Wednesday 27 February 2013
Speedy glue up of smaller parts.
I’ve been wanting to share this little tip for quite some time. My father showed it to me about 20 years ago or so and I have yet to find another woodworker who has heard of it. I do a lot of small projects in my shop, from fretwork to puzzles and beyond. I’m always needing to glue some little parts together and don’t have the patience to wait for em to dry. That’s where this trick comes in. The microwave. When gluing up your work get the pieces positioned to where you want them. This works if the parts will fit in a microwave of course. Put a piece of wax paper in the microwave and carefully set you glued up pieces in making sure they are still positioned properly. Nuke em for no more than 15 seconds. Take theme out and make sure they’re still positioned correctly and clamp if needed. This can cut your wait time down to a easy 30 minutes.
My interpretation of what happens is that the microwave causes the wood to expand a bit due to the moisture in it thus pulling the glue into the wood for a deeper, quicker bond. I’m no scientist so my theory could be wrong, but …it works.
Crafty Puzzles