Did my first tapped glue up yesterday.... NICE

[Bill Huber]

I don't know why it took me so long to try it but man is it nice.

I put everything together dry and put blue tape at the joints where the squeeze would be.
Took it all apart and applied the glue and clamped it up.

The squeeze out came out on the tape, just like it should. Then I just pulled the tape off and it look great. No clean up at all, the joint was so nice and clean and I didn't have to do any clean up at all.

I guess the reason I am posting this is if you are not using blue painters tape you need to start. I don't know why it took me so long to try it but I will be doing it on all my glue ups from now on.

[Terry Beadle]

I haven't used it yet but I bought my first roll of blue tape. The main reason I haven't bought it before and why I haven't used it yet is that it's expensive
and I'm too cheap !!! Hoot!

I will try it though. Eventually. Well....maybe....hoot!

[Bill Huber]

I haven't used it yet but I bought my first roll of blue tape. The main reason I haven't bought it before and why I haven't used it yet is that it's expensive
and I'm too cheap !!! Hoot!

I will try it though. Eventually. Well....maybe....hoot!

I am kind of cheap myself but after doing this glue up I am a believer. No squeeze out in the the corners and I don't have to worry about the stain not looking right.

Plus the job just goes much faster then having to clean up all the glue. I always dry fit things together anyway to make sure it all fits so adding the tape doesn't take long at all.

[John C Bush]

I was always too cheap to use it , but after the first try, I use it all the time now. I usually dry fit, apply the tape, use a razor blade/knife and cut at the joint, dissassemble, peel of the cutoffs, then glue. Seems to save time in fiddling with accurately placing the tape. I do a bit of slab/natural edge furniture and usually fill cracks, splits, voids, etc. with epoxy and I tape over the defect, cut off at the margins, then flow in the epoxy and peel the tape off after it hardens. Saves lots of time and sandpaper when finishing.

There was a good article in FWWing(??) about using a wax as a separator for keeping squeeze-out from adhering outside the joint. There a couple of commercially prepared products and the author recommended other waxes that don't contain silicone. Has anyone tried them?? Sounds like a good technique as well. JCB.

[johnny means]

If I might add a couple of tips. Some species will tear out even with painters tape. IME, birch plywood and poplar are very susceptible. Also, it's a good idea to figure out that sweet moment when the glue is dry enough to come out with no drips or smears, but soft enough to not require a chisel.

[Bill Huber]

If I might add a couple of tips. Some species will tear out even with painters tape. IME, birch plywood and poplar are very susceptible. Also, it's a good idea to figure out that sweet moment when the glue is dry enough to come out with no drips or smears, but soft enough to not require a chisel.

Thanks, I don't use a much plywood but I do use poplar some so I will watch out for those.

[Matt Day]

Bill,
do you have a link to this technique? I'm a little confused about how you did it.
Thanks

[Bill Huber]

Bill,
do you have a link to this technique? I'm a little confused about how you did it.
Thanks

No, and I am not sure where all I have seen it.

All I do is put the tape right in the corner on each side of the joint. The trick for me is getting the inside edge of the tape straight and then I run a small strip of scrap wood down it to make it good and tight.

The first image is all clamped and read to go before I put on the glue.
288192

Now I put the tape on, in this case I did not put it on the back, it will never be seen, I did put tape around the bottom.
288193

Now unclamp everything and put the glue on, clamp it back together and the glue will come out on the tape. Just wait a few min. and then pull the tape off and you have a nice clean joint with no clean up.

[Joe Scharle]

Been using blue for years and tried green last month. Didn't notice any difference.

[Rich Engelhardt]

(This topic needs to be duplicated in the "tips" thread up top.)

Super tip. I have a glue up coming up and I've been trying to figure out how to go about it.
I was going to pre-finish it, but, I may give this a try instead.

I like the razor blade method BTW.

[Bill Huber]

Been using blue for years and tried green last month. Didn't notice any difference.

I wish I had been using it for years, I think about all the time it would have saved me I could have built another project or two.

The problem is you never told me how great it was to use it....:D

[Pat Pollin]

love this tip- wish I saw it 2 weeks ago before gluing up my live edge book shelving.

[Matt Day]

I get it now Bill, thanks for the pictures. I've done this a number of times with good success. It adds another step but pays off in the clean up stage for sure. Much better than scraping cured glue out of corners. I think I'd take off the tape when the glue cured to that silly puddy type consistence.

[Bill Huber]

I get it now Bill, thanks for the pictures. I've done this a number of times with good success. It adds another step but pays off in the clean up stage for sure. Much better than scraping cured glue out of corners. I think I'd take off the tape when the glue cured to that silly puddy type consistence.

I finished the glue up on the table today and waited until the glue had a good scum on it and pulled the tape off, no clean up at all, I love it!!!!