I have come to believe that glue up is the scourge of woodworking. I would rather sand.
One question that I have is regarding squaring up during glue ups. I typically use the measurement across corners method. The thing I haven't been able to figure out is how do I get another measurement when the clamp that I'm using to tweak across the long corners is in the way? I'm probably missing something obvious but I'm good at that.
Thanks
Tom gluing up is important and the more you do it the better you get, preparation is whats important, put paper down to collect fallen glue or you will have a mess to clean up, have a straight edge to clamp against, here's a photo of a beam I made as an example, you have to be organized as you don't have a lot of time to mess around, if I have a lot of items that are the same to glue up, then it sometimes justifies making a jig that the parts sit in and these jigs need to be square or the glue up won't be square, you need to have them sit flat or the glued up item will be twisted, only use the amount of glue that the join needs as you will just have to clean off and wipe away the excess. so I have clean wet rags handy to do the wipe downs with. I also use the diagonal method to check square as that is the best way, if clamps are in the way then get a timber strip off cut that is longer than the diagonal length and put a nail into the end of it sideways, the nail will reach down intro the corner of the glued up item if it is long enough, if its not then use a longer nail, you don't need to know what the diagonal size is so you don't need to measure it, just mark a pencil line at the other end where the inside corner is and then try it the other way and mark anouther line, the correct size is exactly between the two marks. You have not said what you are gluing up so to get perfect miters then the joins should be planed with a shooting board as saw cuts leave a rough end that wont pull together that perfect and even though I have a shooting plane you can make your own shooting board without that much effort. Working with wood is holistic, you need good tools and know how to get them sharp. I also will say that I don't make anything oversize and later cut it back, there are so many things that you can't cut back. like picture frames, making things out of wood requires you to get better a cutting them to the correct size you want, the correct size to give you the finished size you want to have, it would not be often that I would make anything oversize and later cut it back, a very small amount maybe where I plane it back is the limit that I would do, with drawer boxes that are timber drawers on timber runners then I would make them the exact size and then skim plane them to fit into their place and the planing is what both fits them and gives them the clearance I want to have, working with wood is cutting to the correct size, gluing it up square, fitting to size, sanding, polishing, sitting back with a beer and being proud and happy with what you made, no part of that is boring. N
Tom[/QUOTE]