Laminating Little Wood into Big Slabs

A rather biased view on whether or not to use biscuit joiners for slab glue-ups—but what do you really think, Jesse?

When laminating multiple pieces of wood together to make a wide slab, you could use a biscuit joiner to align the pieces, but you'd earn the contempt of Samurai Carpenter. In this video, Jesse shows you how HE does it: tap, tap, tap. 

Step by step:

• Apply the glue to the edges of the boards. 
• Line up the pieces and apply light clamping pressure. 
• The the individual pieces up or down to make them all flush along one edge
• Crank down the clamp at one end (the end you just flushed up)
• Repeat at the other end: flush the first two boards, flush the next, etc.
• If you need to adjust the tension if the clamp in the process, do so. 
• Clamp down he second end. 
• Now, add opposing bat clamps to apply force in the opposite direction, this will keep your workpiece flat. 
• Use a straight edge to double check the flatness and adjust the. Lamps as needed. 

This works for long glue ups, short glue ups, all kinds of glue ups. 

Extra tip:

If the boards still buckle a little bit—like if one of them has a wane in the end—then you can slide little shims between the bar and the board to push it all into position. 

—The Samurai Carpenter is a timber framer and furniture maker in Victoria, BC. See more on his YouTube channel