There are many innovations, modifications and ideas that people develop and employ to make woodworking easier, quicker and more accurate ... are are a few that I use from time to time ..
#1 Board Glue-up Alignments & #2 Clamping Extension
Often one of most frustrating parts of woodworking is gluing boards together. This is especially true if the boards are already planed to thickness and just need to be glued together. When we apply glue the boards tend to slip and slide and even using a biscuit joiner does not eliminate the problem because most biscuits fit loosely in the slots and this still allows the boards to slide up and down enough to come out alignment. One way of helping to combat this is using "U alingners". These are small "U" shaped, shop made clamp accessories the sit above and below the glue joints and help to align the boards on each side.
When I glue boards, I try to align the centers, which often means the ends are out alignment and these little clamping accessories can help bring those board ends back into alignment with one another. The nice thing is they have a hole in the middle so the glue can dry naturally then in 30 or so minutes, when you take the clamps off to scrape the excess glue off, you can scrape the whole board clean.
#3 Single Corner Alignments
90 Degree clamping is always a tricky especially if you are gluing. Some times I am just repairing one side of a frame or door or even just wanting to hold it while perform so other woodworking chore and this 45 degree clamp works great. One clamp and one side and of course if you were gluing a picture frame together you could use 4 of these, one on each corner ... or you could go right to the next hack.
#4 Gluing up Picture Frames
And still with gluing up 90 degree corners, or whole picture frames, using a "Tie-Down" that is long enough to wrap around the whole frame could be a better alternative. Using the same 90 degree angle pieces, wrap the tie-down around the whole frame *be sure to take a moment to align the corners before you tighten up* and you will end up with a well clamped frame that just needs to wait for glue to dry.
#5 Helping Hand
Probably my favorite hack. I work alone most of the time so having another set of hands sure comes in handy sometimes and with these 90 degree clamps I can hold sides together easily and take a moment to align them so that I make sure I amd doing a good job of the assembly. These are super useful items and easy to make. Just make sure you cut off a small piece on the middle point so that the device will fit snugly on to both sides (and having that small notch out will help keep glue from sticking to the device as well).
Some cool ideas, easy build and make them what ever size fits your projects ... or make them in a few different sizes
Copyright Colin Knecht
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