I was amazed when I looked recently at "the most frequently asked woodworking question" on Yahoo.
That was, "How I get glue off cramps"? The answer is that once the glue is on there and dried, the only way I know to clean it is the hard way.
That is to chip it of slowly and painfully with something like a blunt chisel.
The answer to be somewhat Irish is to not go there in the first place.
Cramps are such important tools and glueing up is such an important process that you want the whole thing dead right.
Of course we get glue on cramps like everybody else but we like to treat all our cramps with a coat of wax that prevents the inevitable dribbles from sticking on the bars.
At one time in a workshop I banned all Friday afternoon glue ups.
There is such a temptation to try and get it done before the weekend.
Glue ups should be done with great ceremony and care.
Without rushing, having had a rehearsal that gets all the equipment in one place and probably with somebody there to assist you.
This is a time where all those components that you have been carefully preparing can come together and the risk factor of something going wrong is huge.
Those surfaces that have been made so carefully, will go together nicely when dry.
Once you cover them with glue they don't love each other in quite the same way.
They swell and argue and the glue goes all gummy.
I well remember my first serious carcase that was nearly thrown through a third floor window because the day was so hot and the PVA was drying too fast.
Someone approaching a glue up in this workshop will be teased and scared half to death but when the clock starts running they know they have absolute priority over everybody's time and assistance.
My paranoia about glue ups goes back to my own disasters and to when I had a young apprentice nicknamed "Dobbo" in the shop.
True to form Dobbo was rushing to finish a glue up on Friday afternoon, there was much banging and clattering around his bench and rushing off to fetch cramps and hot water to raise dents and wipe off glue.
Having finished he walked out of the workshop past me.
"Have you just finished that glue up?" I asked "Yeh, sure, all done" he replied.
I walked over to his bench and saw the small carcase that had been the target of his affections.
He clearly had been concerned about how the corner dovetails on this piece would go together and they came out really well.
What he wasn't paying too much attention to was the drawer dividers that had to be installed inside the cabinet at the same time.
I knew this because at the other end of his bench with three drawer divider components.
"What are these drawer divider components doing here Dobbo...
?"