# Gluing boards together



## CanadaJeff (Jul 8, 2008)

Hi everyone, 
I have only done this a few times, but both times its seems to have failed. A little while back I tried making a chess board by cutting the strips of wood and than gluing them together to make the checkered pattern, however after gluing the board was noticably warped. More recently I tried making a lazy susan by gluing up two boards, however once again the boards seem to have a warp in them.

What am I missing, or what am I doing wrong thats causing this. Has anyone else had this issue?
Any help would be great

Cheers
Jeff


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## croquetman (Apr 22, 2009)

I have made many chess boards. First you cut the white and black strips. These are jointed and edge glued together as a white and black striped board. To get it flat use pipe clamps under the glue-up and do not over press or it will creep. Once dry cut the other way, flip alternate strips, re-glue. Obviously, you need to make the correct number of stripes and strips for the 8×8 pattern, but I didn't think I needed to mention that. Also, it will tend to warp less if the boards are thick. So … jointed edges, not too much pressure, good support underneath the glue-up so you can make sure it's flat, and use wood that is thick enough to get a good edge for gluing. Good luck.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

croquetman - you definitely did not need to mention that its required to have the correct number of stripes for the 8×8 pattern. lol ;o)

as mentioned the thicker the pieces, the less it'll warp.

another thing you can do is use cauls under and over the boards being glued together and clamp those to "press" the boards in alignment - this will help minimize that warping.

when working with thicker stock - using biscuits, or braces can also help keep boards in alignment.

but bottom line - this is wood, if it has tension in it, it'll warp regardless of glue ups. after you do glue a panel , you still need to plane it down to final thickness and dimensions. so a good rule of thumb is to joint oversized boards, and not to try and glue up to a final dimension.


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## Kindlingmaker (Sep 29, 2008)

Yup! What PurpLev wrote.


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## marcb (May 5, 2008)

Too much pressure not centered on the glue up causes it to move a little with the pressure.

Last time I tried to cut a corner and used my pipe clamps from top down I got a little bow on the top of the glue up, As the pressure was just on the lips of the clamps and pulled the wood up.


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## TheCaver (Nov 21, 2007)

You should not be getting any warp on settled stock after glue up, unless you have let it sit for a month, even then….

Are you rough milling your stock and letting it acclimate properly before finish milling? Jointer producing 90 degree boards? Even a .1 degree bevel across a glue up will wreak havoc.

Also, try an old hand tool trick. Mark the tops of all your panels, then do a light pass on the jointer on each edge, but on every other board, run it with the mark facing the fence. This will cause any bevel to be canceled out on adjoining boards….

JC


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## Catspaw (Dec 15, 2007)

My procedure is to always rough the stock, glue-up, THEN mill. Very rarely have I ever been able to glue anything up that was near finish milled and have it where wanted it.


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## CanadaJeff (Jul 8, 2008)

Yep, rookie mistake I guess.
I'm pretty limited in my tools and don't have a planer so the option to glue than plane to the desired thickness wasn't an option for me. Thanks for the tips, I am going to try making a router planer jig this weekend that I saw online, perhaps that will help plane the warps out of my projects.


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