Shopsmith Forums

Any comments on this methodof joining boards??

I saw that as well, and I have no idea how well it would work, but it is interesting. As I understand the article, you use an extra few inches of stock on each end for the "clamping" glue and then after the wood glue dries, you cut the ends off, leaving only the wood glued sections to use. That seems to indicate that the CA would not be suitable for any long term fastening.

I think that for the price of the glue and the activator you could buy more clamps and do it right.
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When asked for Xmas wish lists I keep saying "It is impossible to own too many clamps".

Intarsia folks use this trick, also.

Gene Howe wrote:Intarsia folks use this trick, also.

I can see it working well for something like that.
I don't do stuff like that...
I love looking at it but just don't have the patience for it. The same goes for all of that fancy inlay work.
Now I could enjoy building a log cabin.

I don't believe it will work at all unless there is a slight convex arc in the mating boards and then the CA glue joint would have to be strong enough to hold the ends of the boards together until the wood glue dries. The problem is getting that arc in the boards and that doesn't happen when you "joint the boards as you normally would." Otherwise, it is simply laying two boards together without clamps and expecting to get a strong bond. A strong joint won't happen without some form of clamping.

A long time ago I read that if you use yellow wood glue for edge gluing a large panel you wouldn't need clamps if it was prepared properly. So I tried it as an experiment for some night stands I made. The edges were perfectly straight and jointed square before I did this.
I used a brush to evenly spread the glue on both edges and then I set one board upright with the glue edge on top. Then the other one I placed on top with the glue edges mating and moved it around (side to side a little bit) to create a suction. After that I let it go and it dried really nice. I couldn't see a glue line after sanding and the sides are still holding today.
It isn't something I do anymore because I've had a lot more glue joints fail since then and that makes me unhappy, but it was kinda cool to know about.

A long time ago I read that if you use yellow wood glue for edge gluing a large panel you wouldn't need clamps if it was prepared properly.

Dasgud, hot hide glue will work using the method you describe by sliding the two pieces together and letting them dry, but the bond isn't nearly as strong as using white or yellow glue and clamps, and I guess that is part of the reason hide glue isn't used that much today. Following the directions on the label generally works best and that calls for an even coating of glue on the surfaces and clamps.

When I was in high school ('60s) our shop class had a machine that cured wood glue using RF waves. It was a HUGE box with 4 HUGE vacuum tubes on top, and a set of cables that went to a head with a handle and a set of rollers. After gluing and clamping your boards, we just ran this unit over the joint and the joint was dry, and you could remove the clamps. They got it because it was cheaper and better than buying hundreds of clamps. The way it was before they got the machine, first and 2nd hour shop classes used up all the clamps on their projects and the rest of the classes had to wait. The only bad side to this machine, if you didn't have a GOOD joint, it would jump an arc through the gap down to the metal clamp below, and you'd KNOW it... Do they even make anything like this anymore?