Preassembling door casing with Clam Clamps

Here I’m showing the site process to preassemble door casing onsite. Once they’re dry you can walk them over to the opening and really not worry about the joint ever coming apart. There’s some key things though that make this work.
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1. Crispy miters- your joint has to be tight and the only way to get a clean joint is with a tuned mitersaw and a very good full kerf blade- esp on thick mouldings like this 1” x 4” flat stock poplar. If your joint has minimal gaps in it from a drifting blade (typical with thin kerf blades) then there will be no pressure when you clamp in those small voids and your glue joint won’t be as strong.
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2. Even coverage on glue. Don’t over do it- but then again make sure you’re not getting a starved joint. Wood fiber is like little tubes that drink everything. You must flood that miter- paint it with your finger if you have to. If it’s clear when you wipe it on it’s not enough. Don’t put a bead on and expect that it squished out perfectly. Paint it!
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3. Pressure- to much and all the glue gets squeezed out and you get a starved joint-not enough pressure and it will be weak. It’s pretty easy to tell how much pressure- Put enough on that it doesn’t suck the glue out all the way, just some squeeze out. If you’re curious clamp it and check. Dense woods need less clamp pressure then soft woods like poplar because they don’t absorb as much glue into the end grain. You don’t need to muscle your clamps to oblivion but you don’t want to feather tighten them either.
4. @titebondproducts original glue is my favorite for everything interior grade. Using water resistant pva glue on wood products that don’t get direct rain is just silly. Original glue (red cap) is usually stronger than the wood when it cures and dries fast and ridged.
5. Clamp time around 60-70 degrees 1 hour before light handling.
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You can do this without clam clamps but these are consistent, produce amazing pressure and are fast- when you have 60 casings to do they pay for themselves very quickly.
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Hope this helps someone!
#elevatethecraft
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