Make it Flat

I am trying out a new technique for laminating.  Rather than gluing one or two joints at a time, I decided to do all of them at once.

This 6/4 soft maple is for the seat of a bench for client Michelle DeVilliers.  It has been thicknessed and edge-joined and is ready for laminating.

Laid out underneath the boards are some straightened pieces of spruce with taped edges.  The tape keeps the glue from sticking.

Lots of glue.  I spread it on and roll it out.  Both sides of the joint get glue.

Now we use complimentary pieces on top.  These also have taped edges.  Clamping these to each other will force the bench top to be flat.  I can tighten the perpendicular clamps and the entire top is laminated in one session.  Of course, the most important part of the whole operation is a flat work table.  Your laminated top will only be as flat as the table that you assemble it on.

After the lamination, we flatten with a jack plane.