Reader Tips: Neill's Bike Tube Wood Clamp

Today's post is a tip from reader and whatchagotics expert, Neill Goltz, who came up with a great way to repurpose old bike tubes.  He says:

I just had a wonderful result repairing an old bureau (with mirror) where the laminate exterior had gone bad, i.e., was coming up off the underlying wood on the surface of the main drawer.

Not shilling for a particular product, but I used Gorilla brand wood glue. (I'm sure that Elmers would work just as well here. Or perhaps readers of this site already know how to make their own? Horses' hooves? Not going there…)

Anyway, two possible points of interest to your blog-readership.

How to apply a clamp - and what kind to a large drawer. Didn’t want to take it apart…

Working with glue is messy, and it extrudes from the seams once the clamp is applied.

The solutions:

As a clamp item I used old bicycle tires freely given by the owner of the local shop. They wrap beautifully around any unusual configuration and can be adjusted to any lengths and tension all the way around the project, in this case the drawer.

I just put a loop in one end, and thread the other end thru and pulled to desired tension. [I] recommend that you put "Shoe-Knot loop" thru on the second tie off so as to release it very easily when glue is dry. 

  I wanted to create a barrier-layer between the glue (which would extrude) and the tubes. A magazine cover or ordinary cardboard would be adhered to by the glue, so I tried the cellophane wrapper from a box of Cheerios.

Photo credit: Neill Goltz.

Voila! The results could not be better. [Excess glue can be removed with] water-based OOPS or GOOF-OFF. It's water-based, but I still use rubber gloves.

Photo credit: Neill Goltz.

Jake's Note: there are multiple formulations of those paint removers; some are water-based, some are not.  Definitely wear gloves with all of them!

Great work repairing your bureau drawer, and thanks for sharing the story, Neill!