Gluing Top and Bottom Shelf

This post continues my documentation of my EC&I 831 Learning Project, where I am making my own coffee table.

Now that I had my boards cut down to the lengths I wanted and the edges squared off, it was time to put the top and bottom shelf surfaces together.
The best way to do this is with wood glue.

To keep things all aligned, I created a triangle with my pencil, like suggested by this video:

If you look close enough, you can see the triangle drawn on here to align the boards.
If you look close enough, you can see the triangle drawn on here to align the boards.

It was also critical to use clamps. The clamps ensure that the boards straighten out and the table top will actually be flat. This video was useful for outlining the need for this and ways to ensure it.

I was surprised to learn that the glue will actually be stronger than the wood. This means that the wood will break before the gluing will separate. He goes into planing which I will be creating an entirely separate post about.Here are some images from my experience gluing both the top of my coffee table and bottom shelf of the table together.

Applying the glue to each side of each board.
Applying the glue to each side of each board.
I used a scrap piece of thin wood to spread the glue out a little, to ensure it would cover the entire edge.
I used a scrap piece of thin wood to spread the glue out a little, to ensure it would cover the entire edge.
All the boards with one side glued.
All the boards with one side glued.
The excess glue squeezing out evenly from the boards.
The excess glue squeezing out evenly from the boards.
All the boards for the table top clamped together.
All the boards for the table top clamped together.

There are a ton of tips and resources online for gluing the wood together. They can get very technical very fast. So, like other aspects of the learning project, I think it’s best to have someone experienced with this nearby (like I did) so they can help you identify any potential trouble spots early on.

Share this article
Shareable URL
Prev Post

Cuts for the Table

Next Post

Flattening Surfaces with a Hand Plane

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Read next

How can we help?

When I first read about teens using the internet to self-harm this week, I was shocked. Some teens are using…