Veneering Techniques.

[pwdrive]

This is good stuff for gluing up miters etc, we used to use it when I was installing kitchen units, the bond is almost instantanious, no playing around time, we measured, marked, cut and glued the cornice/pelmet assemblies the same way as these guys.
The glue is two part, liquid from a bottle and an applicator pen or spray can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqLx4X5tQZQ

Lawrence.

[AlanBeckett]

Sorry Lawrence, but I couldn't watch more than the first minute of that.
Why the music? What's wrong with hearing what they say? Was the Cameraman pissed?
Useless in my opinion.

Alan

[Retired]

Hi,

You are so right Lawrence about mass production being an old technique; many of the Victorian pine paneled doors didn't even have mortice and tenon joints the joints being merely machine scribed and doweled.

Well done Joe; you've produced a work of art; may I suggest you very carefully pack it and send it by courier to The Tate after all if they can exhibit a pile of bricks I'm sure yours is more interesting?

http://www2.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/...public.htm

I've had to come out of the workshop as I can't stand too much joy in one day and I'm overcome with excitement; I'd almost forgotten what it was like for something to go as planned.

I removed the clamps and in my mind was the thought that whatever now happened this cabinet was going to get veneered to my satisfaction however much it was going to fight so I was in fighting mood. With the clamps removed I thought here I go again as the packing piece and grease proof paper appeared to have glued themselves to the veneer? A bit of gentle persuasion and with a cracking sound they released and I was amazed to find all was now well. Just a bit of lifting veneer to sort on the front bar between the two cut-outs to sort out and to trim the veneer to size then I could think about finishing the cabinet. It still looked rough with all the over-hanging excess veneer but I knew I was now getting on top of this job.

With something like 3/4" over-hanging I thought the router might grab and break a section of veneer out and having got so near I wasn't prepared to take risks. Using the craft knife and steel rule as a guide the veneer was trimmed leaving around 1/8" excess.

   
Too much excess veneer.

A straight flush cutting bearing guided bit was installed in the router carefully adjusting depth of cut; I wanted the bearing to run just under the veneer with a little clearance but not too low because if the router was allowed to tip at all the bit would cut deeper ruining the job.

The router was run around the outside of the cabinet making a good job of trimming the veneer and this was followed by careful hand sanding with 240g abrasive paper backed with a block; care was taken to to ensure all sanding was done toward the cabinet and not away from the cabinet to prevent tear-out.

Now came the part I dreaded; the two holes/openings. This could now really go wrong if I wasn't careful so I removed most of the excess veneer using the craft knife and steel rule but did this bit by bit until I could see the cabinet edges around the openings. The router using the same bit was adjusted then carefully run around to tidy the veneer edges but as the cabinet opening edges were rounded over I had prepared for this part of the job.

Yesterday whilst in the garage I took the opportunity to cut from 18mm thick MDF two router cutting guides. These guides were cut out on the big Startrite band-saw to the marked lines ensuring the corners which were rounded didn't go beyond the marks. I could have used the coping saw but the band-saw would be much quicker and an opening cut would not hurt to allow the blade to access the pieces to be removed.

       
MDF routing guides and guides installed.

With the bench cleared the two guides were secured in turn in the woodworking vice and the band-saw cuts tidied up using coarse grit abrasive paper and a wooden block for the straight bits and abrasive paper wrapped around a marker pen for the rounded corners. Bron then kindly gave me some of her strong double sided adhesive tape and this was used to attach the guides to inside of the cabinet.

A suitable rounding over bearing guided bit was selected and installed into the router; this was very carefully adjusted for depth erring on the generous side of safety then the router was run around each opening. This hardly touched the veneer which is what I wanted. Now using the turret stop the steel rule was placed between the stop points and the stop nipped up removing the rule; I could then control depth of cut in increments running the router around after each adjustment; I wanted to slightly modify the shape of the moulding because the original moulding was very bland being plainly rounded over and I wanted to improve upon this to give a shoulder at veneer depth which would give a definite break between veneer edges and moulding leaving a shadow line; this is easy to produce with care by adjusting the depth of cut but one slip here means a lot of grief but by now I was on a roll.

