laminated newel posts

[billydruce]

hi. Im going to be making some laminated newel post out of american white ash which will be 150x150 when finished and made from 3x 50x150. presume the best way of doing this is planner / thickness the stock then sand it on the linisher with 120 grit sand paper then glue with pva and clamp with growth rings in opposite directions.

My questions are, is this the best way of doing this.

mainly should i sand or not?
is pva glue the best or is there a better option, to avoid / minimize glue lines.

thanks billy

 

[katellwood]

I personally would not sand I would just clean off any marks (nicks in the blades) left from the thicknesser with a finely set plane.

I would not use PVA as it has a tendency to creep I would go for cascamite or an epoxy

 

[deserter]

I'd agree with the above regarding sanding, no real point till you get to your final dimension.

However I personally would use a PVA adhesive, on a wide, long grain joint like yours you'll have a good strong bond, and so long as you joint accurately and clean up excess glue whilst its wet, you'll have as minimal glue line as you will with any other glue type. If your worried about movement during glue up you can always rub the joints together before clamping.



~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

 

[toolsntat]

Not sure how your newels are being used but if you can get away with it, you could make them up hollow with "mitrelock" joints.....
This was very successful here http://www.woodworkuk.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=9&t=8138

Cheers
Andy

 

[billydruce]

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Going to give cascamite a try never used it before and fancy giving it a go lol. The hollow newels look interesting however not going to use them for my stairs though. Is there anything I need to know about cascamite.

 

[deserter]

Yep. Wear a face mask when you mix it. Also it's a lot easier to mix if you do it in a bucket and use a plasters drill whisk thingy.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

 

[marcros]

weigh it out- you get a far better mix than doing it by volume.

 

[dickm]

... and be careful where you buy the Cascamite; make sure it's not been sitting around for a long time anywhere even slightly damp.
But it's a great glue.

 

[James-1986]

Unless I read the post wrong you're planning on glueing up laminations that are planed to the finished size? In theory it seems possible but in practice it seldom works. Once the glue is on the laminations they will slide around and it may end up stepped. If any of the laminations aren't perfectly straight the newel will be bent. Its also much faster and easier to clamp up laminations that are oversize; you can also welt them with a big mallet to get them in the clamps properly

Machine the middle lamination to 50mm x 156mm and machine the other two at 53mm x 156mm (you can add on more to the thickness/width if they are longer than 1500m). Put your laminations together and take note of any bowing in the timber, arrange them so that any kinks or bends oppose each other which should result in a straighter newel (which is important if you don't have much to machine). Once its dry you can straighten the newel up on the jointer and get rid of any imperfections.

Polyurethane is ideal for laminating newels as its very easy to clean up once dry (scrapes off with a chisel) and doesn't dull the knives on your machines or hand tools.