Need to glue up a mitered frame but don’t have a strap clamp? Raid your scrap bin to make some miter clamping cauls. To make each caul, glue a triangular clamping block to the end of an “anchor” board that’s about as wide as your frame pieces. When gluing a frame corner, locate a pair of cauls so that the outermost faces of the triangular blocks will direct clamping pressure across the joint faces as shown. (This will vary depending on the size of the blocks and thickness of your frame.) Secure the anchor boards to the frame, and then clamp across the blocks to produce full force on the joint faces.
—Leonie Ward, Jackson, Mississippi
