Question
I need to build up a furniture top to 1" thick and plan on gluing a 1/4" panel to a 3/4" panel, 22" by 65". Was wondering whether to use glue or contact cement, and what the best procedure would be.
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor F:
I think I would use regular aliphatic resin (yellow) glue. There is some consideration about the different thicknesses of your laminates and how straight they will remain after being glued together. Plywood, for instance, is always glued up of an odd number of laminates for balance. Also, each opposite laminate is of equal thickness to the other. In your case, a half inch center with quarter inch glued to both faces might be safer than gluing 3/4 together with 1/4. There are instances where I glue parts of unequal thickness together, but usually only when it is part of an assembly that has other members that aid in keeping the whole assembly straight. In the case of a table top, the rest of the design or the table base would be the determining factor as to whether or not the top had to be perfectly straight on its own.
One tip I can pass on as far as gluing up the lamination is to use a flat surface as a means of gluing it up flat. When we glue up purposely curved parts, we use purposely curved surfaces to ensure the curvature. So, the reverse is true for a perfectly flat glueup.
