If you need wide, solid wood panels for your next project, you’re going to have to glue them up. Doing a good panel glue up isn’t hard, but there are specific steps you need to follow, and things you need to take care of, to make sure the panel glue up turns out well. A well composed panel can easily end up looking like one large piece of wood, with no seams at all.
What are we looking for?
There are a number of things to keep in mind as you work on gluing boards up to make a large panel. They include color match, grain pattern match, quality of the joints, amount of glue used, and more. You’ll learn about all of these things in this video.
Questions we’ll answer for you
There are some very common questions about panel glue up that we’ll take care of for you in this video. Should you use biscuits or dominoes or dowels in the joint? How do you know the joints are sound? How much glue should be used? How large should the glue up be compared to the final panel required for the project? What’s the best way to handle squeeze out? You’ll get answers to all of these questions.
Wanna know more?
This is a pretty comprehensive video, but WoodWorkers Guild of America has a great depth of information ready to help you out. If you want to go even more in depth, we’ve got it for you, and you can learn more on gluing up panels.
What are your clamps called in this panel glue up video? Where could we purchase some?
Hi Elias,
Thank you for the question, here is the response from the experts with the clamp details:
https://amzn.to/2Hr7wxD
Here you go!
Paul
Woodworkers Guild of America
Excellent video!
I’ve been using a router glue joint bit for joining 3/4″ boards, thinking that it increases the surface area for gluing and thus results in a stronger bond. But when clamping the boards together, there’s a tendency for the board joints to not be totally straight and level with bowing at the joints as well as the difficulty in surface alignment. From your video, all that should be totally unnecessary and if all that I need are straight edges and the same board thicknesses, that should make these glue-ups a lot easier, especially with the post-joining sanding/planing. Thank you.
I went through high school about 50 years ago. After an extended hiatus I’m getting back into wood working. My shop teacher taught us to put a single layer of newspaper in the glue joints. He claimed it made them stronger and reduced slipping and squeeze out. We used the original tight bond glue. I have not seen this technique used in recent web based instruction. Have you heard of this? What’s changed? Perhaps it was only used on face to face glue ups? Thanks.
Hello Tad,
Thank you for the question, here is the reply from the expert:
A paper joint is commonly used in joinery that you want to be able to disassemble later by using a chisel to separate the pieces by tearing the paper apart. I’ve never heard of using that technique to enhance the strength of a glue joint, and I wouldn’t recommend it. A good glue joint is already stronger than the surrounding wood, and I don’t see how a piece of newspaper will help it.
Paul
Woodworkers Guild of America
What are those clamps called?
Hi Cheryl,
Thank you for contacting us. Here is the response from the experts with the information about those clamps:
Here you go: https://amzn.to/2Hr7wxD
Paul
Woodworkers Guild of America
Wished you would have told us about the squeeze out on the under side of those 3 boards?
Great advice. I learned to do the “rubbery” glue when I taught beginner classes.
George, I’ve always thought using cauls was best practice on a flat panel glue-up, but haven’t seen you use them. Do you use only when necessary to tame a misalignment, or never at all?
Dear Timothy,
Thank you for your patience. In response to your question-
Using cauls is a good way to force the boards in a panel into alignment during a glue up. If you are careful, however, and glue-up larger panels in stages, you can achieve similar results by simply forcing the boards flush at each clamp as you tighten, and making any adjustments as soon as you notice any misalignment. I do not bother with cauls or biscuits when gluing up panels, and find that I can achieve great alignment every time as long as I am careful and have done a good job prepping the boards (face joint, plane and rip).
Paul
Woodworkers Guild of America
I have been told to alternate “cup” of the grain of the boards. Is that not necessary?
Dear Danny,
Thank you for your patience. In response to your question-
Alternating growth rings can offset the cupping across multiple boards in a panel if the boards aren’t stable. That said, I would not suggest using boards that are not stable for a glue-up. Be sure that the boards are fully dried before starting your project, and let the boards acclimate to your shop for a few days before milling. With that approach you can orient the growth rings however you want, and arrange the boards based on what looks the best.
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Sincerely,
Paul
Woodworkers Guild of America
I’ve been doing everything outlined here but your tips on the amount of glue was very helpful. If anything I tended to put too little glue on to minimize squeeze out, but having a visual reference will make it easier to judge how much is applied. Thanks. By the way George, you must be working out and/or dieting as you’re looking pretty buff these days.
While I agree with, and use, your approach, I have also found that pocket screws work very well and I have used them without glue to join panels. Have you used this approach and, if so, what’s your opinion?
Hi Mike. I haven’t used this approach before. I’d say that there’s nothing wrong with it as long as you can achieve good alignment at the time of assembly. I wouldn’t want to run a screwed panel through a planer or drum sander.
Thanks
Paul-WWGOA
Old school, I was taught to first lay out the boards by alternating the boards cup up then cup down by looking at the end grain (growth rings) of each board to minimize future warping.
When I glue boards up it tends to bow in the middle. Is this too much pressure or should i clamp on the top?
Hi Eric. I think you are on the right track in your analysis. I believe that the two main culprits that cause this problem are 1) too much clamp pressure. You only need to ensure that the joints close and you get a bit of glue squeeze out. No need to crush the wood. 2) uneven clamp pressure. Pipe clamps in particular seem to cause flexing of the panel, so if you are using pipe clamps I would definitely suggest alternating clamps on top and bottom. Even when I am using bar clamps I still do this, even those clamps pull more evenly and are less likely to cause a bowing problem.
Thanks
Paul-WWGOA