62 - Box Joint Jig, страница 20
TECHNIQUE Great Glue-ups A Appearance. To get a good-looking, wide panel, it's best to avoid drawing attention to a joint line. To do this, arrange boards so curved patterns merge (left) and straight-grained boards are positioned to create an "invisible" joint (right). way, the boards will "melt" together to form a panel that looks like a single, wide board. The one thing you don't want to do is rush this process. Spend some time turning the individual boards over. I even like to flip them end for end. This way, I'll be sure to "see" all the possibilities. Wood Movement - like most woodworkers, I try to alternate the end grain of adjacent boards as I make up the panel. The thought is that this will minimize any chance of the wood moving and the panel cupping after it's been glued up. But to be honest, if it comes down to making a choice between alternating the boards or not, I select the best color and grain match first. This way, I know 111 end up with panel that's looks good. And as for flatness, I haven't noticed much of a problem. What's more important to me is how the edge grain matches. As you ** can see in Figure la, I do my best to orient the edge grain so each board is going in the same direction. Take the mystery out of gluing up a solid wood panel by following a simple step-by-step process. Making a glued-up panel seems like such a simple process. Just take a bunch of narrower boards and glue them together into the size you need. But as you may have guessed (or experienced yourself), there's a lot more to it. Ending up with a panel that's not only great-looking but starts out and stays flat, isn't just luck. Ifs a deliberate step-by-step process that starts long before you squeeze out that first bead of glue. SELECTING & ARRANGING BOARDSMaking a panel starts with selecting the boards you'll be gluing together. And unless you have a large supply of lumber in your shop, selecting the boards starts with a trip to the store. Selection - When sorting through the lumber pile, it's a good idea to go through a mental checklist as you look at each board. First, make sure the boards don't exhibit any warp (like cup, twist, or bow). There's no point in starting out with problems that might show up later in your panel. Color - Once I have a pile of suitable boards, the next thing I look for are boards that are close in color. There's nothing worse than a panel where one board stands out from all the others because it's lighter or darker than the rest Grain - Now that the boards are matched, you'll want to take some time to study the surface grain of each board. This way, you can visualize the overall grain pattern the panel will have once the boards are glued together. What I look for here is to match the grain that runs along the edge of each board so one curve flows into another, like the photo at the lower left shows. Or straight-grained lines on one board match those on the board next to it (right photo). This 20 ShopNotes No. 62 |
