Face to Face Glue-ups Without Sliding

glenn bradley

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There was some discussion here about flat face to flat face glue ups and the slip-n-slide that can bother us. Probably more than one of us has used or at least heard of this method.

I'm building up a small pedestal base like the unfinished and unglued one stacked up in the background. I pre-sand the surfaces that will be hard to reach later like the small chamfers and recesses.

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I drive in very small nails and snip them off with a pair of side-cutters leaving just a nib poking up to grab the next piece. Whether you use 2 or 3 or 5 will depend on the size of your surface. You may notice the darkness on the end grain left from my wiping with mineral spirits to check for sanding marks and assure I've got the surface I am after.

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I clamp a piece of scrap in the vise to use as a reference surface to align the backs in this case, spread the glue with my customized Rockler gift card glue spreader and stack them up.

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The little spikes on the top of each layer (except the final top surface of course) keeps things from slipping around while I tighten down a couple of cauls.

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Gently now, don't crush the little fella.
 
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Word of caution - if ya use this technique to build up a blank destined for the lathe... be aware of those little nails in there & the heartache they can cause when you turn down to 'em.

If you're building up blanks for turning, drop a couple grains of coarse table salt or playground sand in each corner instead of using nails. That's granular enough to grab, and small enough that it won't penetrate your femoral artery when it comes back out. :)
 
When gluing two pieces of wood together where I use C clamps I put the 1st clamp on a corner , edge or end, then another at the other end on the edge or corner. By pinching the work there it doesn't slide. Then add more clamps , then reposition the two you have at the edge. Works 90% of the time to control the sliding around :) Of course this wouldn't work in this situation for accurate assembly.
 
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I've done what Tim & Glenn suggested and it works. Use the sand or salt sparingly-only a couple of grains in a couple of spots works fine.
 
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