Thread: Glueing iron bark boards

1/ Any yellow glue would do. I would use either Titebond I or II.

2/ That would help to align the boards and that is a step I always do.

3/ I don’t think so. Some people say it will starve the joint but I don’t believe it.

Just put enough of pressure so the joint is closed nicely. Make sure the surface remains flat. You can do so by alternating the clamp position. That is 1 clamp above the surface and one under the surface.


It’s a very big table so you will find it very difficult to glue it up in 1 go. I normally do mine in stages. I do it 2 boards at a time.

I've been using Titebond III for it's longer open time and it's still a challenge to move things a bit on my bench top glueup. If this is your first big glue up. I'd suggest using a glue with a longer open time to give you a bit more time to get everything aligned before the glue really takes grip.

45 is pretty thick and heavy for a table top. What size boards are you gluing together and how will you be doing the final flattening?

That is a huge table top and you are going to need a few blokes to help lift it. In boards that long good jointing will be all important in getting a good result. Due to the size biscuits may be a good idea as this will help align the boards ans save you a lot of work in the flattening stage. Ironbark will be a chalange to plane so how do you intend flattening the top?
I would do the glue up in stages.
It will be a lot of work but ironbark is a lovely looking timber.
Regards
John

I don’t know what your skill level is and what tools you have. It would be a challenge to get a 3m board flat and the joining edges true. Let us know how you go.

Here is on I prepared earlier.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f187/b...h-table-85686/

It's only 2.5m long but is was hard enough for me. (2.5m = 10ft )

Thanks for all the replies fellows.

You may think me an ignoramus because I'm not sure what you mean by "final flattening", but I assume it means sanding the table top flat after the glue. The guy at Shiver Me Timbers assured me all the boards (recycled) would be perfectly flat and square, so I was thinking after the glue it would be a matter of running the orbital sander over the top??? (Your proberly all laughing right now)

You are not wrong there. If the boards are flat and true before glue-up, then the finished top should be pretty much flat. All you have to do is run a ROS over it starting with 80 grit, then 120 then 180.

thanks Wongo - I'll let you know how it turns out.

One more question - I plan to join a couple of boards at a time, how long do I leave the clamps on before clamping on another board? Thanks.

I don't know what dimension boards you are using. There will be differences between joining boards face to face vs edge to edge. This video from Paul Sellers might help with a few tips on how to align boards on edge. This is a workbench series and your top will be thinner but pretty much everything else is likely to be similar. If you are doing edge to edge of wide boards you might be able to do it by gravity alone.

Even well prepared timber is flexible and you will need to pull boards into line. The video series covers how to prepare the timber, how much glue to use, how to clamp and for how long.

I figure your bench top is going to be over 100kg. Have you thought about how you are going to move around a 3m long 100kg block?

I usually leave it overnight, but sometimes I leave it for 5-6 hours.