Gluing with Off-Cut Strips

I need to get these mortise and tenon joints assembled. And the key to this is to very carefully get glue inside the mortise, not make a big mess. I don't want to have it smeared all over the top here. Very difficult to clean up later, especially in this case where these vertical slats are gonna be so close together, be very, very hard to get in here and clean that. So one of the things I found is that when I'm cutting in the shop, ripping on the table saw, I often end up with these small off cuts that come off the blade.

And instead of throwing 'em out, I started keeping 'em. And what's worked out really well is that I can take these off cuts to a disc sander, I can shape the ends any way I want. And I found that they were great for glue applicators. So, I can take a nice pointy end like this, get this in the glue and then, with great control, I can apply that inside the mortise. Get just the right amount of glue in there, so that it doesn't end up all over the surface.

It's nice 'cause you can get those tips shaped to whatever you need depending on what kind of joint you're trying to put together. And they're free because they're coming off your table saw anyway, probably would end up in the garbage, if you weren't using them for this. With that one painted, we can slip the tenon in there. A perfect application of glue with no squeeze out at all. A couple more to go, I'll be able to put this whole assembly together.