"dadiOH" wrote in message
news:Q3xEi.94$1n1.70@trnddc02...
Owen Lawrence wrote:
Hi. After all these years I've never had the occasion to glue
up a large panel. Well now's my chance. I've done small ones that
turned out fine, but there's no chance of a do-over this time
because I'll be consuming most of my 100 year old pine. This is
for a captain's bed headboard and footboard. Both panels will be
over 30" wide, roughly dimensioned.

I'd suggest that you do your panels in stages...glue up 3 - 10" +-
wide sections then (after drying) glue those three. Reasons...

1. MUCH easier to keep flatter
2. Less worry about glue open time.


It certainly isn't impossible to glue up the whole schmeer at once but
you'll find that it isn't all that easy...boards want to slide around
(glue lubricates)...unequal tension between clamps tends to bow the
work...if an edge happens to be a smidge off square, that will be
easier to handle in a narrower glueup.
__________________

I lay the boards on my pipe clamps and just sitting there, some
of them mate perfectly with their neighbours. But one or two
boards have the slightest bow. I'm thinking I can clamp a pair of
pine cauls on each edge to pull them back. I'll cover the seams
with wax paper so I don't end up gluing the cauls to the panel with
the squeeze-out. Any objections?

If I can't push them in alignment with my hand, I use a handscrew to
pinch them flat with their neighbor. Once I have them flat and apply
lateral pressure from a pipe clamp I take off the handscrew.

I find pine so soft that I never put a clamp directly on the wood. But I've
done what you suggest on other projects.

___________________

I won't be staining this wood, but I haven't decided on a
finish. (Please help me do that.) Should I apply the finish to the
outer surfaces first, before the glue-up, so the squeeze-out
doesn't doesn't fill in the pores?

It sounds like you expect to glue up your panel, take off the clamps
and finish it. Good luck.

The thought had crossed my mind. I also figured I should glue one joint at
a time. Now I will definitely glue one joint at a time.


There are times when pre-finishing is a good idea. This isn't one of
them.
__________________

I see Norm always wiping it
away with a damp sponge, like the instructions on the bottle, but I
can never seem to get at what's under the pipe clamps. This time
there will be 11 of them, alternating under and over the panel.
What do you usually do?

I expect to take off the clamps, scrape off the dried beads of glue
and then run the panel through a drum sander several times to get it
flat. IOW, I expect the result of the glue up to be *rough*.

I wish I had a drum sander (and expect to someday), but I won't have room
for one until I move. So I want to be a bit careful to avoid too much
sanding later. I do expect to have to sand it. Eventually I'll still be
gluing a large panel, even if I'm just gluing a single joint at that time.

__________________

I've got half a bottle of Lee Valley cabinet maker's glue left,
and a new bottle of yellow carpenter's glue. (Side question; is
there any difference between LV cabinet maker's glue and Titebond
III? It's almost irrelevant because I can't find Titebond III
anywhere around Ottawa except LV.) Since this is such a visible
part of the project, should I prefer white glue?

No, do not use the white glue, use the yellow. White tends to creep
when dry.

Thanks. I won't.

_____________________

Finally, this project is going to have to have a rustic look,
because these boards were reclaimed from a demolition; they were
the walls of an old house, and are full of nail holes and gouges.
I intend to post some pictures of the bedpost blanks I've prepared
to a.b.p.w, since I'm quite proud of them. But a few of the boards
destined for these large panels have some ugly looking tearouts,
gouges where the aggressive contractor must have used a crowbar.
And there are a few large knots and splits threatening to leave the
scene later. I'm thinking about filling them with epoxy. Good
idea? Bad idea? Alternatives?

Gouges, splits and knots are rustic. Personally, I'm not a rustic fan
so I'd work on them. But not with epoxy. All that does is give you a
cavernous looking hole that has been filled with something clear.

Take a look for the pictures I'm going to post soon. I've never made a
rustic looking project yet, so I'm sure there are some techniques I should
learn so it comes out looking okay. I think about the only look I DON'T
like is the artificial look, whatever that is. (Trees don't exactly grow in
the shape of furniture, so it's all artificial if you go back far enough.)

If I were doing it I'd use sawdust, sanding dust, planer shavings and
glue. If the hole were more than, say, 1/8 deep I'd fill to that
depth with polyester resin. Why polyester rather than epoxy? It sets
up in minutes rather than hours and is cheaper.

Then I mix up some of the wood residue mentioned earlier and mix in
some white glue. When it is putty like, push into hole, overfilling
slightly. Put a piece of wax paper over it and clamp on something
flat (I use scrap mel board). The different wood particle sizes
(saw/sand dust and planer shavings) all give a different appearance.
All will resemble particle board. When in doubt, use saw and sanding
dust.

Once dry - TOTALLY dry - take off the clamp and flattener and sand
flat. There may well be some pin holes, not to worry. Put a dab of
white glue on your finger and smear a *very light* coat over the area.
Then take a pinch of FINE sanding dust, drop it onto the wet glue,
take a breath and blow off all you can. Now - while the glue is still
wet - sand again with a palm sander. I usually use #150 paper. If
you do this right you'll wind up with a patch that has a thin surface
of wood dust that is bonded to the area below but which is not sealed
with glue and which will take a finish fairly well. It works best in
smallish areas. More than one repetition may be necessary. You have
to use white glue...white glue isn't waterproof and the smeared on
glue will bond with that in the "major fill" portion.

Of course, you can also mix wood particles with any bonding agent and
fill with that. Bonding agents include polyester and epoxy resins,
any glue including super glue, varnish, lacquer, shellac, etc. The
appearance of the patched area depends upon how much the bonding agent
"wets" the wood and the size of the wood particles.
_________________

Should I learn to make a dutchman?

Useful to be able to do so but - to my eye - they generally look no
better than just filling. Different but not better. What might be
useful for you are butterflies for those splits.


dadiOH

Maybe you are better at it than I am, but I've never liked how my sawdust
and glue mixtures look when they're done. I think I'll go with a dutchman
if I do anything. (Point taken from B A R R Y about epoxy caverns.)

Thanks for all the advice, and first thing in the morning, too!

- Owen -