Making Projects from Edge Glued
Offcuts, Pre-used Boards & Scraps
For information on the plan for this
project,
please see notes at the page bottom.
I needed a project for a my sister-in-law as a housewarming gift. She always admired our potato & onion bin and so I decided to make one for her. The only problem was I had no wood on hand except a bunch of used 1 x 4 pine with rounded over edges. Gee, it would be nice if I could somehow use that, but I needed some pieces which were 11 1/4" wide. If I could only do a glue-up of this material, it would be just like the stock I had purchased and used before, and exactly what she wanted. But I thought I couldn't do it,,,,,,or could I,,,,,hmmmm.
I contacted a couple of my web friends and contributors to Grampa's Workshop, namely Vin Vincent of Massachusetts, USA and Jim Barry of Newfoundland, Canada. They advised me just how easy it is, and gave me the simple instructions, and voila,,,I've now got one potato and onion bin for Lucille's new house.
It's amazing what you can come up with, if you only try! And so I thought that this month, instead of a new project, I would pass on a new technique for other rookies like me, to help broaden your abilities.
Let me say at the outset, we're not talking "fine furniture" here. There are those of us who will be light years ahead of the rest of us, when it comes to doing glue-ups and can do a really professional job of it. But for all the rest of us, doing less sophisticated types of projects, this might prove to be an answer. Let me show you the easy steps I followed, in this my first attempt at edge-to-edge gluing of boards.
What you see to the right, is a sample of the boards I started with, and beside them to the right, is the finish sanded front of my project. I had been given some previously used pine boards which all had the edges rounded over. They had been nailed from one side to cleats, which held them together as sort of a panel. By cutting out and discarding all the bent and cupped pieces in these boards, I was able to salvage enough good wood to make this project. By following the steps which I'll outline here, this nice potato and onion bin was created, ALL from used lumber.
Once I had all the good pieces chosen, the next step was to cut off the edges at a perfect 90 degrees. To do this, you've got to have a small metal precision square (mine is 3"), which I bought at my local Lee Valley store, for about $10.00 Cdn. Your edges must be at exactly 90 degrees so that the resulting glued up assembly is flat. With this precision square you can check and adjust if necessary, your saw's blade, to a perfect 90 degrees.
When you've got your saw's blade to 90 degrees, cut as much off the sides as you need, to have perfectly square and fresh edges.
By the way, use your blade guard. I used mine as well - I only removed it for the photo, and in this shot, the blade wasn't really turning - Honest!
The next step is to glue the boards together, edge to edge. Apply a "fresh" cabinet makers glue to the edges, and spread to completely cover each edge. You don't need that much glue though, because we're going to be clamping these boards together and a lot will squeeze out and create both a mess and more work in clean up and/or sanding for yourself.
The next step is the clamping. First
of all, put waxed paper on your work surface. This will make your
life easier. Believe me no boards will be stuck to your
worksurface where the glue squeezes out! Try to align the boards
so that you've got at least one side of your assembly perfectly
flat. Work quickly here though, while the glue will still allow a
bit of movement. You can correct uneveness after the glue dries,
with your sander. But why not try to minimize the amount of
sanding that will be required now. If you've got a board or two
which won't cooperate. wrap your assembly with waxed paper, put a
piece of flat hardwood on both sides of the assembly and clamp at
both ends. The uncooperative boards will soon come into line.
Where the glue squeezes out between the boards, it can easily be removed with a damp cloth. Try to remove as much as you can to minimize the amount of sanding required later, because there can be no glue left on the surface you wish to stain, otherwise the wood will not take the stain.
Try to use your clamps from alternating sides, to compensate for the natural tendency of a clamped up arrangment to acquire a curvature from the clamping pressure. Putting a clamp on the other side, will tend to offset this tendency.
Once the arrangement has had time to dry, preferably at least 8 hours, it's sanding time. Use a coarse sand paper to start with and move to a finer grade as you progress, down to a fine grade to complete the job. Once you can feel nothing but smoothness, your sanding job is done. Inspect your glued up piece to be sure all of the glue on the surface has been removed.
You are now ready to start cutting
your assembly into the required pieces of your project, and then
of course to start your project assembly stage.
This shot was taken during the assembly stage of my project.
Having
enough clamps,,, does anyone have all they need? LOL
The Bessey K-Body Clamps are the best I've seen, but if you're
like me, and find those a bit pricey, the Tradesman models will
do just fine too.
Check out the selections here by clicking on the small photos below.
 |
Bessey K-Body Clamps Jaws are always 90° to the rail –– assemblies always glue up square... |
 |
Bessey Tradesman Bar Clamps A comfortable wood-handled grip is built right into this general purpose clamp... |
When you make something out of scrap wood which you have salvaged and glued up, you'll not only have a nice project, but you'll feel great because of your salvage effort to say nothing of the money you'll save.
And once again, I've just got to acknowledge the great advice I received on my first glue up attempt from both Vin Vincent of Massachusetts, USA and Jim Barry of Gander, Nfld. Canada. Thanks a lot guys!
Here is the completed project. This Potato & Onion bin is the same project as I have previously shown on this page a few months ago, but this time it was made as a gift and with recycled wood, just as I have outlined above.
I hope that I have inspired some relatively new woodworkers like me, to just try new techniques of construction. Like I always say, you'll be amazed at what you can do if you just try it!
The Plan
The
plan is #W126 Potato/Onion Bin and is
available at Meisel Specialties. Here's a link to their site:
http://www.meiselwoodhobby.com/
Look in the "Kitchen" section and then in "Cabinets".
YOU'LL
PROBABLY WANT TO GET THESE THINGS TOO!
You
should probably order their hardware package
#1520
for
this project consisting of 2 ea. colonial H offset hinges, 2 each
T hinges, hinge screws, 2 ceramic knobs and one magnetic catch.
Some of these are unique to this project, so it's a good idea!
And the decal #1151 makes
a nice finishing touch. The good news... all are quite
affordable!
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