Following Lew's outline for making a workbench top, I plan to rip some
8-foot, 2 by 8s, with my BS (since I already own one and not a TS yet)
and glue them face-to-face, with the factory milled edge down.
First I'll glue in pairs, then create quads, etc.

Since I started thinking about this I learned about cauls--and using
them makes sense to me to help minimize the amount of planing that I
need to do. By the time I glue 16 or so of these boards together, the
accumulated "error" could possibly add up in an ugly way--if I don't get
those factory milled edges close to one another!

Hand-jointing the boards in pairs would make cauls work better when
gluing the boards in pairs, but not after than (unless the boards had
*exactly* the same width, an event which has probability 0).

Any thoughts that may help with my glue-up?

Thank you,
Bill

On 03/02/2010 12:00 PM, Bill wrote:
Following Lew's outline for making a workbench top, I plan to rip some
8-foot, 2 by 8s, with my BS (since I already own one and not a TS yet)
and glue them face-to-face, with the factory milled edge down.
First I'll glue in pairs, then create quads, etc.

Since I started thinking about this I learned about cauls...

Hand-jointing the boards in pairs would make cauls work better when
gluing the boards in pairs, but not after than (unless the boards had
*exactly* the same width, an event which has probability 0).

Any thoughts that may help with my glue-up?

Run the individual boards on edge through the planer before glue-up.
This will ensure even thickness so the cauls work properly.

Glue up multiple boards into subassemblies narrow enough to fit on the
jointer. Up to boards is no problem even with yellow glue. Then run the
subassemblies through again before gluing them together.

Alternately, you could glue one board at a time--this would take longer
but would let you be really careful about keeping it aligned.

Chris

Well, if you have a plane and jointer things will be much easier. Just
working from the info you gave I would glue up 4 or 6 at a time. It
should be just as easy as 2 at a time. I would put the factory edges
face down on a table and just clamp down to a table table by using a
caul 2x4 or whatever, just tight enough to keep things flat. Then
clamp across the pieces. This is flat enough. Make a temp table out of
something if you don't have an actual table. Once you have the pieces
clamped across each other you can release the clamps from the table
and after about 1/2 an hour scrape all of the rubbery squeeze out off
both sides of the slab to make life easier in next phase.

On Mar 2, 10:00*am, Bill wrote:
Following Lew's outline for making a workbench top, I plan to rip some
8-foot, 2 by 8s, with my BS (since I already own one and not a TS yet)
and glue them face-to-face, *with the factory milled edge down.
First I'll glue in pairs, then create quads, etc.

Since I started thinking about this I learned about cauls--and using
them makes sense to me to help minimize the amount of planing that I
need to do. * By the time I glue 16 or so of these boards together, the
accumulated "error" could possibly add up in an ugly way--if I don't get
those factory milled edges close to one another!

Hand-jointing the boards in pairs would make cauls work better when
gluing the boards in pairs, but not after than (unless the boards had
*exactly* the same width, an event which has probability 0).

Any thoughts that may help with my glue-up?

Thank you,
Bill

Beg borrow steal a biscuit joiner. It will help with alignment. Set
it so the biscuit is 2" from the top.

On Mar 2, 12:00*pm, Bill wrote:
Following Lew's outline for making a workbench top, I plan to rip some
8-foot, 2 by 8s, with my BS (since I already own one and not a TS yet)
and glue them face-to-face, *with the factory milled edge down.
First I'll glue in pairs, then create quads, etc.

Since I started thinking about this I learned about cauls--and using
them makes sense to me to help minimize the amount of planing that I
need to do. * By the time I glue 16 or so of these boards together, the
accumulated "error" could possibly add up in an ugly way--if I don't get
those factory milled edges close to one another!

Hand-jointing the boards in pairs would make cauls work better when
gluing the boards in pairs, but not after than (unless the boards had
*exactly* the same width, an event which has probability 0).

Any thoughts that may help with my glue-up?

Thank you,
Bill

Thank you for all of your feedback on my question!
I feel ready (to start practicing my planing on a "test table")!
Bring on spring!

Bill