Golborne Vintage Radio

Hi,

Wood veneering is a huge subject and ranges from plain veneering right through to complex marquetry. Modern readily available veneers generally are 0.7mm thick and require careful handling. Considering veneer is used by industry in vast quantities I find small quantities made available from outlets such as eBay to be quite expensive especially the more figured kinds like Burrs.

There are a number of ways of applying veneer to a substrate and the main ones are Press; Caul: Vacuum and Hammer. For radio and TV cabinetwork and my favourite is the hammer method. A veneering hammer can be bought but I made my own costing very little; although called a veneering hammer it isn’t a hammer in the normal sense of the word but more of smooth metal squeegee blade that is pulled or pushed across the surface of the newly laid veneer in order to remove excess glue ensuring the veneer is firmly pressed into close contact with the substrate.

Hot hide glue (Scotch) is the traditional glue to use for hammer veneering and at first is quite difficult for a novice to use as it requires heating in a double container until the glue runs freely from a brush dipped and withdrawn from it without the glue breaking into blobs; if hide glue is overheated it loses much of its strength but with a little practice heating and using hide glue is soon picked up. Hide glue has many benefits the main one being that it is reversible; once it is applied and allowed to fully harden; due to its terrific strength the joint made will hold for hundreds of years without failure as long as it is kept dry. With the application of heat the glue can be reactivated at any time even after a hundred years. Hide glue is not waterproof but is the best glue to use on a vintage cabinet; it has excellent filling properties and once it grabs it does so with a passion making it ideal for adding wooden glue blocks to strengthen joints; the mating surfaces of each block are quickly coated with hide glue and placed in position; a couple of quick rubs set the block in position without the need to clamp.

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Ekco T311 as bought.

Hide glue gels quickly and this tends to scare a novice applying veneer for the first time it certainly scared me and I’ll never forget the panic I felt as I tried to lay my first piece of veneer trying to beat the glue before it started to gel. I worked like someone possessed trying to brush the glue; add the veneer and press the veneer down using the hammer in the hope that I could remove excess glue from the joint. Yes it was highly stressful but this was only part of the problem.

As a novice I found using hide glue to be difficult because I didn’t understand it’s properties and tried to use it in similar manner to standard glues where I could lay on the glue knowing I had time to play around a bit before the glue started to set; I ended up with sticky fingers and steam coming out of my ears due to frustration and sheer panic but now I find the whole process to be very laid back and so what if the glue sets as soon as it leaves the brush. Frame joints are treated a bit differently from veneer and in order to give more gluing time before the glue gels a hair drier can be played on both parts of the joint to raise their temperature taking care not to get the parts hotter than the glue; the joint is then quickly glued up and secured after wiping away excess glue but I’ll concentrate on veneering as this scares most people.

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Badly curled Pommele veneer.

Wood veneer looks so docile and tame sitting on the bench after cutting to slightly oversize but I found veneer has a dark side only too willing to really spoil my day and giving me massive frustration. On my very first veneering job I had been meticulous to get everything just right; the cabinet surface had been scraped to perfection and dusted off; the veneer had been carefully cut using a craft knife and straightedge ensuring it was centred for pattern and allowing a little extra all around; the hide glue had been freshly made up and was placed in a home made double container consisting of an inner clean baked beans tin and wired into an old saucepan to prevent it bobbing up and down in the water; with water added between the tin and pan the glue was slowly brought up to correct temperature and a new 1” paintbrush was used to frequently check its progress. For a veneering hammer I used a heavy duty plastic scraper. I thought with all my preparations veneering would be a push over.

Veneering quickly turned into a nightmare for me; as soon as I applied the first brush full of hot hide glue the veneer physically curled up its nose at me; by the time the veneer was fully coated with glue it had curled and twisted so badly I thought it was going to walk from the bench in disgust at my ignorance. I placed it roughly in position on the panel and applied the newly bought hot clothes iron only making matters worse; the veneer refused to go down and remain down and the hot iron was starting to overheat the glue; by sheer determination and luck I found by wetting the face side of the veneer then applying the hot iron I was able to finally get the veneer into position it having finally given up fighting me but I’ll never ever forget that fight.

