Unpopular opinion: clamping the face frame to the carcass before glue up saved me 12 hours on a 9 foot run last week
My old shop buddy Dale told me 6 years ago to stop gluing face frames on the bench and instead clamp them straight to the box with a couple of spacer blocks, and after fighting a bowed oak frame in the shop on Saturday I finally tried it his way, so now I'm wondering if anyone else dry fits that way or if I just got lucky on this one.
Well shoot, Dale must be feeling pretty smug right about now. Gluing a face frame to a bowed oak box on the bench is basically signing up for a fight you already lost, so clamping it right to the carcass just lets the box win the argument for you. Sounds less like luck and more like Dale earned himself a beer the next time you see him.