Maybe a combination of CA adhesive in a few places and yellow glue. The CA with the activator will harden instantly and hold the grid in place.

 

Thanks -- I'm kinda "old school" and use liquid hide glue for my furniture but will give that a try. I've seen that technique on instagram so will experiment. I'm guessing that there isn't any squeeze out with that so the OSMO finish would work over it just fine -- appreciate it!

 

ditto what 4wood said. I have done this and it works great.

 

Sometime back about at least 5 years, someone on LJ's mentioned that when they were gluing up pieces that were on flat surfaces, they sprinkled several grains of sand on the glue to keep the wood from sliding around like it does when you apply pressure. If you can't use clamps for pressure needed, find the heaviest stuff you have lying around and use that on the joints for clamping. .......... Jerry (in Tucson)

 

Jerry, I believe you can use table salt to get the same effect with something that is water soluble and won't damage a cutting edge.

 

CA instantly held in place is not fun if it's not placed perfectly. I would assemble the grid with regular glue on a sheet of wax paper or Mylar. Full size drawing underneath for alignment. Lots of time to adjust and easy to fix if something is off. Then put the whole thing on the panel.

 

I would just use weights to hold it place while the glue sets. Keep it simple.

 

There is always the problem of glue squeeze out. To deal with that you could lay out the pattern with painter's tape. Then apply PVA glue to the strips (rather sparingly) and lay them between the strips of tape. Regular PVA glue becomes pretty tacky after a few minutes. A board with weight on it could be used to press the strips down until the glue is cures (about an hour should do)

 

I've two suggestions:

1.) A combination of what Dyno and Bondo suggested: Put the grid together, then glue it to the panel. When I built my boat the hull and deck were built separately, then glued together. Before gluing I positioned the deck, holding it in place with tape. Near either end I drilled a registration hole - 1/16". Took the tape off, applied glue, and reassembled. Two tiny finishing nails went into the registration holes to keep everything aligned. Weights on padding (lifting weights, metal bars, bricks, etc.) held the deck down and kept the joint tight while the glue cured. Once the glue was "set" but not fully cured I pulled out the two finishing nails, leaving me a couple of tiny holes to fill later. The whole deck is varnished - you don't notice the holes until you get really, really close.

2.) If laying down the grid one strip at a time, I'd be tempted to use the technique used for cedar strip boats: apply glue and staple the strips down. Use big staples, too long to drive all the way home. IIRC I used 3/8" staples when laying down 1/4" strips. Pull the staples after the glue cures. Again, this leaves small holes to fill but they vanish from a few feet away.

Whatever you end up doing - experiment first!

 

This is probably a silly question: Can the moist cloth and hot clothes iron trick be used to shrink the staple holes? Or does that trick only work on wood dents?

 

It might have some effect however that technique works best if the wood grain is not torn or damaged. Broken wood fibers tend not to return to their original condition no matter how much steam is applied.

 

Water and heat does shrink the staple holes somewhat. But it doesn't make them go away.

 

There are a couple good suggestions. I would pick a couple and try them on scraps to see how they look.

 

For sure -- better to mess up a sample than the whole thing!!