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Inlay card template

Now fast forward to four months ago and my current restoration project this being an Ekco T311 1957 TV. This TV looked dire as it was riddled with woodworm and had lots of de-lamination to its veneer. It looked a hopeless case so I couldn’t possibly do it any damage?

Starting on this cabinet I still had a lot to learn about veneering but was up for the challenge. The cabinet was so bad that I did consider throwing it down the local tip and making a brand new cabinet but I’m a sucker for punishment so decided to try to restore it. I didn’t want to return the cabinet to as new because it looked bland with a brown treacle finish just like a piece of cheap utility furniture and I thought I have nothing to lose so wanted to experiment on it to try out a number of veneering ideas. I could visualize the finished cabinet in my head and it looked beautiful with inlaid Burr Walnut panels surrounded by boxwood stringing and Quartered Sapele cross banding. All I needed to do was to turn this idea into reality.

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Cross banding in quartered Sapele.

I found Burr Walnut Veneer on eBay to be very expensive for the amount I required at just under £40 but I did find Sapele Pommele Burr and two long lengths cost £22 for the pair so I bought a pair. The Quartered Sapele I already had in stock. I wanted this cabinet to be very special and although I’ve used Boxwood stringing 30 years ago I had been surfing the Internet for ideas and found a number of extremely informative videos on “you tube” showing not only how to veneer but also how to make very fancy stringing at home. This stringing is more correctly known as banding because it consists of a number of layers of veneer but for clarity I’ll refer to it as stringing. I was amazed as I watched the videos over and over until I knew them off by heart.

I made a proper veneering hammer and bought 2KG of hide glue. My plan was to completely replace both cabinet sides thereby removing both the woodworm and de-lamination damage at one go but I had never seen such drastic repairs carried out and to make it even more difficult I decided to share my story of work in progress with the world adding it as a thread on the forum listed below. I knew at the end of the restoration I would either look good or a total plonker but I would do my best.

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Main veneers laid.

I suffered deeply whilst trying to find decent plywood driving around in snow and ice but gave up after buying three lots only to find it was rubbish once I got it home and closely inspected it; totally disgusted at wasting so much time and effort I eventually bought an 8’x4’ sheet of 6mm MDF cutting the sheet by hand at the suppliers in order for it to fit into our Toyota Aygo car.

Over the next four months I made steady progress but could only work for an hour some days due to the freezing conditions; I cut all the materials in the garage but did all the veneering and final French polishing in our kitchen. The working conditions were very poor with bad lighting and I kept feeling frozen but I battled on. I laid the cabinet side down onto a piece of MDF and carefully drew around it using a pencil; at the back and bottom edges I drew these exactly to size for later datum points but allowed1/4” extra on the other two sides. The MDF was then cut out on the huge Startrite bandsaw. Now came the veneering.

In order to prevent such a piece of core material as the MDF from warping due to the hide glue exerting tremendous pressure both sides of the MDF had to be veneered. I used Quartered Sapele for the inner side but a selection of Quartered Sapele; Sapele Pommele and stringing for the face side.

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Routing stringing grooves.

I was rather nervous at attempting so much veneering but I had been watching an excellent video and knew what to do. I set everything up in the kitchen. Cut the veneers roughly to size allowing extra length and width; mixed up a new batch of hide glue heating this in my proper cast iron glue pot bought from eBay; setting the electric iron to hot; filled a bowl with warm water and cut some clean cloth. I decided to apply the balancing Quartered Sapele veneer to the inner surface first in case anything went wrong then I would not lose too much money. Three widths would be needed to cover the panel. I didn’t mess around this time as I knew what to do so using a cloth I soaked both sides of the first piece of veneer then placing it onto the work surface went over a number of times using the hot iron making it sizzle but never letting the veneer dry out; the veneer was then turned over and again run over with the hot iron; I did this a couple of times and after wetting and applying the iron the veneer decided it wasn’t worth fighting me and gave in remaining dead flat on the work surface; I went over again with the wet cloth then carried the glue pot within easy reach; the inner face of the MDF was gone over with the wet cloth followed by brushing on a generous coat of hot hide glue; the glue started to gel quickly and I just laughed at it as I now knew it wasn’t a problem so didn’t try to rush.

