"Sizing" Mitre Joints

[rodger.]

I never considered this technique before, and I have made hundreds of mirror and picture frames. In the recent FWW, they deiscuss a technique for gluing mitres. To start, you cut you regular wood glue 50/50 with water. Then you brush it on the mitres. Let dry. Then apply glue at full strength, clamp, and do your regular joinery.

Has anyone tried this technique? I think they called it "sizing" the joint.

[dwacker]

It just stops the wicking but Im not sure it will do much good. You in theory would end up with a glue to glue joint when finished and as we know doesnt work well with pva. Give it a shot, see if you notice any difference.

Don

[Freddie]

for hidden reinforcement of the joint a ff biscuit if the frame is wide enough to accept the biscuit, if its a really small frame you could mill up some small loose tenon stock and make a jig to plunge route the mitered ends. I do a lot of trim work, and the sizing technique will help to hold the joints, not under significant pressure, but a lot better than if you glued it once and the end grain sucks up all the glue.

[wdwerker]

I have done this for years. I just put a small amount of glue on each side and let it soak in for a few minutes, then spread a little more and assemble the joint. Clamp it, pin it, domino it,however you want to reinforce the joint. The first coat just keeps the joint from being glue starved. The final joint is not glue to glue. If the work is being stained I try to stay away from the front edges with the second coat to reduce squeeze out.

[dwacker]

I have done this for years. I just put a small amount of glue on each side and let it soak in for a few minutes, then spread a little more and assemble the joint. Clamp it, pin it, domino it,however you want to reinforce the joint. The first coat just keeps the joint from being glue starved. The final joint is not glue to glue. If the work is being stained I try to stay away from the front edges with the second coat to reduce squeeze out.

Your method is not sizing just normal gluing of end grain. I think if I was going to do a bunch of picture frames or things of that nature I'd just reach for the plastic resin glue. Dap or urac both do better on endgran than pva.

Don

[rodger.]

Well I have 8 frames to build, and decided to give this a try. I cut 2 of my frames to final size (so 8 pieces), and decided to "size" them.

I cut the yellow PVA glue 50/50 with water, and applied with a small painters brush. Here is what I found as a new user of this technique:

1 The PVA glue and water needs to be stirred while using it. It seemed to separate a bit, but I may have not stirred it enough to start with. I thought it was a good practise to stir during use.

2 Since I am painting these poplar frames, I was not worried too much about getting a touch of glue in the wrong spots. If this was a stain grade project, I would need to be very careful in applying the glue wash, as it is thinner (d'uh) and it is easy to get glue in a spot that would be noticable after staining. Perhaps some green or blue tape around the miters

3 I used more than one coat of the wash as I went, as the end grain drank it up pretty quick. Next time I would need to make a larger batch.

[CessnaPilotBarry]

I just use regular glue... Brush it on, let it soak, add more, assemble. No need to thin.