There are many little tricks that furniture makers come up with to make things go more smoothly in the workshop.  Often these are figured out after something has gone wrong, to keep it from happening the next time.  Today I was gluing two 1 3/4″ square posts to a 1″ thick solid panel between them. The panel is set back from both faces of the post so any glue that squeezes out will be difficult and time  consuming to clean up.  If it’s not cleaned up properly it will show when the finish is applied. However it’s important to make sure the posts are firmly glue to the panel so you can’t skimp on glue either.  My method for keep the glue from squeezing out is to mill a glue gutter on each side of the edge of the panel that will be glue to the post.  These are simply a very shallow saw kerf. The gutter catches any extra glue that would otherwise squeeze out.

1″ thick panel with glue gutters cut on both sides of where the glue is applied. The mortises will hold loose tenons that align the panel properly to the post. The glue was spread out with a brush before assembly.

The glue gutters catch any glue that might otherwise have squeezed out. The top of this piece (a library cabinet) will cover the end of the post & panel assembly so the gutters will not be seen.