The Woodshop Shed

Construction Question

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Question: I am making a 32x60 dinette table for some newlyweds. The top is 1 in thick furniture grade white pine. Would you put breadboard edges on either end? Or would you leave it end grain showing with strong backs underneath?

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Veneering 101

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If you've been frustrated by the poor quality of today's hardwood plywood, you're not alone. I got so disappointed with it that 15 years agoI decided to make my own for important projects. As it turns out, it's not that hard, although I will say a good bandsaw and especially a drum sander make it a lot easier. So here's a quick tour of how to add veneer to a substrate. In this case, I'm using Baltic birch because the edges will be left unfinished, but I typically use Sande Ply or poplar plywood for lesser projects and BB only for high end work. I really like MDF for non-structural work, too.

Of course, the most important thing is the veneer. I've shown how I slice veneer before, but here are a couple of photos from the recent dining room table job to show the process. I'm using a 5 HP bandsaw now, but I used to slice veneer on my 1.5 HP14" Delta, a lot slower of course, and only after careful setup, but it can be done, and I cut a lot of veneer with it.Regardless of the saw, it needs to cut straight and parallel with the fence, and you need some sort of tall featherboard to hold the stock against the fence. The one I use is a copy from John Lanciani's design. It works great and has the added and too me critical feature of keeping my hands away from the blade.


For most interior work I slice the veneer to about 0.010" and then drum sand it to 0.065", which usually takes about 3 passes/side. That gives me slices that are dead smooth on both sides. Some folks don't sand at all until after the veneer is glued down, but I prefer to have it flat and smooth so I can decide the best layout of how to use the veneer.



OK, you have a bunch of veneer, now what? In most cases you now have to seam them into a panel wide enough for the panel you want to veneer. To do that you need to get the edges of the adjacent slices to fit together really, really well. Surprisingly, if you joint the board really well before slicing the veneer, the slices often will fit together really well. If not, I start by ganging them all together with a backer on the outboard side and run them over my jointer. That usually does it, but sometimes I have to joint one or two of them separately, too. With really cantankerous veneer, I have resorted to sanding the edges between cauls. Whatever it takes, those joints have to be really good or you'll see it after it's glued down. Shop sawn veneer handles more like lumber than commercially sliced veneer, one of the reasons I prefer to make my own. It's also thicker and more durable than commercial veneer, and there are no crepe checks in it.

For the simple project I'm working on now, I started with a 10/4 piece of hard maple left over from the dining table project and sliced 12 pieces from it, then ran it through the drum sander. I seamed 5 of them to make a panel using small pieces of veneer tape top, middle, and bottom of each joint. I used to add a piece of veneer tape the full length of the seam butfound it's unnecessary if the veneer is nice and flat.I just add a few pieces of blue tape and make sure to handle the panel very carefully. Removing the veneer tape after the panel is pressed is a bit of a pain, and sometimes leaves a shadow which is hard to get rid of, so that's why I try to minimize how much I use. But I still use it because it pulls the joints together when you iron it on. And that's reason enough to use it the full length of a seam if you're having trouble getting a tight joint.



The hard work is done now. All that's left is to glue it to the substrate. The panel I'm making is 32 x 32" soI made the veneer panels 32-1/4 x 32-1/4.It's hard to see in the photo but I used a slip match pattern for the panels. I think it gives a more modern look than book matching, and this panel is for a mid century modern piece.

My veneering setup is pretty simple. I use a shop made vacuum bag; 30 mil vinyl and a Gast vacuum pump with no controls. It just runs continuously for the 2 hours it takes for the glue to set up enough that I can remove the panel.


Below the work is a 3/4" platen. On top of that I place a piece of window screen, and sometimes a piece of 4 or 6 mil plastic sheeting on top of that, under the bottom layer of veneer. Today I forgot the plastic. It's unnecessary if you are careful applying the glue. OK, the bottom sheet of veneer is placed good face down on the window screen/plastic. The substrate is placed beside it. Next I apply Titebond II with a plastic Bondo spreader into which I cut 1/8" deep slits about 1/8 apart using a pull saw. This gives a nice spread with TB II and also epoxy. I used to use Plastic Resin Glue and Unibond 800 but found that TB II works just as well for interior applications. It's cheap and readily available, so that's what I now use.



