Laminating The Seat

If you don’t have a wide enough board for your seat blank, you will have to laminate two or more narrow boards together. This is one of the most common of woodworking tasks, used for all manner of projects. Therefore, it’s important that you get some practice.

Make sure all your pieces are trued before you begin. For a detailed coverage on preparing your stock, see our guide.

Choose the faces you want to make up your top side and decide on the relative position/orientation of each piece. Mark your chosen arrangement clearly and then plane each edge so that every meeting face is flat. When all the parts are planed and you’re happy with your joint lines, get your clamps ready and glue the pieces together. A zigzag pattern works well for glue application as it’s quick and results in the glue spreading evenly. Try not to use too much glue but remember that it’s better to use too much than not enough. (Calculating the right amount is a challenge even for experienced woodworkers.)

With every surface glued and clamped up in its relative position, check the top surfaces and try to even out any discrepancies by sliding each part the necessary amount before tightening the clamps again. Wipe off any excess glue (since it slows down drying) and set the whole assembly aside, clamping it overnight, or at least for a couple of hours as you move on to the next step (shaping the legs).

For an in-depth guide on laminating stock click here.