Gluing up question

[MG1977]

I'm in the process of making some shelves out of scraps and offcuts of various hardwoods by gluing together lots of 6-25mm strips and am wondering whats the best method for gluing up?

I'm thinking I'd use a PU glue like gorilla glue for strength, but there are around 18-20 strips in total and I'm worried about not getting them together quick enough!! Would a PVA type adhesive such as the green evo-stick be better?

Any thoughts / advice appreciated as I've not done anything like this before...cheers

 

[The Bear]

PVA would be fine (assume they are going indoors). What ever you use dont try and glue them all at once. Maybe do 5, then another 5 etc. When dry then glue these together. You'll find they want to slide about as you clamp so be careful to keep them flat as you tighten the clamps.

Mark

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I would think PU is a no no, it's likely to start to blow before you are ready even if you get a slower drying one. Cascamite gives a good open time, so may be your best bet. You can get slow drying PVA, but some dry slower than others. I don't think green Evostik is much slower than others, and is more expensive than many. Everbuild D3 is as good and much cheaper, Everbuild D4 is waterproof but dries more quickly, so avoid that (for your purposes). If gluing up dry stuff in a dry environment (with PVA) I mist the parts with water first, which helps slow the grab time a little.

 

[MG1977]

super advice guys...I'll try the misting technique and PVA...I'll let you know how I get on!

 

[Steve Maskery]

Definitely glue up in sections, especially if the individual pieces are thin.

The thinner the stock, the closer you will have to space your clamps, but you can get away with fewer clamps if your use thicker clamping cauls. And you can use your stock as the cauls.

So for example, if you have 12 strips to glue up, glue just two them together, but clamp up all twelve with the glue surface in the centre of the stack. That will maximise the spread of the pressure. Repeat with another two, until you have two stacks of 6, which you can then glue together.

It would be much easier to explain if I could scribble it on a piece of paper for you.

 

[MG1977]

Steve, got it...no need for the sketch...that makes perfect sense to me, cheers...new word of the day though...Cauls!

Everyday's a school day!

Thanks!