My glue up is not square, ugh. Fixable?

[Kevin Jenness]

Don't bother trying to square it up, that is just asking for more trouble. Scribe the doors/ drawer fronts to fit and only you (and we) will know. Next time, check the overall diagonals and adjust the clamps as necessary. A framing square is not that useful on a piece that size as there may be some local crooks. A "dry fit" test assembly is rarely time wasted.

[Carl Beckett]

+1 on just scribing and making the other parts to fit (have glued many a drawer 'in place')

The center of my living room there is an antique bookcase. It racks from the weight of the books. I finally attached it to the wall in back with a hidden clip, because it bothered me each time I looked at it, how much it was leaning. Everybody else in the house and visitors all love it and remark what a nice piece (and it is!).

So depending on the weight and how flat the floor is you set it on, it could rack anyway. Especially a piece that wide. I wonder what would happen if you just shimmed under one corner 1/4" and then put weight on it. (or at a minimum, when you do put it in place, you are going to need even/level support all 4 corners).

When you build these things yourself you start noticing even more all the subtle defects.

I like wabi sabi
And enjoyed that magic square video!

I say nice entertainment center, well done! On to the drawers...

[ray grundhoefer]

I wonder if someone sells those magic squares. Seems like there would be a huge market for them. ha ha

[Gregory King]

I wonder if someone sells those magic squares. Seems like there would be a huge market for them. ha ha

Really like that large hammer of his. Not sure how many ounces in that one!

[glenn bradley]

Part of our journey is learning to recover from mistakes. This one I think you can just work around as you finish the piece; especially if you use the amazing out-of-square hiding overlay doors and drawers. ;-)

Seriously, I would move along after giving this a bit of attempted recovery and call it good. I do complex glue ups in stages and then assemble the sub-assemblies for just this reason. Also, you will find plently of versions of checking for square after the clamps are on and adjusting accordingly. Our craft is one of constant learning.

[Dan Baginski]

I measured for square but I measured on the top, not the front. Oops. Rookie mistake. I did quite a few dry assemblies and it was close enough to square on those. Oh well, live and learn. I’ll try a few of the suggestions here and see what happens.

[Dan Baginski]

Magic square hahahahaha. I do a lot of work on my truck too. I find when I can’t get something to fit, I just need to get a bigger hammer and apply more ignorance.

[Jacob Mac]

Before my deployment, I built my wife a taboret. I was really pushing for time and I really screwed up a glue up. It was way out of square. The whole piece was rushed and it is not very good quality, but I couldn't let it go.

I was using titebond for my glue and I thought I couldn't fix it. But I decided to get out my heat gun and see if I could get it loose. I was careful not to burn the wood, and I moved the heat gun constantly. The glue bond broke pretty easily, although I did singe the wood a little. But nothing a quick swipe of my block plane didn't fix.

All in all, the piece is functional, but not very good. It is, however, square. And I learned how to break a glue bond with my heat gun. That's probably the only positive I can take from that project.

It is definitely not ideal, but it can work.


Here's an example

https://youtu.be/hC9Uyvs3ZQM

[Carl Beckett]

Before my deployment, I built my wife a taboret. I was really pushing for time and I really screwed up a glue up. It was way out of square. The whole piece was rushed and it is not very good quality, but I couldn't let it go.

I was using titebond for my glue and I thought I couldn't fix it. But I decided to get out my heat gun and see if I could get it loose. I was careful not to burn the wood, and I moved the heat gun constantly. The glue bond broke pretty easily, although I did singe the wood a little. But nothing a quick swipe of my block plane didn't fix.

All in all, the piece is functional, but not very good. It is, however, square. And I learned how to break a glue bond with my heat gun. That's probably the only positive I can take from that project.

It is definitely not ideal, but it can work.


Here's an example

https://youtu.be/hC9Uyvs3ZQM

Had not seen that before, impressive.

And I have a heat gun.... and am sure will have plenty of opportunities to practice...

[Jacob Mac]

Had not seen that before, impressive.

And I have a heat gun.... and am sure will have plenty of opportunities to practice...

It can burn wood easily, and it carries a lot of potential for ruining a piece. So definitely a last ditch effort. But if you have screwed up as badly as I did, I didn't have any other option.

[Derek Cohen]

This is an advantage of hide glue - steam it, and it will come apart. I use Titebond Liquid Hide Glue and love it!. Cleans up with water, long open time ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Patrick Walsh]

First the video was great Derek, that kid is a riot!

Second does the titebond hide glue stink?

This is an advantage of hide glue - steam it, and it will come apart. I use Titebond Liquid Hide Glue and love it!. Cleans up with water, long open time ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

No, Patrick. It has a pleasant smell. Doesn't taste great, however

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Lee Schierer]

No, Patrick. It has a pleasant smell. Doesn't taste great, however

Regards from Perth

Derek

I won't ask how you determined that😊