The moment of truth. The point of no return. The bridge beyond despair. Okay, I made that last one up. Time to glue up the lid.
I felt like a surgeon preparing for a big operation. First, I did about three dry runs to practice the glue-up, assembly and “cord clamping”. Finally, it was time. I laid out all of my equipment in the order in which I’d need it: glue, spreader (the innards of a foam brush), two squares for the opposite corners, parachute cord and a pencil for tightening, small clamp to hold the pencil in place, and a ruler to measure the diagonals for square. It was harrowing and yet fun.
When it was all said and done, I had a squared-up lid. For the cord clamp, I actually ran the cord in the key slots. I then tied two loops near each end and ran a pencil through those loops. Then I wound the pencil up as tightly as possible, and used the clamps merely to keep the pencil from spinning back the other way.
One last shot just for a different angle:
Next stop: Cutting the keys, and slicing off some veneer for the top and bottom of the lid.
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May 1, 2008 at 11:14 am
Bob Easton
Wouldn’t these glue up adventures be a lot less harrowing if we had glues with much longer “open” times? I switched to Titebond’s Hide glue for exactly that reason. It has 2-3 times as much open time as the stuff I see in your photo. Still need the dry runs though to ensure everything is at hand.
May 2, 2008 at 2:41 am
Eric
I’ve thought about that myself, but even with all my rushing, I think I still had plenty of time (in this case). What is it with Titebond, 5 minutes or something? I think I had it all together and wound-up in probably a minute, not more than two.