# Has anyone made clipboards?



## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Did a quick search here and didn't find anything. I was just toying with this idea for the past few days thinking of other "gifty" stuff to make. Came up with a few questions.

1. These would be laminated, similar to how I've made cutting boards in the past. In making cutting boards, I've blended end-grain designs with simple stripes, so that the glue was always on the "face" and "edge" surfaces of the board (see pic). However, for a writing surface this may be problematic (think about writing across the end grain). Do you think the finish would take care of that problem? Like a polyurethane? 

2. Also, writing across different hardness of wood may be problematic if you're using a single sheet of paper. Do you think a hard finish would also protect against this?

3. Most of the shop-made clipboards that I've seen online are around 3/8" thick. Do you think this is sufficient for lamination alone, or would you suggest splines? Would you go thinner?

4. What about gluing end grain to end grain? I came across a book called Laminated Designs in Wood by Clarence Rannefeld, who came up with some very interesting designs by making multiple generation laminations. These are all glued end-grain. Would that be a problem with something 3/8" thick?

5. I've searched around for the metal clip and notice that Rockler sells them for $3 plus shipping (comes out to around $10). Instead, I bought a hardboard clipboard from OfficeMax for $1.79 and am looking to remove the clip. My first thought was drilling out the rivets. My second thought is to cut the top of the board off and soak it (with the metal clip) in water. Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

-SW


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

Can't give you any help with the lamination; I'd be interested in hearing everyone's comments. As far as removing the clip from the board, I would drill out the rivets. Use a drill bit large enough (bigger) to eat out all of the flared portion of the rivet. This will leave you with just the shank or shaft of the rivet which will pass through the hole easily. Use cutting fluid too.


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

Here's my 2 cents:



Streamwinner said:


> Did a quick search here and didn't find anything. I was just toying with this idea for the past few days thinking of other "gifty" stuff to make. Came up with a few questions.
> 
> 1. These would be laminated, similar to how I've made cutting boards in the past. In making cutting boards, I've blended end-grain designs with simple stripes, so that the glue was always on the "face" and "edge" surfaces of the board (see pic). However, for a writing surface this may be problematic (think about writing across the end grain). Do you think the finish would take care of that problem? Like a polyurethane? *I think a sealer then applying a hard finish like poly would work
> *
> ...


BTW, very nice cutting boards!


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

You'll definetly need to fill the grain, add a nice hard coat of clear. Polyurethane or acrylic lacquer. I would also wet sand the surface, so you get a perfectly flat writing surface.


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## Ghidrah (Mar 2, 2010)

If you have a grinder or dremel consider using them to remove the clip. 
The junk clipboards they're selling in the stores today is worse than the junk they were selling 10 yrs ago. The board I had for yrs found legs and ran away, so I went to staples, the old board was 3/16 the new one is 1/8. The clip metal is about a 1/16" thicker than a soda can. I don't give this one any hope of lasting a yr.


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks for the tips, everyone. Don't have a grinder, so I'll drill them out with my drill press.

Thanks for the tip on cutting fluid. My metal-working experience is limited to using a hacksaw to cut bolts to size. Where can I find it, how much does it cost, and what brands are good?

The grain filler was a nice tip, too. Do you have a brand that you like best? Do you think 600 grit is good enough for wet sanding?

I'll also make some and run them through the crash tests. I agree that poly should be solid enough with a few coats.


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Lee valley carries the clips. Hurry, cuz they are discontinuing them.


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

I use 'Tapmagic' brand of cutting fluid and get it at my local Grainger store. Any brand will do. Since you only have a couple to drill out you could even spray a little WD-40 on them before you start. That way you don't have to go running around looking for something you may never use again. The point is to use a fluid that will dissipate the heat generated by the bit. Using a fluid will keep your bits sharper a lot longer.


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## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

I'd definitely say use a hard finish. You could make the thickness issue better by doing a lam in both axis... IE do your lam as shown in your picture then rip the boards for thickness and relaminate them to the 3/8 or so that you're considering. I'm of a mind that it would still be too heavy, but 3/8 really isn't too bad and the laminating would make it a little less flexible. This would also answer your end-grain gluing question as you'd glue up larger pieces then rip them to a smaller thickness.


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Streamwinner said:


> Thanks for the tips, everyone. Don't have a grinder, so I'll drill them out with my drill press.
> 
> Thanks for the tip on cutting fluid. My metal-working experience is limited to using a hacksaw to cut bolts to size. Where can I find it, how much does it cost, and what brands are good?
> 
> ...


 
I use Behlens grain filler. That stuff is super easy to use, and producing amazing results. 

I would wet sand to 1200 grit, that way you will get a nice mirror finish. However, 600 grit would level it. The rest would just polish it.


