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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Liquid hide glue, like its counterpart, hot hide glue, can be repaired, unlike modern yellow glues.
4. 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