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Corner grooves to cut.

Wiping away excess water from the glue side of the veneer the veneer was carefully positioned on the panel and ensuring the face side of the veneer remained wet I went over it with the iron; this immediately softened the glue and it was easy to use the hammer forcing out excess glue which I removed with a damp cloth. With the veneer now successfully glued in position I used a dry cloth to remove most of the water from its face then repeated the process adding the other two pieces of veneer ensuring the joints were firmly abutted. This was a revelation to me as it was so easy; I was rather anxious during veneering but by the time the third piece was being laid I felt a real sense of satisfaction and could relax; at last I had cracked basic veneering and having enjoyed this success could now turn the MDF over and set about applying the more difficult veneers.

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Looks rough. scraping stringing.

The cabinet sides proved quite difficult because the edges were both straight and curved in places so after a lot of thought I made a template out of stiff picture mounting card. This template was cut to the exact size of the inlaid Pommele panel and was triple checked for size. Sapele Pommele was cut oversize and as two widths would be needed it was book matched from the two long lengths of Pommele. In order to do this the two lengths were laid out on the kitchen floor and veneer is sold in consecutive leaves as they are cut from the log. Leaving the bottom leaf as it was I merely turned over the top leaf just like opening a book hence the name book matching; it was easy to align the grain pattern and then cut out two oversize pieces.

I followed the same procedure for laying as I had done previously but with one exception; the edges of this veneer were not trimmed accurately straight so I drew a line on the MDF allowing 1/2” extra width over centre; the veneer was laid now up to the pencil line and the second piece of veneer was laid taking great care to ensure it was book matched and allowed to overlap the joint; a wooden straightedge was aligned with the centre marks and pressing it firmly to prevent it moving a very sharp craft knife was run along the joint ensuring the blade remained in contact with the straightedge and using a number of passes with the knife to completely cut through both veneers; the knife and straightedge were placed out of the way and the top surplus veneer was peeled away then the joint was opened slightly to release the bottom waste strip of veneer then the hot iron was run over quickly followed by the hammer to press the joint firmly home; this method ensures a perfect joint every time. Working quickly the card template was accurately positioned and the craft knife run around allowing excess veneer to be removed leaving the remaining inlaid panel of Pommele. Care was taken to remove excess glue with a damp cloth and wipe dry using a dry cloth.

Now I was feeling very confident and spent time accurately cutting the cross banding veneers from quartered Sapele. This was not as easy as it first appeared until I tried using tracing paper; tracing paper patterns were drawn and cut then overlaid onto the veneer taking care with grain direction and each piece was very carefully cut out using the craft knife cutting with at least three passes with the knife; breakout occurred with the first piece but I quickly learnt to cut in from each edge preventing this breakout happening again. The cross banding was glued into position abutting the inlaid panel and with extra width allowed on the outer edge. Again the veneer was wiped clean of excess glue and dried. Only the stringing was now needed to complete the first cabinet side panel; I felt over the moon at this success and had very much enjoyed the process. The second piece of MDF was then veneered using exactly the same technique.

