Face frame assembly question

[thender]

Greetings Festoolians!

I have what I'm sure is a basic question about face frame assembly and I'm hoping to get some input from all of you.

The face frame I'm assembling is tall and skinny -- 7' tall and 16" wide.  The vertical stiles are 1x4 and the horizontal rails are 1x2.  All oak.

Assembling the rails to the first stile is easy;  glue and screw each rail one at a time. 

But assembling the rails to the second stile is complicated since as soon as I assemble the first rail, there won't be room to glue up the rails individually since the style will be up against them.

How do you folks handle this?

If I apply glue to all 7 rails and then start assembling them to the second stile, I'm guessing I'll get a fair amount of glue smooshed around where I don't want it.  And with 7 rails to locate, the glue will be fairly well set before all rails are done.

So..  I can assemble dry, unscrew, apply glue, then rescrew it together...  but never having done this I'm wondering how that will work, and if things will come back to the same position or if the parts will wander a bit.

Or...  I can just assemble the second side without glue and leave it to the screws.  They will likely be plenty strong.

But more than anything I'm wondering how you experienced folks handle this kind of situation...  an opportunity for me to learn something.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts -- I learn a lot every time I check into this forum.

-Tom in Ventura

 

[Ivanhoe]

Kreg jig and pocket holes/screws...along with the kreg clamps and a nice long flat table or bench to complete this job is how I would do it. Use a reliable square and a few more clamps to keep everything tight/square.

 

[rnt80]

The pocket screws should be enough. If you're intent on using glue then get something with a longer open time.  Since you're gluing up end grain the glue isn't going to provide much integrity anyways.

 

[waho6o9]

Sand the face frame (ff) and then apply shellac.

Blue tape off the areas that require glue. After the

ff's finished remove the tape and glue up like normal.

I usually finish up my projects first and then assemble
the pieces. Works for me.

 

[Brent Taylor]

Sand the face frame (ff) and then apply shellac.

Blue tape off the areas that require glue. After the

ff's finished remove the tape and glue up like normal.

I usually finish up my projects first and then assemble
the pieces. Works for me.

I agree, the only thing that I might add would be, if you feel that you will need more open time on your glue-up, try hide glue. I use it for large glue-ups, being a one man shop for the most part.

 

[waho6o9]

Hide glue seems interesting and  I should work

with it some time.

Which do your prefer the Titebond or the heating in
the pot hide glue.

 

[Sparktrician]

Titebond III has a longer open time and might work well. 

 

[Brent Taylor]

I use the Titebond Hide Glue, for as much as I need to work with it the bottled stuff works fine.

 

[mlfaber]

I agree, pocket screws should be enough without the use of glue.