Veneering Techniques.

[camallison]

Hi,

Many thanks Gary; I doubt I'll be parting with this Barker now it's looking so much better.

I do indeed have mechanical talents Gary being a mechanical engineer and the most useful talent I possess is being able to use both hands in harmony with my head. As an apprentice mechanical engineer it was beaten into me to think for myself after all I was being trained to be an engineer and not a "fitter"; this has remained with me for the last 50 years.

Hopefully what I've demonstrated with this Barker restoration and indeed with my other threads is that even with lack of skill on a particular subject determination will win through in the end. Even with my mechanical skills Gary I fell into a number of black holes during this restoration that any novice would fall into; I'm used to solving problems so I simply treat a problem as a challenge rather than an annoyance. I didn't know the veneer was going to grow so much in size once wetted; I didn't know I would suffer so much trouble due to the two front openings and what a blunder to end up with the electric iron welded to the front of the cabinet; this restoration has been problem after problem turning me back into a novice once again as I was on a very steep learning curve.

I have plenty of skills and experience to draw upon if I'm metal working but any project involving timber is totally different and the skills are not universally transferable; metal doesn't have a grain like timber and it is very predictable; metal cuts much more cleanly without lots of splintering or tear out; if metal is heated to cherry red it can be easily formed using a hammer and retains its new shape. I do have lots of hands on using power tools and machinery feeling very much at home with both but this Burr Walnut was a real challenge behaving most strangely; it grew a great deal when wetted but then shrank as it dried; pre-cutting then wetting made it no longer fit; it curled and buckled as it dried in fact it was a pain to work with; I was only experiencing what any novice will experience for the first time whilst trying to lay this Burr.

I couldn't gain any knowledge up front whilst browsing the Internet or "You tube" so the only way to gain knowledge was to have a go. I do have a lot of confidence in my abilities and I'm a quick learner. I wouldn't expect any novice to jump straight in and try laying Burr veneer without some practice of laying better behaved veneer but the basic skills to veneering are quickly grasped with a little practice. Plain veneer is cheap enough to practice with; hide glue is also cheap and the tools/equipment won't break the bank.

I've done my best to explain what I went through during this project and a novice to using Burr veneer now has the benefit of my experience up front so knows what to expect and more importantly how to avoid the mistakes I made. I don't think you will have deterred anyone from having a go Gary but I do agree veneering is very difficult at first but then so is riding a cycle.

Thank you Colin for your kind words. I'm pleased another wood worker has joined us and hopefully you will be posting some of your work? I too enjoy working with solid timber and have made a lot of free standing and fitted furniture saving us a fortune over the years. Veneering though is a lot different but it is also very useful in that very expensive decorative timbers can be cut into veneer and applied to a cheap substrate such as MDF resulting in a stable piece of furniture or cabinet; to use such decorative timber in the solid would be hugely expensive and the furniture or cabinet would most likely be very unstable. I used to regard veneered items as cheap but I'm learning better as I dig deeper into veneering.

I think once you have a go at veneering Colin you will soon pick up the techniques involved and it will open up a whole new world to you as it has done to me. Making furniture from reclaimed oak pews will be most satisfying for you and the oak will be very stable; what finish do you apply to the oak Colin because oak is not an easy timber to finish due to its very open grain? Last year I used new American white oak as a frame for my computer desk and as an experiment I used Formica for the panels; this sounds like a ghastly combination especially for a show piece but it worked out very well indeed and the desk is a joy to own. Have you any pictures of your work Colin because I feel it important to share this kind of information before all the skills are lost.

http://golbornevintageradio.org/forum/sh...p?tid=2204

I've rambled enough but believe me when I say the hardest part in veneering is making a start; this Barker was a downright pain to veneer but in spite of my ignorance it didn't beat me.

Kind regards, Col.

I missed this reply - sorry Col. My finishes for reclaimed oak are many and varied, but covered by .... Rustin's Danish oil and sand with a fine grit paper in between coats and use a tack rag after each sand and before the coat of oil. Sometimes, where maybe grubby hands will be high-traffic, then Osmo door-oil.

I mostly wander around some of the high-end furniture emporia, or sale rooms and take a host of photos of things I would like to make. My latest ("copy") is shown in the attached photo. It took around 6 months in the planning, drawing, making up in scrap pine first, and then going for broke with reclaimed oak. My daughter claimed the prototype pine unit and has done a superb job of finishing it with her own choice of stain and polyurethane varnish.

The photo is of the completed oak unit.

Colin

PS - I am currently modifying some Ikea floor-to-ceiling fitted wardrobes to use as storage in the hobby room. I might try veneering the doors as they are too dark for my taste - maybe a birch veneer if I can source it.