In the next few days, we’ll release the free video series on “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t,” which will help make chairmaking accessible for more people. The chair (and stool) in the book are built using only home center materials and tools.
After finishing up the book and videos, my brain did not get the memo that the project was complete. One night this week, my brain came up with a way to glue up boards of construction lumber to make the seat without a good edge joint.
So we filmed this video where I join two factory edges from construction lumber with home center epoxy. Epoxy fills gaps. Does it work? Yes. Surprisingly well.
My brain is slow, but sometimes it does OK work. Check out the video for details
— Christopher Schwarz
A very approachable method for someone who might be intimidated by trying to get a perfect joint between two pieces. Thanks for sharing.
Dude. You’re doing God’s work here. So much woodworking content assumes we all have access to 4/4 select hardwood that we will resaw on our industrial-grade bandsaw and then surface and joint on machines that cost more than our cars. Hacking approaches to classic pieces using amateur-accessible tools and materials is a noble endeavor.
Certainly seems strong enough, but doesn’t this end up creating another issue in that you end up cutting and planing through epoxy for any subsequent operations? The few times I’ve taken an edged tool to epoxy it was not… enjoyable to say the least. PVA isn’t great either in large doses, but not as bad as epoxy I find.
If the epoxy is cured, it cuts and planes like maple. I’ve never experience a single problem with epoxy. I use the hardware-store brands, not the fancy stuff.
What sort of problems were you having cutting epoxy? I’ve not heard this complaint — ever.
Interesting, during planing operations and woodturning I found it very grabby (for lack of a better description). I’d be going along a board pulling a workable shaving then hit the epoxy and just stop or you’d feel the chatter in the turning tool. I could work it on the lathe OK, but decided to avoid it for general woodworking. I wasn’t using the hardware store stuff (was something I got for larger gap filling in bowls to see how it was to work) and it was a very long cure time (several days) so maybe even a week or two later it was still setting up to some extent. Good to know for the future that my experience is not the general one.
I’ve had good luck with Elmer’s Carpenter’s Wood Glue Max, which James Wright recommended based on his testing. It’s how I built my (your) anarchist’s workbench without a planer or the super heavy duty clamps you rec’d in the book. I just ripped the pieces on my little DeWalt table saw and glued and clamped the snot out of them. Over the next couple of years I flattened the top twice, and it’s been rock solid since then.
We have some on order to try. We’ll do the same test and report back.
In. Adhesive speak you got cohesive failure instead of adhesive failure. Yes, virtually all epoxy formulations love woid!
All good on the epoxy glue-up, my question is about appearance in the seam after. I’d suspect that the epoxy would leave a slim brown line – more visible than something like tightbond.
Anyone have thoughts or experience worth sharing?
Thnx all –
It depends on the factory edges. If you select clean ones, then the glue line is barely visible. And home center epoxy is clear, so the glue line isn’t prominent. And it can be painted.
How do you deal with the rounded over edges of the dimensional lumber?
I think if I did that with doug fir on the west coast the corners have such large roundovers there would a pretty nast surface gap when the round edges come together.
Is the yellow pine come with a more square edge?
The corners are rounded a little with yellow pine. But it looks fine on a vernacular chair. If you don’t want then, saw them off.
The prime directive for working with epoxy is NEVER, EVER, let anything but fully cured epoxy touch skin. Use nitrile gloves in case you are latex sensitive. Then you have to train yourself to not touch your face, clothes, or hat with your gloves. Touch means both liquid and dust as your eyes, sinuses, throat, and lungs will react too. Epoxy sensitization is a big deal and everyone reacts differently just like they do to allergens. Have cardboard pallets down on your bench for your tools and the epoxy containers, paper towels handy, and everything sticky that isn’t the project goes immediately into a trash container which then becomes untouchable too – so stay faithful to one container only. Once you get unmixed or partially mixed epoxy on something it should be forever treated as contaminated unless you clan clean it with acetone. If you get it on your skin, use mechanics hand soap and not a solvent to get it off. Never clean wood you intend to epoxy with anything other than acetone which is highly flammable so take precautions. Sanding the wood before gluing with 60 grit sandpaper and wiping the dust off right before gluing would be a good thing, especially with yellow pines and hardwood. Wooden boatbuilders are the unfortunate lab rats who discovered all this. I’m in the process of building a small wood/epoxy sailboat and this has been drilled into me. Google “epoxy sensitization”.
Boatbuilders also typically mix in some filler to the epoxy to make the joint stronger. I would also mix longer and more thoroughly than done in the video. Perhaps the home center stuff already has some fillers?
JohnG,
Excellent advice, especially with the “surgical field” approach to keeping the workbench clean and safe.
Can you give a brand example of “mechanics hand soap” please?
P.S. Paragraph breaks are your friend, especially when you need to emphasize individual cautions. 😉
Thank you for the second hit, on the glue line. Very cool : – ) Makes “permanent“ furniture accessible to waaay more people.
Don’t agree. I work with wood I recycle from the street or disused/abandoned buildings/parks. The stuff from the parks, in particular, is usually twisted and cracked to hell. But it just takes patience to joint the stuff, even 9 foot lengths for a workbench. For seat pieces like this, all you need is a no.4 plane, a very cambered and a less cambered iron, a straight edge and some patience.
We have to develop our skills, not find workarounds (IMHO).
🙂
I’ve also had good luck with Hide glue mixed with sawdust. add a dash of water because the sawdust pulls in some moisture. Epoxy is certainly more available, though my H-D does sell titebond Liquid Hide Glue.
I offer for your consideration when referring to the book title: “The Bullsit Chair.”