glued up stock

**bassin brian** · 06-25-2008, 04:30 PM

when you glue up stock you usually glue up boards such as cherry,maple,things like that. Is it possible to glue up 2x4's.

**TDHofstetter** · 06-25-2008, 05:26 PM

It is - as long as they're well prepped for the glueup.

People do that sorta' thing pretty often with 3/4" pine/spruce/fir for softwood panels. 2x4 material often isn't as good a wood, though - lots of loose knots & voids & wanes & such. The better the 2x4, the better the glueup. I like Douglas fir for such things - that's really a pretty neat wood.

-- Tim --

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**hnuwood** · 06-25-2008, 07:09 PM

I have experience glueing up 2x4's made from cheap white wood bought at the big box store. It can be done. What I would recommend is that you run the faces that will be mated together through your TS and just barely skim off the surfaces. This will work sort'a like a jointer and give you a face that is much smoother so that it will glue up better. You may also have to do a lot of sanding with a power sander to get a smooth surface.

In general, I have found that you can get a good bond, but for the reasons cited by others in this forum, it probably won't be a pretty piece when you are done. I did this to make legs for several garage benches. I needed strong, but not pretty finished products.

What works better for me and is generally very inexpensive is to purchase large pieces of southern yellow pine (SYP) at the big box store and resize them on my TS. You can buy 2"X8"X8' SYP for under $8 and this will make the equivalent of 2 2x4s. The SYP will yeild nice smooth wood when you cut it on a TS and it glues up very nicely.

Happy Building.

**arcticfox46** · 06-25-2008, 08:29 PM

Like Tim said - yes you can.

Usually, mostly, almost all the time, the 2x material is the last little bit left over from the saw mill when the tree is processed into wood. It is the lowest grade wood you can get.

Notice the end grain. You are likely to see the pith (the center of the tree). All the rest of the tree has been processed into other stuff.

Gluing up a bunch of 2x4's is perfectly OK, as long as you know what you are going to be doing with the thing you glue up. There are lots of useful things - but it is not a high grade wood that you will make fancy furniture with.

Great for workbench legs, solid wood benchtop, signs and other stuff like that.