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

You can also grain fill with numerous coats of shellac or sanding sealer. Just sanding back with 220 then steel wool till it nice and flat.


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## chubbyhubby (Mar 7, 2010)

Streamwinner said:


> Thanks for the tips, everyone. Don't have a grinder, so I'll drill them out with my drill press.
> 
> Thanks for the tip on cutting fluid. My metal-working experience is limited to using a hacksaw to cut bolts to size. Where can I find it, how much does it cost, and what brands are good?
> 
> ...


Make sure you use a slower spindle speed when drilling metal. A lot of heat can be generated, which will burn up drill bits, even if oil is used. (Tool and Die Maker for 30 years, I've drilled A LOT of steel). The actual rpm depends on what you're drilling and the diameter. I usually go by sound, if it sounds about right, you're in the ballpark. CH


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Tru Oil would make a nice hard finish.


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Thank you, everyone. I've got lots of good ideas now and have a plan in mind. In the next couple of weeks I'll try to get a prototype made and run it through some demolition tests.


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

*Update*

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for all your help. I just wanted to give an update on the progress. I've made a prototype and will share some of the issues that came up.

The first hitch came when I tried to drill out the rivets on the clipboard that I had purchased. What ended up happening is that the rivet just spun in place after I got about halfway through the "lip" of the rivet. I tried several methods to secure it but was unsuccessful (actually, only now am I realizing that I should have used superglue! :sneaky2. 

In any case, I found metal clips relatively cheap from a drafting supply company online. I was able to get the "low profile" clips, which I liked better than the big ole clips. Unfortunately, I didn't see (or it wasn't shown on the website) that the clip has small teeth for gripping the paper (see pic). This is fine except when you're using a single sheet, which results in a wrinkle across the top. The teeth on the bottom also prevent the paper from laying completely flat on the board. :thumbdown: I haven't installed it yet, but wanted to mention this in case others are looking to make clipboards.

I chose to use some reclaimed pallet wood since I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. In actuality, the pallet wood worked very well because a.) it is already cut pretty thin, b.) it is made from very hard woods, and c.) it's good for the environment!

I glued first then planed to thickness, about 11/32". I decided to forgo wet sanding for this first test and sanded to 220. I used dewaxed shellac as a grain filler, applying 4 coats and then sanding back down to the bare wood. I had to repeat this process three times because there was some very deep grain in two pieces of white oak that I used. I did, however, achieve an exceptionally smooth surface. I think for the next prototype, I will try the grain filler that Colt recommended to compare.

In applying the finish, I went with polyurethane. The first coat I put on in my garage. Unfortunately, my garage is very dusty and resulted in a lot of dust specs getting in the finish. I sanded these out and put on the second coat on my back patio. Unfortunately (again), I didn't realize that having it sit in the direct sun would cause it to WARP. :furious: I tried flipping it over to sit in the sun, hoping it would straighten out, but it didn't.

For the last several days I had the board sitting in between some stickers with about 150 lbs of cement stones on top of it. I checked it last night and it's straightened out considerably. I'll leave it for a while to see if it curls again.

So now it only has two coats of poly and I tried a test with a single sheet of paper and a ball-point pen. It actually made a small mark in the poly. Do you think more coats would be better, or should I try a different finish? I was wondering about those resin or epoxy type finishes, but I have never used any. Or maybe it needs to be a clipboard to use only with multiple sheets of paper or those writing pads.

Thanks again. I'm going to try another with the lamination designs that I mentioned earlier. You can see one of the glue ups in the picture under the board.


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## georgewoodie (Oct 20, 2009)

I doubt that any poly finish would resist the pressure of the fine point of a ball pen.

Pressure = force/area so as the area [of the pen tip] is reduced in size, so the resultant pressure is increased. Think of a cat tractor 'walking' over bog. It does so because two treads are wide and long. The area is increased.

I suggest that you find some thin material [arborite or similar] that is glued to counter tops. Cut a piece the size of your writing pad and insert this at the bottom of your paper so the ball pen presses on that and not on the wood.

Woodie


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I would imagine that the metal "clips" that are sold by Rockler or other companies are far superior to the ones that you obtain by buying the $1.79 clipboards.

For all of the work that you are doing and how nice the boards are going to be I would not skimp on the critical piece of the clipboard.

George


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## johnmite123 (May 11, 2010)

I have tried to make the clip boards but not succeed to make it genius, i have gone through your ideas they are good.


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## RDR (Feb 8, 2010)

Here's another option that I thought was kind of neat:

http://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin#p/u/3/2JtKMcONxoo

The video style is a bit much :blink:, but an interesting project, nonetheless.

-Rich


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

^ Lolz. Great find. Thanks for the link. It was a bit over the top, but the rhyming made up for it.


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