Sanding mission furniture...

[Rob25]

So, I have made some mission chairs, and I absolutely hate sanding the slats after the complete glue up. So what does everyone recomend to clean the glue out of the tight corners? Is there a small hand plane out there, chisel it out? Also, how do you guys do the glue ups? Do you tape your joints? Use minimal glue, with little squeeze out?

Im interested in your thoughts...

[drumpriest]

Hey Rob, I have a few approaches depending upon the glue up. In something like a mission piece I'm assuming you are doing mortise and tenon joinery. One approach is to only glue the mortise and tenon, and not the shoulders. There is little strength added by that end grain to long grain joint, and it minimizes squeeze out.

Another is to dry fit the piece and seal it, then do the glue up, this should prevent the glue from bonding well when it squeezes out.

I personally tape off my joints with painters tape, wait for the glue to partially dry (30mins-1hour) then go in with a small chisel and remove the hardened glue bits. Then remove the tape.

[cabinetman]

I use a thin application of glue to the M&T, anywhere there is a wood to wood mating comprising the joint. I don't do any taping, but do a serious clean up with a wet rag and water of any squeeze out (I call spooging), immediately after clamping. I found waiting and then chiseling out dried or semi dry glue is a PITA, and risks gouging. I hate taping off areas, it's time consuming, and it seems the glue can seep under the edges.
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[LarryG]

For dried glue, a lot depends on how well you can access it. A chisel plane, or a bullnose plane with a removable nose piece (thus converting it into a chisel plane) works well if there is adequate room. One problem with these tools is that they can have a tendency to nose-dive into the wood, removing more than just glue. Another is that they're a little spendy.

If access is really tight, another option is a skew chisel, or a cranked-neck paring chisel, or a combination of both. I own this Lee Valley three-piece set, and find the three chisels it contains an economical solution to a lot of tricky little jobs, including glue removal.

For removal during the glue-up itself, like Keith I don't apply glue where it's not really needed, and I also tape areas that are difficult to access. A careful taping job is highly effective and saves a lot of time in the long run; the only real problem I've found with it is that you have to be careful when taping plywood, as the tape can pull an ultra-thin veneer loose all to easily (the trick is to "roll" the tape off by pulling it at an angle). Unlike Keith, I clean up the squeeze out immediately, using a damp sponge or an old toothbrush. Any that gets missed is removed with one of the aforementioned planes or chisels.

[pelligrini]

If access is really tight, another option is a skew chisel, or a cranked-neck paring chisel, or a combination of both. I own this Lee Valley three-piece set, and find the three chisels it contains an economical solution to a lot of tricky little jobs, including glue removal.

That looks like a really useful set.
I been using a set of corner cleaning knives http://www.woodcraft.com/product.asp...5&FamilyID=302 for a short time. They have been fairly handy so far, except that I always grab the opposite one that I need every single time.

[SARGE..g-47]

I pre-sand dis-assembled and then tape off with blue painters tape. A good suggetion has already beem made IMO of only putting glue on the long grain in lieu of an end grain shoulder. I scrap (if any which there is usually not after taping) with the flat side of a plane iron hand held veritical or the same with vertical held back flat side of a chisel.

And skew chisels do come in handy as Scott I believe mentioned using the same method if you have some. If not and have some old junkers around.. you can have a set in about 30 minutes using a grinder that work fine for the glue scrap purpose.

[Tom Miller]

Another option -- depending on the design of the piece, consider not gluing the M&T joints of the slats at all. That will only work if the slats are captured by a frame that will provide enough strength on its own. If you can get away with this, boy, does it make the glue-up less hectic!

Otherwise, I concur with the advice to glue only the tenon cheeks. Also, your mortises should be deep enough so that there's a void for excess glue to collect. This ensures that you don't have to fight hydraulic force to seat the joint, but it also helps you avoid the unwanted squeeze-out.

Taping is good, too, on joints where the squeeze-out is unavoidable.

Regards,
Tom

[drumpriest]

Larry, thanks for linking those chisels, they look excellent for clean up work! I used to try and clean up the glue with a wet rag, but from doing too many stained red oak projects for my parents (they just like it, don't ask me), I found it often sealed the wood regardless of how much I thinned it. The open pore nature of it just keylated the glue/water solution in.

I caught the let it dry and pop it off tip from Marc at the wood whisperer, works great in most situations for me. I think it is really helped by the taping off, as the glue isn't allowed to sit on the wood. This is especially important for thin veneer ply, which is SO easily damaged by squeeze out. Life is so much nicer when working with solid wood.