The glue-up
Glue-up time! First thing: sanding. Then more sanding, to make sure everything was truly nice and smooth, and that all the drum sander, blade, and router marks were gone. Then it was glue-up time, using Titebond’s liquid hide glue:
Glue-up time!
Why liquid hide glue?
I prefer to use liquid hide glue for the following reasons:
- It acts as a great “lubricant”, and it actually helps the joinery slide in much more easily when the fit is a bit on the tight side, as finger joints must be.
- It has a very long open time; this is perfect when I have many areas to cover. Just take one look at the corners on this little cabinet — it has a bunch of finger joints, and glue must be applied to every one of them with an acid brush.
- Liquid hide glue, like its counterpart, hot hide glue, can be repaired, unlike modern yellow glues.
- Liquid hide glue will not interfere with the Waterlox varnish I will apply as the finish.
Clamping
Clamping is a must when using finger joint joinery. I don’t use cauls when I use the Bessey clamps, as I have installed cork with packing tape over the cork; this keeps the glue from sticking to the clamp/cork surfaces. Eliminating the cauls simplifies the glue-up. I recommend you do this, too.
Joint clean-up
Following the glue-up, I always use a scraper, to remove the excess glue. Then I use a hand plane to flush the fingers to the rest of the board:
The best way to get the fingers flush to the boards: a hand plane.
In this case I sanded all surfaces, following the hand plane. The reason: all boards have a lot of figure, and I did not want to run the risk of tear-out. Sanding was truly my friend this time.
Time for doors
Once the glue set, it was time to start on the doors. The book-matched door boards were well acclimated to the shop environment, and they were ready to cut just oversize at the table saw. Then I trimmed them to size on the shooting board:
Trimming the doors to height on the shooting board.
Next: trim the doors to width, make the hinges and the door pulls, and install the hinges. Only then will this cabinet be ready for the finish.
— Al Navas
About Al Navas
Hi Al!
I have the exact plane with the Hock blade and chip breaker, but it leaves the mouth too tight. Did you have to file yours in order to take a descent fluffy..?
Nice finger joints!
No filing, Hoody. In fact, this is the first run, with nice, fluffy shavings:
I did a write-up in this article
I am glad you like the finger joints!
Al, those finger joints are already spectacular. Once the finish hits them, wow!
Thanks, Vic!
That was the main reason I wanted the rounded tenons for the shelf – to play the square fingers against the rounded corners.
Great work ! I like your shooting board it is made by you or is it from evenfall studios ?
Julio,
It is one of the models from Evenfall Studios. I love it!