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I have a jointed edge, cherry, that failed. The whole area is about 15″ long and the end back about 6″ has seperated. I suspect that I was over zealous in clamping and I have a glue starve join.
There is no reasonable way to take out the panel to work on it. I will have to reglue it. How do I do this? I have seen those quick setting glues, with names I cannot pronounce, would that hold?
The item is a doll cradle and it has and will see the use of a little girl that uses it for things other than doll.
Thank you.
Jerry Thompson
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Jerry,
With the information at hand; re joint, re glue (with what ever you used the first time), re clamp, re assemble. "Reasonable" really doesn't tell us too much.
What would really help is knowing what type of glue was used and the joinery of the stiles/rails that the panel sits in.
My suspicions are that the edges in question were not properly joined in the first place or the stock had not reached equilibrium. 15" is not very long and to have 6" joint failure at one end represents over 1/3 of the joint. One shouldn't have to "spring" joint a piece that short, IMO.
If you suspect the joint was "starved" and the others held, it's not the glue, IMHO, just the method. FWIW.
Dano
*I’m not really sure that it is possible for a joint to become glue starved from over clamping. The very act of over clamping would tend to force the glue deep into the pores, which is how glue works, that is, by "keying" into the pores. Squirting more glue into the joint won’t work, unless you used hide glue, as all other glues seal the pores, and prevent or at least seriously hinder any successful bond.
*Rob,I would agree with you in the sense that over clamping in and of itself will not cause a glued joint to be "starved". Perhaps the glue was spread to thin, didn't set long enough, temperature too low, old glue or any combination.On an edge jointed by hand or the jointer where the joint is glass smooth, I would disagree that clamping forces the glue into the pores, especially in tightly grained hard woods. The glue will follow the least path of resistance, so to speak. This is more of an opinion than fact, I will admit.Most of what I do is in White Oak or Cherry, while I have never had to go back and repair a failed joint on a piece that was sold, knock on wood; I have have had a few edge joints fail prior to final assembly. In most cases, the failures were because the glue was applied too thinly.Personally, I carefully inspect and test any panel before it goes into it's frame precisely because of the dilemma that Jerry is now facing.If he used hide or white glue through out, the problem is not insurmountable; inject the rail/stile joints with warm water and it can be easily disassembled with some patience. On the other hand if a yellow (like TiteBond II), poly, or epoxy glue was used the problem now becomes a real challenge.Any who, these are my thoughts based on what little information that we have. Hopefully, Jerry will let us know more.Dano
*I tried to send a .jpg and the file was too large. I hope I have reduced it enough to fly this time.How about using inlayed "butterflies?" that would do it. Except I don't know if I have room enough to get a router in that area. No, I am not about to try this by hand.Jerrt
*One possible solution, if the joint is now stabilized is to use color matched epoxy. I use 220 grit sanding dust as a colorant and experiment with quantity of dust added to get color match right.
*I think butterfly keys would work. I am an admitted hand tool devotee. Although, I use my router all the time, I would be far more comfortable doing the keys by hand. Try it on some scrap, with a sharp chisel, and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to get a perfect fit. Furniture making is composed of nothing more and nothing less that sawing, planing or chiseling to a line, and hand tools excel at all these. I should have noted in my first posing, that while I have never used them, I believe some of the epoxies marketed for woodworking would also solve your problem, as they don’t require pore penetration to effect a good bond.
*I think I will take a look at the epoxy first. If I have to cut a key, by hand or with a router I do not think my heart would take it. I would probably practice until my grandaugter was 30 before I tried it on that piece. My wife and I sweated blood doing it. It was the first project after being out of wood working for 7 years and everything that could go wrong did. Lucky we have a strong marriage or that would have been out the window.Thank you.Jerry
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