Clamping end grain cutting board using printing tech

[Roger Feeley]

I was getting ready to start glueing and clamping some 600 pieces into a cutting board for a wedding gift. When I do this, I generally build some sort of clamping frame and it’s always kind of a kluge. I realized that this exact type of clamping has been around for a long time in the letterpress printing world. They clamp rows of type into a heavy frame that goes into the press.

the frame is called a chase and the clamps are called quoins. They use lots of maple spacers called furniture. Heres a link showing this stuff in use in woodworking.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/edurink/sets/72157625119408168/detail/

so I got a nice size chase off of eBay for $30 + shipping
i got six new-old-stock 3” quoins plus a key for $25 inc shipping.

no more kluge

[Lisa Starr]

Yep. My brother ran a letterpress shop out of my parents basement all thru high school. When he sold it off I saved several chases and some of the quoins. I use them for all sorts of small item clamping.