I want to make an inlay that is a 10" round graphic. The local wood store has 1/4" thick panels but the largest is only 5" wide. I’m torn between gluing three 1/4" pieces together to make a 12" x15" x 1/4" or getting a few 15" x 5" x 3/4" then cutting that into 3/8" strips and gluing those together. Any one have any insight?
Does the inlay have to be done in all one piece? Is it a contiguous shape? Or could you split it into several inlay carves? Or are you talking about the base (female) stock?
Splitting a 15x5x3/4 is probably a little trickier than gluing up three 1/4" pieces. Unless you have a reliable way to split the 3/4" board. (a good bandsaw?)
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There is one large halfmoon shape that needs to be one piece. I’m leaning toward gluing 1/4" planks together. I’ve been looking for an excuses to get a Milwaukee 12" miter saw or table saw, but that would exceed the profit from this project.
So it depends on what equipment you have. The thinner the material you glue up the more it tends to bow up. So if possible glue it up with the 3/8" thickness and plane it down to the desired thickness. I recently bought some Rockler clamps for panels. It is the small set. There is a minimum thickness but I just added some glad wrap and some thicker boards to make up the minimum thickness. Without the cauls the glue up was bowing. You can also put some F clamps at the seam to keep the glue up level on both sides.
https://www.rockler.com/rockler-mini-deluxe-panel-clamps-2-pack
The clamps work well if you have 3/4" thick material. Otherwise you have to put some spacers in to keep the boards from bowing under the clamp pressure. Many people over clamp glue ups and squeeze the glue out. You just need enough pressure to get a good squeeze out and no more.
Dale Zimmerman of Franklin International, maker of Titebond woodworking glues, recommends 100 to 150 pounds per square inch (psi) for clamping softwoods and 175–250 psi for hardwoods.
So for many clamps you can exert 400-500 pounds of clamping pressure and that is way too much for most projects. So tighten up your clamps and that is all you need. Tighten them up monkey tight not gorilla tight. Then let it cure for 24 hours and you are ready to go. I mostly use Titebond III but any good PVA glue would work as well.
I have the Bessy Parallel clamps and from an internet search here is the pressure rating for them:
The BESSEY fixed jaw parallel clamps are class-leading examples of BESSEY’s commitment to continuous improvement. Powerful 90 degree, no-slip clamping rated at a nominal 1700 lbs of everyday clamping force.
So a max of 250 for Titebond for hardwoods is 6.8 times more pressure than required.
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I would agree with others on here about the thinner material bowing. Try to avoid that if at all possible. Another angle you may want to consider is making your own end-grain inlay blanks. It’s definitely time consuming but a) you can make pretty much any size you need, b) using Titebond and cross-grain glueing techniques will help minimize warping, bowing, etc. and c) I find that inlay carving in end-grain is WAY more forgiving, less tearout, etc. that edge-grain/cross-grain carving. For me, end-grain carves like budd-a (I’m from Massachusetts). This maple end-grain inlay board is 20.1 x 17.5" and is 0.5" thick
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Here is a panel I glued up today for a box top. The material started as 3/4" thick walnut that I bandsawed in half and jointed the edges where they are glued together. I used my smaller Bessey clamps and then used F clamps to secure it to the Bessey clamps. I glued it up at 14:00 CST today and will leave it in the clamps overnight and plane it down to 6MM tomorrow.
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Looks like I’m headed to Rockler! I just discovered that place and have to leave my wallet in the truck when go in. I’ve needed more clamps for a while and this project will more than cover that cost. I’m thinking ill use 1/2" panels instead in 1/4", I had an inlay plug break on me yesterday as I tried to peel it off the waste board.
Now I want some Maine lobsta’s soaked in budda!
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These panel clamps from Rockler are awesome. Kind of pricey but work great and clamp the panel in all 4 directions. They recently dropped the price from $125 to $99. Clamps up to 36 inches wide and up to 3 inches thick. I have three of these to clamp and they will keep the glue up from buckling
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That’s exactly what I’m going to get. Any trouble with the glue adhering to the metal frame/clamp?
I have a version of those clamps where you supply the wood that holds all the brackets. On those I put wax paper over them to avoid issues with the glue. The ones I have are very fiddley and a pain to use.
I wouldn’t think the metal clamps would have any issue with the glue.
I may buy a set of these to try and see if they are less of a pain to use than my current ones.
@baricl do use these when you glue up PVC? There is no way I could get my current ones to behave in the amount of time that PVC glue dries. Titebond provides more working time for me to fuss with them 
No problem with glue sticking. I love them.
Yes i use them for gluing PVC, they work great. I get everything set up, line up the boards. Then I apply PVC cement to the edges and clamp everything down. Since PVC glue bonds almost immediately its important to get everything lined up before applying the glue and clamping. With PVC cement once you touch the pieces together it is not possible to reposition the pieces. I wait about a half hour before i remove the clamps and then a couple of hours to make sure everything is set. Probably dont have to wait that long. I’ve tested the bond after everything it set up and cured and even banging on the seam with a sledge hammer i could not break the boards apart. For wood I use Structan Express polyurethane adhesive. Its kind of pricey but awesome stuff. A friend of mine that does commercial woodworking turned me on to it. Sets up very quickly and superior bond over standard wood glue. Grizzly makes a version thats cheaper but ive never used it.
Sounds like Gorilla glue? I used that years ago but have not in a while. If doing outdoor projects it would be good though. Cleaning up all the foam was a pain though.
I just wait a bit till it foams up and dries a bit then it scrapes right off. After completely dry a bit of sanding gets the rest
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I have the smaller size. There is a minimum thickness for the clamps to tighten down on the surface. For below the min thickness I put glad wrap over the boards and add boards under the clamp to keep the boards from being glued to the panel. So if your panel is 16" wide I cut the boards 14" or over the first two boards and last two boards.
IF thickness isn’t a problem - one of the larger stores, like Lowe’s or Home Depot, have rounds already made up. I bought one some time back and it seemed like it was a pretty decent glue-up, sand and finish job. It was a 3/4" panel though. The stores have various sizes, usually around 3 to 4 offers.
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Looking for walnut. I’ve seen those, but they don’t have any in walnut.
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