Best Clamps for Making Flat Wood Panels

Gluing up pieces of wood to create a larger panel is a fundamental woodworking skill. It’s useful for making everything from tabletops to cutting boards to cabinet drawer fronts and doors. The keys to creating a flat panel are to start with pieces of wood with edges that are square or perpendicular to the face, use clamps that can deliver enough force to close the joints tight, and clamp straight edges to the top and bottom faces to prevent the panel from buckling or flexing. Bar or pipe clamps have been the best choice for making panels, but now there is a better option. The new Rockler Deluxe Panel Clamp and Mini Deluxe Panel Clampdoes the work of two sets of clamps, applying pressure across the panel to close the joints and pressure to the top and bottom to keep the panel flat.