Farm table glue up

[Leroy Pate]

I'm building a 36" X 96" table. The top consist of (7) 2X6 wide. I'm joining the 2" edges with Kreg screws @ 12" oc with biscuits in between. In gluing up the joints the good face will be down and not accessible to cleaning the the joints. I don't think I can get tape to cover the joints. I thought about a thin coat of polyurethane to reduce the glue absorption in the exposed wood. The wood is spruce. Any comments would be appreciated.

[Ken Darga]

Food particles, and the like, will get into cracks and crevices---

become difficult to clean out.

Food particles will become rancid; bacteria will grow and pose potential health hazards.

[Alan Shotts]

I have made table tops both ways, with grooves and without, and I agree with Ken.

However, that really wasn't your question. My experience with these kinds of tabletops is to just plan to do alot of the finish work after the glue up. I give the glue a place to drip off by placing the top up off the bench on blocks and then wait until it dries before trying to get rid of it. If the glue has a place to drip off and it isn't wiped into the grain, you usually don't have to do too much sanding and/or plane work to get it off without it affecting the finished table top. That is not to say you might not have quite a bit of work to do to get rid of the glue itself. I use one of my "not so good" wood chisels to do the rough work and then go to a hand plane and sander to finish up.

Note: dried wood glue is hard on sharp tools, so don't use your best tools to remove dried glue.

In response to Ken's comments, I would definitely joint the edges of the 2x6's to get a square edge before the glue up. You only have to take off just enough to eliminate the rounded edge that comes on the 2x6. I run mine through the table saw and take off about 1/8" on each side then either joint, plane or maybe even glue up if you have a good enough saw/blade combination.

[Leroy Pate]

Alan Shotts said:

I have made table tops both ways, with grooves and without, and I agree with Ken.

However, that really wasn't your question. My experience with these kinds of tabletops is to just plan to do alot of the finish work after the glue up. I give the glue a place to drip off by placing the top up off the bench on blocks and then wait until it dries before trying to get rid of it. If the glue has a place to drip off and it isn't wiped into the grain, you usually don't have to do too much sanding and/or plane work to get it off without it affecting the finished table top. That is not to say you might not have quite a bit of work to do to get rid of the glue itself. I use one of my "not so good" wood chisels to do the rough work and then go to a hand plane and sander to finish up.

Note: dried wood glue is hard on sharp tools, so don't use your best tools to remove dried glue.

In response to Ken's comments, I would definitely joint the edges of the 2x6's to get a square edge before the glue up. You only have to take off just enough to eliminate the rounded edge that comes on the 2x6. I run mine through the table saw and take off about 1/8" on each side then either joint, plane or maybe even glue up if you have a good enough saw/blade combination.

[Rick]

I have had trouble aligning flat boards with pocket screws alone, unless I can clamp the faces together while screwing the boards together.  Once the top gets large, this becomes impossible, however, since clamps can only reach so far.  This is why I like to use biscuits, or you could use dowels, tenons, or dominoes.

Also, instead of poly, it is easier and faster to use zinsser seal coat depending on how you want to finish the top.

[james wilhelm]

I made up a glue rack  on my 4' x 8' work bench to biscuit glue boards together a few years ago !!!  I spaced out four 48" t - rails on the table , then I made up a set of 3/4" x 1 1/2' oak boards with a hole drilled in each end in different  sizes , so i could lay the boards down flat and put  t bolts in the  holes of the oak strips to keep the boards flat , then I would use bar clamps across the boards to keep them tight together  !! Now I also use this set up with my Kreg holes and screws , works great , JIM