One of the secrets to serene glue-up is time.
I don’t like drama at glue-up time.
Once I had pre-bent the mahogany leaves that would make up the housing, they were considerably easier to stack and bend around the form. Now it was time to get ready.
Getting ready for me means doing a trial clamp-up without glue. I gather all the clamps I think I’ll want, then put them in place around the form. That way I can tell in advance if clamps will interfere with each other, or if I need extras. With no glue drying, I can think, change my mind—whatever I need to do. That’s when I saw that the leaves tended to move a bit on the form, and were difficult to keep in registration with each other.
Since I knew I’d have to fiddle with the slippery, moving leaves during clamp-up, I wanted a glue with long open time. I also wanted glue that dries rigid, unlike yellow glue, so I wouldn’t get any joint creep or spring-back. I chose 30-minute epoxy.
Three handscrews, a couple strap clamps, and a Bessey clamp were the right mix for this job.
I wrapped the form with waxed paper and put more waxed paper underneath. I mixed the epoxy in a plastic container, then painted it onto all four leaves with an acid brush. Next, I stacked the four leaves on the form, put a couple strap clamps in place, and pinched the whole assembly to the form with a Bessey clamp. This kept things stable.
I drew the leaves tight against the curved end of the form with the strap clamps, then added three handscrew clamps, which served to keep the leaves up against the straight sides of the form. All that, plus 12 hours of drying time, left me with a light, rigid, curved shell.
Next, the trim.
