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Oxalic acid makes black marks disappear.
Nasty stains can happen throughout glue-up if metal clamp beams are left involved with wooden dampened by glue squeeze-out or by scrubbing off the glue. Removing them requires sanding or scraping… or brushing on an answer of oxalic acid (two heaping tablespoons of crystals dissolved in a pint of scorching water). Let the floor dry. Apply a second coat, if vital. When the stains are fully gone, flood the floor with water to take away any acid that is still. Oxalic acid is on the market at paint and {hardware} shops or online. The crystals are toxic, so put on gloves while you deal with the answer and a masks afterwards, while you sand.
Curved cauls apply even stress throughout huge joints.
Make cauls from boards minimize to the width of the joint. Plane or sand a 1/16-in. crown on every caul. Clamping each ends mechanically places stress on the center of the joint.
Masking tape clamps edgebanding.
Thin inventory doesn’t require a number of clamping stress. Simply draw the tape throughout the edgeband and firmly down each side of the panel.
Box beams assure flat glue ups.
Made by gluing rails of equal width between two faces, field beams work like thick cauls to evenly distribute clamp stress. They’re nice for gluing veneered panels or torsion packing containers.
Angle the clamps to sq. a body.
Experts suggest “checking diagonal measurements” to ensure your glued-up frames are sq.. So what do you do when the measurements don’t match? Reposition the clamps to use uneven stress throughout the joints. Watch the change in dimension of 1 diagonal as you tighten the angled clamps. The objective is to separate the distinction between the 2 authentic measurements. For instance, diagonals off by 1/8-in. require a 1/16-in. change. If the dimensional distinction grows while you apply stress as a substitute of shrinking, the clamps are angled the unsuitable method.
Create clamping shoulders for curved shapes.
Make customized clamping blocks by tracing and reducing the curved profiles. Then mark and minimize clamping shoulders parallel to the joints. Be proactive: Self-hanging clamp blocks free each arms for clamping.
Drive glued-up panels flat.
Applying clamp stress usually causes panels to raise off the bar and creep up the clamp head. Cupped or twisted panels are the consequence. Keep panels flat by rapping them again onto the bar with a dead-blow mallet. Each rap normally reduces the clamp’s stress, so be ready to tighten the clamp.
Check edge joints with one centered clamp.
Like dry-fitting a joint earlier than you glue, this system highlights imperfectly jointed boards which will in any other case be arduous to see. Here, one barely topped edge causes a noticeable hole. Test all of the joints by lifting one board whereas decreasing the opposite. If the boards transfer with out resistance, the joint is just too free. Re-joint one or each boards and strive once more.
Tape prevents black marks from clamps.
Black stains consequence when ferrous metallic, moisture and wooden come collectively. If your clamps have untreated metal bars or black pipes, make it a behavior to cowl their surfaces earlier than you glue. The tape insulates the metallic from moisture within the glue and damp areas on the wooden’s floor.
Miter Joint Clamp.
This shop-made jig holds components sq. and flat, permits adjusting each bit independently and accommodates glue squeeze-out. Use it to make image frames with openings 4-in.-square or bigger. Make the nook block by gluing collectively two items of three/4-in. plywood. Its corners have to be completely sq.. Drill a 2-in.-dia gap within the center. Cut a diagonal slot midway by the three/4-in. plywood base earlier than gluing on the nook block.
Paper towel pads maintain nook joints clear.
Here’s a trick for managing glue squeeze-out while you clamp dovetails or field joints: Face your clamp pads with paper towels. They take in glue so it doesn’t soak deeply into the wooden. After the glue has dried, the blocks knock off simply, due to the paper. Dampen any paper that is still on the joint. After a few minute it’ll scrub proper off.
Make quick clamps go lengthy.
You don’t want super-long clamps to clamp super-long glue-ups. Just gang your common clamps collectively.
90-degree brackets simplify complicated clamping jobs.
Clamping collectively a cupboard with quite a few cabinets and rails generally is a actual ache. Shopmade 90-degree brackets enable assembling the cupboard one joint at a time and maintain the joints sq. whilst you clamp the cupboard collectively.
Blocks middle clamping stress.
Without a block, uneven clamping stress may simply draw this desk leg joint out of sq.. As a consequence, assembling the remaining leg-andapron joints turns into harder.
Wide cauls require fewer clamps.
Cauls distribute clamp stress, which radiates from the jaws as much as 45 levels from middle. When you find the clamps, merely be sure the adjoining stress traces overlap on the exterior joints. The wider the cauls, the less the clamps you’ll want. Cauls are particularly helpful while you glue quite a few skinny boards—butcherblock tops, for instance.
Clamped cauls guarantee flat panels.
This set-up makes gluing giant panels a breeze. The backside cauls help the panel and middle the jaws’ clamping stress on it. The clamps are straightforward to place, as a result of the elevated panel doesn’t relaxation on them. Notches enable clamping the panel between the highest and backside cauls, so the joints keep flush and the panel stays flat when the pipe clamps are tightened.
Toggle clamps: Fast and versatile
Available in all shapes and sizes, toggle clamps are invaluable for jigs and fixtures. By firmly holding workpieces throughout troublesome operations, they make woodworking safer and extra pleasing.
Plastic laminate clamps.
When shimmed beneath cauls clamped on huge cupboard sides, plastic laminate items act as deep-reach clamps, offering stress in the midst of the joint.
Spring clamps maintain boards aligned.
Keeping the joints flush throughout glue-up might be difficult, as a result of boards can slide each path while you begin making use of clamp stress. Spring clamps assist to maintain adjoining boards from creeping up or down.
Refrigerator magnets make on the spot clamp pads.
They’re available, a snap to put in and they successfully insulate clamp stress!
Product Recommendations
Here are some provides and instruments we discover important in our on a regular basis work across the store. We could obtain a fee from gross sales referred by our hyperlinks; nonetheless, we now have rigorously chosen these merchandise for his or her usefulness and high quality.
