is that it was a stress inducing, “arggh” inducing moment.
The setup:
I’m trying loose tenon joints for the first time. No reason, just trying something different and wanted to see how it went together. So that leaves me with a lot of mortises, lots of tenon pieces, lots of legs, stiles, rails and panels. I smartly labeled everything on the end grain so it wouldn’t show and prepared for the glue up.
The good decision:
Since this is a glue up with lots of pieces I decided I wanted the long open time that a poly glue gives me. (I’ve had excellent results with Polyurethane glue despite many folks who hate it. I call it a lack of experience.) Anyway… I start the glue application process and all is going well. Lots of gluing to do and I thank my lucky stars that I opted for a long open time glue.
The bad decision:
As I start assembly, I notice that the glue obscures my pencil marks for piece orientation. Oops! Don’t put marks in an area where they will be covered by glue. (I did not mark the work faces as I wanted to avoid additional cleaning and/or erasing). I did not worry as I was pretty sure about all the pieces.
The panic:
Glue up is done and assembled. Clamps on and I’m checking for square. Then I notice that there is a ½” gap at the top of the rail to leg section. I installed the entire back panel upside down! The bottom rails don’t line up and the top doesn’t align with the leg tops.
The good decision saves me:
Quickly I attempt to disassemble the desk. A bit of a strain and a few wacks with a rubber mallet and it comes apart okay. The glue had barely started to grip, but did not yet foam up. I QUICKLY flipped the piece, reapplied glue where needed and clamped it back together the right way.
Poly glue to the rescue:
That reassembly seems easy, but as I rushed, and the piece was big, and some of the loose tenons stuck in leg mortises and some in rail mortises, I had a LOT of manipulation of large unwieldy and GLUE COVERED pieces. After the clamps were on, I had glue in a lot of unintended places. But… paper towels, mineral spirits, a lot of wiping I got 90% of the glue cleaned off. The last 10% was easily handled by sanding. I can detect no interference with finish from that adventure.
Lessons:
- Use easy to see assembly marks. I’ll use blue tape next time.
- Have all the tools on hand. If I was out of Minerals spirits I would have been dead.
- Watch carefully as you assemble. I could have seen that upside down panel if I was just a bit more aware.
- Don’t dismiss Poly glue for big glue-ups. The biggest complaint is clean-up and Mineral spirits work perfect.
- “Scrambling” is part of the woodworking adventure.