Ned Bulken Posted July 24, 2014 Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 Hi gang, I was chatting in the forums late/early last night and we were discussing a couple of cutting boards I glued up recently: As you can see I have a bit of a problem with this glue up... glued up the same session... similar results wide view of the first board. Honestly it was awhile back that I glued these up, but I do recall that I alternated clamps top and bottom of the assembly (noted as the bar of the parallel jaw clamps (Irwin 24"ers)) the boards were assembled using Marc's classic process... boards glued edge to edge, planed to thickness and then flipped up on end to get the end grain board. Do I have a clamping problem or a planer problem? Ned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Bulken Posted July 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 If the planer was off on one edge... Ned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STL Woodguy Posted July 24, 2014 Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 If it's a clamping problem, have you tried adding cauls on the top/bottom of the cutting board? Those should help keep bowing to a minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted July 24, 2014 Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 Did you notice the problem right away when it was freshly clamped? With the different species of wood used wondering if it isn't simply a matter of them drying / shrinking at different rates creating the bow (i.e the outside pieces shrunk more than the center). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapid Roger Posted July 24, 2014 Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 I can't help but think that all the boards were not planed to the same thickness after the first glue up. Or, some types of wood compressed more than others when being clamped for the second glue up. I just don't understand how you could get both ends to bow out in opposite directions if all the wood was milled to equal thickness.? Were some of the pieces bowed or curved at the first glue up? Rog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 24, 2014 Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 Picture two, bottom center, obvious problem. Two boards clamped to one board and the alignment is way off. There may be multiple problems but this one points to irregular clamping or lack of sufficient cauls. Start with that problem and then you can see if other problems are still present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted July 24, 2014 Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 I say it's a clamping issue. How many clamps & where were they placed? Did you use thick enough cauls? It wouldn't be that 1 side was thinner than the other cause that would cancel the difference when you alternated the layers. And I don't see how a planer could make both edges thinner than the middle. At this point, there's not much you can do about the pattern not being staggered evenly, but you could cut the 2 straight edges to match the curvature of the other 2 & make it a design statement. Like, you meant to do it that way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Lots of cauls to spread the clamping pressure in every direction . Do a dry run to make sure you have everything on hand before you start a glue up. I use a pair of dial calipers to check the thickness of each part at both ends and a few spots in the middle as well. Slow set glue and in the summer months I try to do glue ups when it is cooler in the mornings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Lots of cauls to spread the clamping pressure in every direction . Do a dry run to make sure you have everything on hand before you start a glue up. I use a pair of dial calipers to check the thickness of each part at both ends and a few spots in the middle as well. Slow set glue and in the summer months I try to do glue ups when it is cooler in the mornings. Bingo! Although, I do them in the evening before shutting out the lights.. Just gives a bit of a slower cure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Bulken Posted July 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 first off, thank you to all who've replied... this was driving me nuts. OK to sum up, I have cauls, but I generally use them on the 'flat' side of the board... anyone got a picture of a caul used on the 'edge' of the board? I'm not 'getting' that image. that board is about 12" square (just about as big as will fit through my lunchbox planer)... I used 4 24" irwin parallel jaw clamps and several generic 'f-clamps'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Edge cauls in action. I also had cauls on the other edge and removed them to force the faces flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Ned, at the risk of offending I want to address something you said. If you built this board to 12" by 12" in order to feed it through a planer, please reconsider. End grain, glue, and planers do not play well together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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