I pour some glue directly onto the plywood and spread it uniformly with the spreader. You want a wet coat, but not a thick one. And if you've never used veneer, never, under almost all circumstances, apply glue to the veneer. It will curl up almost immediately. I pull excess glue off the substrate onto a scrap board or plastic container.



With the glue spread, I pick up the substrate and place it glue side down onto the veneer. Then I spread glue on the top surface of the substate and slide the top sheet of veneer in place. I make sure to check that the veneer on both the top and bottom overhang the substrate uniformly and then add blue tape in the four corners to hold everything in place. Then I place another layer of window screen on top of the assembly and then slide all of it, including the lower platen, into the vacuum bag. I have found no benefit of using a top platen as long as the veneer doesn't overhang the substrate more than 1/8" or so.I roll the open end of the bag around a piece of wood and turn on the pump. It's large enough to pull a vacuum in just a few seconds, after which I clamp another piece wood to the first one to minimize leakage.



I get about 20" Hg with this setup, which is less than what many claim, but I've never had a bonding issue even with curved work so clearly it's enough.



After 2 hours or so the glue is setup enough to remove the piece from the vacuum bag. When it comes out of the bag I remove the blue tape from both sides and then stand up the piece so that air can circulate uniformly on both sides to dry. After 24 hours, it's ready to use.You can see the slip matched pattern in this photo.



That's it. It's a simple process that is easily done by anyone who wants to use something better than commercial hardwood plywood for furniture and cabinet projects. You might want to give it try.

John

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Coca Cola inspired serving tray

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Making a Coca-Cola inspired serving board with Alumilite Deep pour resin, Coke bottle caps and Honey Locust boards I milled last year. Finished with automotive clear coat
Reupload from old channel (9-16-21)

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Need some weight. Plaster of Paris OK?

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I have a hollow project that, when finished, will be a little top heavy. Plus I don't think it feels right when you lift it. The bottom has a cavity 10 inch diameter by 3 inch deep. I thought I could fill this with some kind of plaster to get the desired effect,but I'm not familiar with casting products, procedures or techniques.

Help! Can I use casting plaster or plaster of Paris? Which would work best? Would something else be more suitable? Thanks for any help.

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Design Question - Will this topple?

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Hello All,

I have a friend who asked me to build her a sewing station on wheels. I would post a picture of the design but its basically a box (like everything we do) that has the following measurements:

18" Wide x 33" Height x 40" Long

I plan to buy 3" casters so the cart will be mobile. This makes the total height 33" + 3" or 36"

Also, she wants a solid wood top that has 18" leafs which can be opened and supported by arms that get stored in the top when not in use.

So we would potentially have an 18" + 18" + 18" top on a 18" base that is 36" high.

I think we need a wider base....

Your thoughts?

Thanks, Bill

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Finally Finished It

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The guy who's transporting the Lane Acclaim table I made for a lady in DC is finally coming to pick it up on Monday. I've been keeping the finished pieces in my sauna for safe keeping. So now that it's going to leave, I brought the pieces upstairs today put it together in my garage.

The extension mechanism is massive and operates exceedingly smoothly. It's from Poettker.



Right side up now.


John

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Lignomat Mini Long Pins

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I just received a new Lignomat Mini moisture meter and installed the longer pinsto test some oak. After using the meter two or three times to see who well it works, I noticed the pins were bent. I pushed the pins straight into the wood, so I was a bit surprised this occurred. I called Lignotmat and they were very helpful and are sending another set of long pins. I am just curious whether this is normal?Thank you![/list]

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Beginnings of a work bench

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I posted earlier about braking down Ash boards. Well the reason I was doing that is because I am starting to build another work bench. And I wanted to show that braking down plywood or heavy timber the process is the same. It is just getting it into usable size. And I wanted to say I am very happy not to live in a place that has covenants. In fact stay tuned.

