Clamping blocks/stands

Rennie Heuer

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Constantine, MI
I'm gluing up some keepsake boxes with proud finger joints. It's always a bit of a challenge gluing up this type of joint as you need to pad out the joints to apply pressure where needed. I hot glue some scrap to each side.
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The hardest part is getting all the clamps on quickly. Wrestling them into place and getting them to line up while your glue is setting up is the stuff nightmares are made of.
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I had thought of getting some of the commercially available blocks but they are pricey and don't allow the clamps to get far enough out to the corners. So I dug through my shorts pile and found some idunno with some nail and screw holes that is really dense and heavy. Perfect!
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First I laid out all of the saw cuts.
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In my haste I forgot that there are right and left handed blocks. Oh well, back to the saw and deepen those cuts.
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Once I got the cuts straightened out everything lined up and now I can have all the clamps set up and just a few twists of the wrist from being tight. I even made a couple of blocks to hold up the tail ends of the upper clamps.
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...The hardest part is getting all the clamps on quickly. Wrestling them into place and getting them to line up while your glue is setting up is the stuff nightmares are made of...

Think about using liquid hide glue. It gives a much longer working time. It does require a longer clamp time, though. That's seldom a problem for me, though, since I generally leave my glue-ups in the clamps overnight.
 
Think about using liquid hide glue. It gives a much longer working time. It does require a longer clamp time, though. That's seldom a problem for me, though, since I generally leave my glue-ups in the clamps overnight.
Yep, gotta get some. Had some, used it up over a year ago and forgot to replace. Now it will have to wait till I get near a 'real' woodworking store or order on line. In the mean time I have some titebond 3 that has a longer open time to use.
 
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