I was gluing up panels wrong for a decade until a client pointed out my own table

I always stacked heavy books on my glue-ups to keep them flat, but a client in Austin last month asked why the top of her new coffee table had a slight bow. I realized my 'weight' method wasn't giving even pressure across the whole panel, just in spots. What's your go-to method for a perfectly flat glue-up, clamps or something else?

4 comments

4 Comments

terryh201mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, you used books for a whole decade?

grace_knight701mo ago

You think that's a long time?

danielb4324d ago

Yeah I totally used to think the same way actually. Like I'd see someone mention a few years with something and think that's not really a big deal. But @grace_knight70 your post really got me thinking about it differently now. I've been around long enough to see how much can change in even a couple years let alone a whole decade. It's kind of wild when you stop and really think about the time span. Makes my old opinions feel pretty short sighted now honestly.

ryan_ellis24d ago

terryh20 beat me to it - books for a decade? That's rough, man. But here's the thing, what kind of books were you using? Were they thick textbooks or just random paperbacks? The reason I ask is because weight distribution changes a ton depending on what you stack on there. Hardcovers might give you more uniform pressure than a stack of paperbacks that could still leave gaps.