How
to Set a Plug

PROCEDURE
Drill hole in both pieces of stock, after clamping them together.
Hole should be smaller than root of wood screw thread below
shank. Drill to about x/4 inch of bottom of bottom piece of
stock (left).
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Use counterbore for plug hole (same size, of course). Counterbore
% inch deep in drilled hole. Note: Always index stock across
both pieces by pencil marks for re-assembly of pieces. Unclamp
stock. Glue both faces. Assemble. Run wood screw home with screw
driver tight enough to draw stock together. Wipe bottom end
of plug with glue and put some on lower edges. Place in hole
over screw and tap home. Let glue set and pare off top of plug.
Be sure grain of plug and stock run the same way-always (right).
If
you are going to joint two sides of stock edgewise, care must
be taken to see that both sides are planed flat, square, and
straight. This is best done with the 18-inch jointer plane.
It will take a considerable amount of practice to be able to
do this. A good edge joint is one where both edges are perfectly
square with the face of the stock, where the ends touch each
other for about two-thirds of the length of the pieces and where
there is a thin gap in the center of the joint when the two
pieces are placed one on the other vertically the gap
in the center being about the thickness of a cigarette paper-no
more.

Jointing the edge of a 2-inch mahogany plank. Note the slight
skew the jointer plane makes with the stock. Set the plane blade
fine for this process.
To
glue two pieces of stock together edgewise, it is necessary
to use long clamps. Specially designed fixtures are available
today that fit on short or long pieces of galvanized iron pipe.
These pairs of devices, together with a suitable length of pipe,
make excellent clamps for shop use. There is a trick in setting
your clamps on the stock to get the best results. On any longitudinal
joint up to 4 feet, I have found that the best results are obtained
by setting the clamps in from each end a distance of 8 or 9
inches. Clamps so placed will pull all parts of the joint tightly
together, and there is enough spring in the stock so that the
narrow gap in the center of the joint will be drawn up tightly.
To
avoid crushing the edge grain of your carving blank, put a small
piece of stock (I use clipped ends of untempered Prestwood for
the purpose) between the inside faces of the jaws of the clamps
and the edges of the stock. To prevent the stock from twisting
or curling out of the clamps, I usually use small hand clamps
set over the joint at either end of the piece. To be sure that
the clamps are not glued to the wood, put squares of paper over
the joints, back these up with the Prestwood clips, "put
the squeeze on," and you are sure that the two pieces will
stay put. Another thing that may be useful to do is to slip
pieces of newspaper in between the pipe and the glued joint.
This avoids the possibility of the stock becoming glued to the
pipe after the glue is set. Do not be afraid to squeeze the
two pieces of stock tightly together. The tighter the clamps,
the better the result.
If
you have made your joints square and a good fit, the amount
of glue that is squeezed out from the joint after you have set
up the pipe clamp should be about the same all along the joint
on both sides.

Stock in clamps after jointing and gluing up. Note the clipped
stock between the plank and the various clamps, also the bits
of paper. The "C" clamps prevent the stock from curling
out of the large ones.
One
tip about reglueing a piece if you have to, for some reason
or another. Always wash off, with very hot water, all the glue
that has been applied. Set the pieces aside to dry thoroughly
and, after they have dried, correct the error of fit or whatever
it is that must be done. Then follow out the glueing and clamping
procedures as before. Don't try to work wet or damp stock. Anything
you do under these conditions will be distorted when the stock
dries. Wood always swells out of line when w7et or damp.
I
have used a number of different glues. The old-fashioned hot
glue is messy, hard to work, and is not water resisting. The
best glue that I have used so far is Weldwood water-resisting
glue. It was, perhaps at one time, called waterproof glue. I
am frank to confess that I have not used the presently available
instant-set contact glue. Whether it's because I am of the school
that believes that two glued faces should be rotated about one
another to get a good spread or that I am old-fashioned, I wouldn't
know. Both, maybe. Be that as it may, some of my carvings have
been in the weather for eight years and they are still in one
piece so far as I know. It well may be that I am harping on
one string too long, but- again I want to emphasize-don't try
to hurry work along. Plan the various steps so that you don't
have to rush to get the work done. By that I don't mean that
you should sit on your hands and do a lot of wishful thinking,
either.