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The Panels

On the current build I glued up a pair of book matched panels. A simple process, but I do not recall having read much or anything in regard to glue up technique, especially with panels as thin as these.

The boards began as a rough sawn board 11 ½” wide x 2” thick, and long enough. A couple of jack planes removed the rough surface – not to flatten, per se, but to examine the figure and choose which section to use for the panels.

The panels are to be ¼" thick, as they are required to bend in a curved frame.

The surface was machine jointed (I am not now planning to do this with a handplane in this build), and then re-sawn on the bandsaw …

The re-sawn boards were thicknessed to a little over ¼”, and then sandwiched to joint the edges. Using weights was the only way I knew to keep the edges tightly aligned during this process ..

One of the reasons for thicknessing the boards beforehand was that their thinness meant that alignment during glue-up would be tricky. To overcome this I used the flat surface of my bench ...

Glue of choice here is Titebond hide glue. This is applied to both sides in this case. It might only be applied to one side if the boards were thicker and not required to bend. I wanted to ensure no weak spots.

The boards are rubbed together and then clamped in the centre. Note that I use blue tape to avoid contaminating the wood with the clamp ...

I then work my way outwards. I have already checked with a dry fit that there is a slight hollow in the centre. The first clamp draws this together, and succeeding ones enable tuning of the alignment ..

The workbench is flat (and I do not have space for a dedicated assembly bench). The panel is wider than the bench, which enables clamps to extend over the top. If the panels together were narrower than the bench top I would raise them on MDF. If you look carefully, the panel is also held down at the corners and edges with other clamps.

Is it controversial that I wash away glue residue on the show side immediately? I have never experienced a problem with finishes, but this may be related to our local woods.

After planing any slight glue lines, the final step was to scrape down the glued up boards ...

Makore is a very abrasive timber and blunts edges very quickly. I must have honed the edges for these scrapers at three times each. The edges lasted half that as on Jarrah, itself a tough wood.

Two panels stickered for later ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

May 2015