A clamp made for the boards

A batch of boards called for another tool

Instead of buying more clamps for cutting-board glue-ups, I built a dedicated fixture. The original post gives a rough material cost of $30 and shows it on a mixed-wood panel.

Two directions of restraint

Horizontal bolts apply pressure across the assembly. The vertical bolts were intended to resist the shearing movement created during horizontal clamping. That was the stated purpose of the extra restraint, not simply an added row of fasteners.

Pressure across a panel and restraint against sideways movement solve different problems. The fixture brings those controls into one arrangement around the glue-up, rather than treating every bolt as another source of the same force.

Try it on the work it was made for

The first panel used teak, canarywood, and purpleheart. I compared the visible glue squeeze-out with my commercial clamps and left the longer-term judgment open. The record is of a first practical trial, not a measured clamp-force comparison.

A fixture built around the recurring job

The purpose was not to create a universally better clamp. It was to make an affordable fixture for the boards I was making. The material estimate, the two directions of restraint, and the first panel under pressure make that practical scope clear.

Keeping the early trial in the story also preserves the difference between an observed result and a specification. The comparison with commercial clamps was informal; the original post did not measure clamp force.