At this point I sanded the new veneers at 240g using the backing block taking care to remove all sharp corners but not sanding the bit of loose veneer at the joint between the two openings. As the edges of veneer had only slightly lifted I didn't feel the need to go mad and start warming up a fresh batch of hide glue. Whilst at Rufforth a while ago both David and I watched a guy demonstrating the power of super glue he was selling. We were both so impressed by what we saw we both bought some of this glue and now I thought what better time to try it out? The backing block I had been using for sanding was wrapped with a double layer of grease roof paper then the glue was applied followed by quickly clamping the block into place. 15 seconds should give plenty of time for this glue to set but considering my previous problems I'll leave it a couple of hours so now the cabinet is sitting on the bench with the block clamped in position. I'm not worried if this glue fails because this joint is short and it won't be a big job to use hide glue on my next session.

   
One bit of veneer to re-glue.

Only now did I stand back to look at the cabinet and I confess I'm pleased with it now; the veneer pattern to the top of the cabinet could not have turned out better; the lower joints don't match perfectly but given this is burr I hope the joints won't look too bad once the cabinet is finished. More work is needed to tidy the openings and a bit of filling will be beneficial but on the whole after my earlier disappointments this cabinet is going to look rather special. The veneer is dull at the moment but will come alive once the finish is applied. This has been a rare day when things have gone my way. I can now say with some confidence that such a cabinet can be veneered with Burr Walnut using the hide glue and hammer method; not at all easy but certainly possible.

   
This cabinet is going to look good.

I mentioned the excellent clamps I use a lot and here is a picture of a few of them; if Aldi get more stock I'll buy a lot more of these clamps as they are brilliant to use.

   
Excellent clamps.

Kind regards, Col.

[Radio Fixer]

Well done says I.

I didnt understand the Super Glue bit, was this to stick down a piece of veneer that hadnt held with the Hide Glue? If so I wouldnt have done that as I dont know how the two react. It may be OK now but what about later ... I'm always thinking about years ahead with most of the work I do.

You are getting a whizz with the router ... I simply wouldnt have been brave enough to use it like that. I would have done everything by slow but not sudden disaster hand work. Knives, files, grit paper, sweat, swear words etc.

Very cunning with the cutouts, not sure what you are going to do with the edges. Are those just going to be painted or stained as most sets were?

Me too, had a good day and progress on a chassis.

Cheers and thanks Colin ... been interesting

[pwdrive]

Sorry Lawrence, but I couldn't watch more than the first minute of that.
Why the music? What's wrong with hearing what they say? Was the Cameraman pissed?
Useless in my opinion.

Alan

Alan I was in a genuine rush, it was meant to show how good the glue is, there are probably better videos...Agreed, there is a lot of crap and not to the point stuff and drivel on utube...I am not worthy, but I couldn't give a monkeys. It was basically about the properties of the glue, we used that two part stuff all the time when fitting kitchen units it did the biz first rate.

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

Looking good now Col. chin up never say die eh...Those speed clamps are the biz, so handy.

Lawrence.

[AlanBeckett]

Lawrence,

I'd much rather take your word for it than watch all of that.

Alan

[pwdrive]

Don't blame you Alan....Confession....I did not watch all of it when I selected it, I was in a rush, saw the beginning when they were starting to mark out and applying the glue, I then skipped to near the end when they were putting the asssembly up and thought that'll do.
I am not sure of the brand name of that stuff but we used it all the time, that and polyurathane glue and PVA

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

Hi Alan I have now watched it all the way through, yes the music is a bloody distraction, I'm guessing the camera was held by another site chippy!

Site chippys are a different breed to DIY carpenters for sure, they have to be otherwise no money, we used to get DIY carpenters on site armed with this tool and that tool, this book and that book in the main they were pretty useless, basically if you couldn't hang at least 8 doors a day or more then it's up the road yer go.
All the modern site equipement is designed for speed and modern materials, tradition was out of the window as things had moved on.
Is there more to think about when installing a modern cheapo core door as opposed to a solid traditional door, yes more thinking and knowledge is required.

Lawrence.

[AlanBeckett]

Lawrence,

I used to have a neighbour who was a real Site Chippy.
He could do things with my tools that I couldn't dream of.
He was very useful though, and I used to mend his TV, and lust after his wife

Alan