McClure Tables: The Bond Beyond Glue

We just make the adhesives. But we are gratified by the products our customers create using them.

Take McClure Tables, a Grand Rapids-based maker of handcrafted shuffleboard tables.  Owners Todd and Judy McClure produce a couple of hundred tables (and some butcher blocks) a year, one table at a time. They take great pride in the craftsmanship behind their tables, their extensive in-house capabilities and their plant’s location in the city that once stood as the furniture capital of the world.

That plant houses a used 18-foot radio frequency (RF) press that positions McClure as one of the few shuffleboard manufacturers able to produce shuffleboard tabletops up to 22-foot long in-house. According to Todd, manufacturers typically use 12-foot long presses and must press one tabletop section at a time to make 14- to 22-foot long tops. McClure can press tops up to 18-feet long in a single step, achieving the strongest possible joints.  

The ability to produce its own tabletops enables McClure to control production of the entire table to ensure that it meets the company’s high standards for quality. McClure begins with hardwood maple from Michigan forests – “out of our own backyard,” says Todd. All boards are processed in house, laid up and sent to the press. McClure uses Multibond 2015 to edge glue the tabletops because it provides longer assembly time than some of our other wood adhesives.  

Unless the customer wants a logo on the tabletop, McClure uses a traditional spray finish on its tops, which is more durable and faster than a poured polymer epoxy-type finish. (Todd assures he can tell the difference between finishes by the sound the puck makes as it slides down the table.) Vinyl logos require use of the latter finish.

In the meantime, one of three master furniture makers (Todd, among them) at the plant is making the cabinet for the shuffleboard table. A single furniture maker produces the entire cabinet – from selection of wood through finished cabinet. McClure uses Titebond Original to assemble the cabinetry and small parts.     

McClure also uses Multibond 2015 – and its 18-foot press – to edge-glue butcher blocks for use in kitchen counter tops, islands, chopping blocks and other solid-surface applications.  Todd expects this side of the business to grow along with the rising popularity of butcher blocks in residential and commercial applications.

Brand recognition wasn’t the only factor in Todd’s decision to use Franklin Adhesives & Polymers to make his shuffleboard tables. Our willingness to work with customers of all sizes put us in the lead for the job; other adhesives manufacturers thought McClure too small. Our team (Jim Muenchow and Norb Stawicki) and our customer support help us remain the company’s adhesives provider.

We take as much pride in the relationship we maintain with the people at McClure as we do in playing our bit part in helping them build exceptional shuffleboard tables.