Painter's tape okay as "clamp"?

[Darl Bundren]

I am going to glue up some legs out of QS white oak as I cannot find stock that is thick enough to make each leg from a solid piece. I am going to use biscuits for alignment purposes. Does anybody see any problem with spiralling a wrap of blue painter's tape around each leg after gluing to keep the assembly from shifting? I've seen it done in some magazines, but I do not remember the type of tape they used.

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Darl...I've used regular 3-M packing tape many times. It has just enough stretch to apply pressure through the drying process. You will have some adhesive residue to clean off when removed though.

Doug

[Jamie Buxton]

Tape will hold stuff from shifting while glue cures. However, it generally cannot exert enough force to pull joints closed. Generally people put glue on faces, and they want to squeeze any excess out so that they get nice thin glue lines. Or sometimes wood isn't exactly staight, and again some real force is useful to ensure that joints close tightly. Tape won't do that for you.

[Brian Buckley]

I would use clamps for the job you are describeing. I have used tape for some applications. The green 3 m tape has much better holding power than the blue.

Brian

[Ernie Hobbs]

My thoughts here is that ideally, you'd want to have stock thick enough for the legs. However, if that is unavailable and your only option is to glue up stock, then you'd want to make it as invisible as possible as to not draw attention to the glue line. In order to do this, it will be important to have a flat smooth surface to clamp tight. Using tape will most likely leave a nice line down the middle of the leg.

[Terre Hooks]

Try some wide, strong rubber bands.

With or without the tape.

[Roger Everett]

The times when i've used tape to glue up legs, etc., that have a self locking miter that I use or similar type of tape clamping, I use strapping tape. The stuff that is clear and has the nylon threads running down the length. You can pull on this stuff till you grunt and fart, and it won't tear.
In fact the joint I use is simmilar to a lock miter joint, only it's cut on TS with a rip blade and a dado. I then lay the stock tight, strap tape across every 6", leaving plenty of extra length to clamp tape around. Then run blue tape up each joint. flip it over, brush glue on all the glue-up surfaces, fold it up as I would a towel and pull the straping tape around as tight as I can muster. Real simple joint and lot of glue surface and self aligning. And running the blue tape on outside of each joint there is 0 sqeezeout , in fact all the squeeze out is squeezein.

Roger

[Jim Becker]

I have used blue painter's tape for this purpose. It holds fine and comes off clean since you only need to clamp overnight...it will release without residue for something like two weeks. (Check the specs...)

[Chris Barton]

I just got finished gluing up some ogee bracket feet for a Pennsylvania Style Cupboard using blue tape and I have used it for many projects. Remember, all a clamp does is hold two parts together while the glue dries. It isn't necessary to squeeze the "yellow stuff" :eek: out of a piece, just hold it together until the glue dries...

[Brian Hale]

I'd go with the surgical tubing that Lee Valley (and others) offer. Glue won't stick to it and it applies a good amount of clamping force to hold the joint tight. Use the tape for alignment in combination with the tubing and you'll be a happy camper.

Brian :)

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=31159&cat=1,43838,47843

[Jim Becker]

One advantage of the tape is that you can apply it to the four pieces, flip them, apply the glue and then "roll" the leg together. Some additional tape (or the tubing) is then applied to hold it together and hold it square. Brian eludes to this in his post. (#10)

[Frankie Hunt]

Bicycle inner tubes work well as clamps also. They are handy to have for other things too, such as a grip enhancer for a Glock or AR15.;) Discarded ones can usually be had for free at a bike shop.