How to protect clamps during glue-ups?

[Mike Goetzke]

How do you prevent glue from drying on your clamps during glue-ups (especially when edge jointing boards to make panels)? Do you use wax paper, tape the clamp...

Please share your ideas.

Thanks,

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Umm...I don't...but probably should, assuming I could actually remember to do it... ;)

[Don Baer]

I'm with jim on this..:o But there easy to clean up, the glue just peels away..:D

[Gary Breckenridge]

:) I often use wax paper now that I spent some money on new clamps. I guess cheap painters tape would also work. I like to do some glue ups on top of my cast iron table saw; I know it is perfectly flat and a 1/16" glue dot on the clamps could mess up that flat surface.:cool:

[Dennis Peacock]

When I'm in the middle of a glue up? I ain't worried about protecting them thar clamps.....I gotta get that wood glued up and lined up 'fore the glue sets up. :eek: ;) :D

I just clean'em up after it's all said and done. :)

[Mack Cameron]

I use short pieces of a used garden hose slit lengthwise. If the glue is left intact with the black metal from my pipe clamps it leaves a black stain which is difficult to remove in some cases.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

What kind of glue are you using that doesn't come off easily?

Urethane glues might be an issue. At any rate were I using some kind of tough guy glue that'd stick to steel or alum I'd just wax the clamps - If I thought about it in advance.

[Mike Goetzke]

I use Titebond glue. I notice my Bessey clamp steel bars are discolored where the glue has been but maybe this just gives them character.

Mike

[glenn bradley]

During the dry fit I look for where gravity is going to place glue drips and lay down wax paper.

[Bartee Lamar]

Paste wax on the bars... sorta time consuming but it works

Otherwise I just scrape off the stuff that sticks after I remove the clamps.

[Steve Clardy]

Guess I never worried about it.:confused: :)

[Todd Woodward]

It's woodworking, not clamp works. You are so worried about keeping your clamps clean that your glue-ups are going to fail!!!!! If you took the time to actually prevent glue from getting on your clamps the glue will cure on the wood before you get it together. Actually, it peels off after you remove the clamps. I thought about it once, and decided that the 3 seconds it takes to remove the glue from the clamps was much easier then protecting them.

[Shiraz Balolia]

How do you prevent glue from drying on your clamps during glue-ups (especially when edge jointing boards to make panels)? Do you use wax paper, tape the clamp...

Please share your ideas.

Thanks,

Mike

I use wax paper - always.
Go to the supermaket and buy a few rolls of both sizes. Keeps your clamps looking like new, takes all of 3 secs to tear off and lay down and you don't have to fight with trying to pry off your glued block from the clamps. Also, your clamps sometimes act as a "flat" guide when gluing. I would not want to see any old dried glue on the clamp from lifting one of the boards being glued.
I also lay down wax paper on my workbench when I am finishing by hand to avoid any of the finish from dripping onto the benchtop. Also when I am pouring/mixing finish for my spray gun. Lots of uses.

[Howard Acheson]

Number of things to do.

o Wax the bars on your clamps. Dried glue will pop off.

o Use the wax paper sort of "tented" over the bars or pipes.

o Go to the big box and buy shower rod plastic covers. Cut them to 4-6" length and slip them over the bar or the pipe. Prevent black marks on the wood too.

o If the glue does harden, it makes it easier to remove if you heat it up. I use either a heat gun or an infrared lamp.

[Steve Wargo]

I use wax paper... sometimes... but usually I use nothing. Now veneering and inlay work I always use waxed paper.

[Larry Fox]

I don't put anything on them - as others have mentioned - I find that the glue just pops off. I have tried wax paper but I find that I am most focused on gluing the right parts together that I typically forget it anyway.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Add another vote for wax paper, at least when I'm doing panels like cutting boards. Only takes a second or two to add it (and I've got it in place when doing the dry fit), and it saves the time I'd otherwise spend cleaning squeeze-out off the serrations in the clamp rails. Titebond II doesn't really pop off my Gross Stabils, and as someone else mentioned, I sometimes use the clamp bars themselves as the reference surface, so I need them to be as bump-free as possible. (And it's not about keeping the clamps looking nice. My glue-caked clamp handles are testament to that.)

[Todd Woodward]

Mike, I wanted to say that my post was meant jokingly. I just reread it and it comes off a bit sarcastic. I was looking for something as well once and just decided to peel it off afterwards. I do try to not let my clamp bars touch the actual glue up to keep them from staining the wood. Sometimes I'll put regualr brown paper between them.