My wife is having a garden club meeting at out house tonight and we had a big storm come through about a week ago and she wanted me to take sticks and branches it out to a friends burn pile and while I was there I decided to get some moreAsh. It was cut a couple of years ago and it was at 10 % I unhooked my straps and removed 4 pieces andbundled it back up. This is the first wood I have gotten and I was surprised on how flat it stayed.


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Anyway on the way back I stopped at the Little Brown Church and took a couple of pictures. I think it was finished in 1864 It isquite famous and even had A song written about it. The Little Brown Church in the Vale. It is an active church today. Lots of people from all over come there to get Married. Sue and I were married there 55 years ago this coming June 21st. The couple visiting inside said they were Married there 47 years ago. Anyway I write this because it is where all the ash came from. The church lost 11 ash trees And all the ash pictured came from one tree.


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I took it home and proceeded to cut it into usable sizes so I could get it on my table saw. oneof the pictures show 3 knots and otherwise the boards are clear. I also showed the split at the other end. Each board is book matched to the one under it. I was one of the grunts when it was sawn. And we handled it that way.


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And then I decided to test the waters and took the last board to my shop. So I cut the last board right in front of my shop,right down town on main street. There was a nice breeze so I didn't even sweep up the sawdust.


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Did I get away withit? People waved as they drove by. Going to do all my brake down on Main Street from now on. The Little brown church is level, just poor photography.

I hope you enjoy how I spent part of my day.

Tom

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Braking down ash boards

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I posted not to long ago about how I broke down plywood into manageable pieces. I got a lot of different responses. Most were mainly about storage of my table. Mine has fold up legs and stores against the wall behind my router table and planners. I also posted it on the Saw Mill Creek forum andsaw a lot of saw horse arrangements and even 4 folding work benches with 2 X4son them. I also saw sheet goods being cut in the shop, which means one had to bring the sheet goods into the shop

Well maybe 5 years ago I could handle a 4 x 8 3/4 sheet of plywood but not today. My wife would help but I won't ask her anymore. Trust me she has no business wrestling plywood.

And today I found out that plywood is a walk in the park compared to 2 inch thick Ash, 22 inches wide and 7 foot long. It is rough cut so it doesn't slide out of the truck, it comes out kicking and screaming all the way.

Anyway the table is the same for rough cut lumber as it is for plywood. I said my circular saw needed a new blade. i was going to mount a different saw to my plate but decided to mount my Makita in stead. A 7 1/4 instead of 6 1/2 blade. Now I will say this and it is that if the saw bladeis not perfectly parallel with the edge of the plate the saw blade will pull or push the saw away from the straight edge. This is one of the reasons that track saws are so popular.

Anyway I dragged the ash out of the truck and onto the table. Lets see I fold down the legs and place it behind my truck. I pull the wood out of the truck. If other than pulling it out onto the table it is a two person job to move a piece of Ash that big and heavy.

I used a Makita battery circular saw instead of the one I used in my other pictures. I really liked loosing the cord and it preformed better than I expected it to. I have tried other battery circular saws in the past and I was less than impressed. I couldn't get the full 2 inched of depth. But I was really happy about that. I didn't need to worry aroundthe wood closing in around the blade and having it send shock ways back into my shoulder. The second board was cupped so I turned it bow side down and cut I didn't want it collapsing in on the blade. The picture is a little misleading because the plate that the saw is mounted todoes ride in the groove on the guide I didn't have it quite on for the picture.

Anyway I had to use my jigsaw to cut it completelyapart.Just used the saw kerfas a guide. Because of the tables web design I had to wrestle the board around to completelyget it cut in to.

I have some Ash just as wide 8 foot long that that needs to be cut in moremanageable widths and the process it the same. So I guess the process is the same as for plywood, 8/4s ask and 4/4 s Ash

Anyway pictures


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Thanks for looking

Tom

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