I’ve done a number of panel glue-ups of various sizes. Depending on the size of the panel (our dining room table-top is twelve feet long), pipe clamps or bar clamps are what I normally use. For smaller panels, though, those larger clamps can be unwieldy, so when I saw this video from Woodsmith Magazine, it seemed like a great jig to build.

The idea is to use a flat piece of a sheet good (I used melamine-faced particle board) as the base and add a straight-edge to the bottom. Then a few rows of holes get drilled in the panel to accommodate dowels that will act as stops for a series of wedges. One or more straight boards are used for the top straight-edge, which gets held in place by some wedges. The pictures will make more sense.

The jig I made is about 30″ x 24″, so it can handle 30″ x 18″ panels. Below is a picture of a small cutting board glue-up that I did to test the jig.

Basically, you place the panel boards along the bottom edge and “stack” them toward the top. Then you place a straight-edge along the top edge, insert the dowels into the first available row of holes, and tap the wedges in place between the straight-edge and the dowels. That snugs all the boards together with even pressure.

Since I used a base with a melamine surface, the glue won’t stick to it (assuming I use a wood glue like Titebond II). If you make this with a piece of plywood or MDF, adding a couple coats of shellac or polyurethane would give the same results. As long as the base is flat, the results will turn out great.

The cutting board ended up being flat enough that it pulled a vacuum when placed on a flat counter top, so I’d call that a success!