The Woodshop Shed

My lamination adventure

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


I had mentioned I'm trying to build a serpentine drawer sideboard to replace one (a piece of junk) we have in our dining room. The biggest challenge to this is the 2 serpentine drawers it has, this is how I did it. The existing drawers were bandsawn from solid piece of oak that was 3" thick, I really didn't want to do that...I didn't have stock thatthick and my bandsaw skills are not the greatest. Besides, I would have beenleft with some large surfaces to smooth out. So I decided (maybe incorrectly) to do mine as bent laminations with my vacuum press. I started out thinking I would use shop sawncherryfor all the plies and abandoned that not wanting to cut up that much cherry. Instead I purchased 1/6" thick poplar veneer for the core and then some cherry veneer for the facings.


  flattening veneer copy.JPG (Size: 847.65 KB / Downloads: 100)













So the first task was to try and get the veneer a little flatter than it was, it arrived in a tight coil. So I cut it to rough length and put it under some weight for a few days.




  flattening veneer copy.JPG (Size: 847.65 KB / Downloads: 100)



While that was sitting I went ahead and made the form. Solid MDF, this thing weights probably 50# and was a b*tchto handle getting into the vacuum bag.




  form copy.JPG (Size: 801.14 KB / Downloads: 100)



So I went ahead and made a test pressing with dry wood and found a few headaches. For one thing I couldn't do all the plies (12 of them, plus 2 pieces of cherry)at one time...I would have to do each piece as 2 pressings. Another problem that showed up was the shape itself. I found when drawing the vacuum, the center section (arrow) would go down slowly enough that the bag would be sucked in between the form and the plies, which meant I was getting the right profile. I tried several approaches to solving this and none worked. I probably should have asked herefor advice but I'm a little hardheaded to do such a thing. So I tried making some blocks that would hold the bag out of that opening.I wound up hanging them over the plies and they dropped (sortof )into place as the bag was drawn down.This did solve my problem but made putting the pieces into the vac bag a little more difficult.


  forminput copy.JPG (Size: 824.92 KB / Downloads: 100)
  gapblocks copy.JPG (Size: 788.17 KB / Downloads: 100)



So then I did a test pressing with glue and it came out not bad....you can see how the blocks fell into the opening.




  testpresing copy.JPG (Size: 845.83 KB / Downloads: 100)
  block3 copy.JPG (Size: 811.01 KB / Downloads: 100)

So after all this and 4 pressings, each taking over nightI wound up with the drawer fronts. I used Unibond 800 and they recommended for bent laminations you clamp itovernight.




  finale copy.JPG (Size: 835.45 KB / Downloads: 99)

I cut one edge off on the bandsaw, first step in the cleanup process and jointed that edge. You can see the plies are nice and tight. But that's as far as I got for now.

  plies copy.JPG (Size: 656.79 KB / Downloads: 101)

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Texas burnt orange epoxy

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


I am making a sign for the grandson of my best friend.
He is a student at UT and their color is burnt orange.
This is the sign after routing.


  Routed sign.jpg (Size: 152.34 KB / Downloads: 37)

I got some deep pour epoxy and tinted it with trans tint.
The color wasn't perfect in the spill over but in the groove it REALLY wasn't close.


  epoxy.jpg (Size: 176.87 KB / Downloads: 37)

First time I have done this.
I just got back from Rockler and they suggest using Mica pigment.
Anyone used that?
Can I mix a color with Mica?
Or can I use orange Mica and then black Trans tint for the burnt part?

Or does someone have any better ideas.

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side mount vs undermount drawer slides

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I installed undermount drawer slides in my kitchen project (first time using them)and found them so easy and forgiving to install that it had me wishing thatI started using them years ago.
I did install a fewpull out shelves/drawers with side mount, thinking that they would be more heavy duty for the application I anticipate for those. Maybe they are a more heavy duty, but I probably don't really need them.

I have some other side mount drawer slides on handthat I will use up for shop cabinets someday, but other than that I don't know that I will ever use them again for regular drawers.
In comparison to undermount, the side mount drawer slides are a real pita to install and then also just to mount the drawer onto the slide.

Another lesson learned in this - don't try to save money on the rear bracket. At first I scoffed at the idea of buyingrear brackets for the undermount slides, thinking that I could just install a little shelf of sorts for the rear of the cabinet for theundermount drawer slide to sit on. I did and while it worked I alsofound that to be a pita to adjust, so I bought some rear mounting brackets to see if I'd like thoseand learned that the little cost on them was money well spent.

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I lost a good friend yesterday

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You may remember me mentioning from time to time that I have a friend who's an arborist. I get logs from him. Yesterday, he was killed on the job. I'm not sure I know the complete circumstances yet, but apparently the root ball of a downed tree let loose and the treefell on him. He was the most competent and safe tree guy I know.I'm at a loss to explain how it happened other than things happen out of our control sometimes.Two kids,elementary and middle school. What a tragedy. I'm heart broken.

John

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