Initially I intended to use boxwood stringing which is readily available but after surfing the web for veneering advice I found a number of videos on you tube showing how to make fancy bandings; these bandings are very expensive to buy ready made but the process of making them looked easy. I already had a stock of Quartered Sapele and another veneer in a very light colour the name of which I don’t know but both these together gave a pleasing contrast and above all they cost me nothing so I could experiment with them. I laid up a sandwich consisting of four layers of veneer and again used my favourite hide glue before placing the glued sandwich between two lengths of dead straight timber and applying pressure with many clamps; the glue was allowed to set for a day before removing the clamps and I now had what looked like a bit of plywood which after allowing it to completely dry I cut into 3/32” strips. These strops would be laid with the dark end grain uppermost.

Cutting the stringing grooves was quite a challenge but in the end I made up my own router bit from ¼” silver steel rod and this was used in the router against very accurately cut guides cutting the grooves to 0.060”. This was a slow job as much care was needed because one slip would ruin a great deal of work. The grooves were then cleaned out and the stringing carefully glued in using quick setting woodworking adhesive pressing the stringing tightly home with a rubber roller; excess glue was very carefully removed using a damp cloth; the glue was allowed to set overnight before the stringing was brought down flush with a very sharp cabinet scraper. All I needed to do now was to completely remove the cabinet sides and add the new ones.

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Complete cabinet side removed.

For the full story please visit;

http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showt...hp?t=62371

For a brilliant introduction into veneering and highly recommended by me; please visit;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awIBy11kMA8&feature=related

For an introduction into how to make stringing/banding please visit;


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvxKrXYXc0g&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Yb5_RfP3o&NR=1

[attachment=6786]
What a joy.

Veneering is difficult at first but a whole lot easier with these notes and I hope others will be encouraged to have a go because using cheaper veneers to begin with the materials and tools cost very little but the results with a lot of patience can be outstanding. I enjoyed this cabinet restoration immensely and I’m self taught. I hope the thread is of use.

Kind regards, Col.

Col I have had my fingers crossed for this input...........THANK YOU!

helped me no end, but my effort is not perfect, but acceptable!

cheers Mark

Hi,

You are most welcome Mark and I'm pleased the information is of use to you. I'll add more as time permits and I hope to meet you next Sunday at Golborne.

Kind regards, Col.

Another thread started by Colin in the early days of the forum on French polishing and veneering techniques.

Colin has re-attached the lost attachements, so I've given this thread a bump to wake it up again.

Thanks to Colin for his time and effort in updating the thread and helping de-mystifiy the dark arts of veneering and French polishing!

Hi,

Many thanks David; I enjoy adding my stories covering new techniques I keep learning; I'm still very much a novice when it comes to French polishing and veneering but at least I'm practicing and making many mistakes so hopefully my notes will prevent other members duplicating my mistakes.

I'm currently tackling re-veneering a "woody"; this is going to be a long rambling tale but what the heck it's winter and I can't pick and choose my projects although this might prove interesting to others wishing to have a go at veneering. I'll try to add as much detail as possible but actually doing the work is much quicker than writing about it. Here goes.

With my workshop now converted from electronics to woodworking I wanted to do a project in comfort. The workshop now has good lighting; central heating and a decent music system.

I had started to install a clutch into my Jubilee lathe but as usual the weather is dire preventing me from running between workshop and garage and it's also too cold to tinker around in the garage so I've put the clutch project to one side.

I still wanted to tackle a project just for something interesting to do and as I still have a number of un-restored radios now was a good time to restore one of them. It would be luxury to work in comfort and with plenty of bench space because previously I've done veneering in our kitchen which is far from ideal.

David (Yorkie) very generously gave me as a gift this Barker 88 "woody" quite a while ago and I thought this would make an ideal project? David had got the set working but I am more interested in the cabinet. With the set on the bench it was a simple job to remove the chassis and other items leaving a bare cabinet. I noticed there were two empty valve sockets one of these being the magic eye and the other an empty socket on the chassis; no problem though as the set won't be played often once completed.

[attachment=7105]
Barker 88.

Looking at the cabinet it's appearance was extremely bland totally lacking in character; if it had any decent veneer this was buried in a dark brown finish and the light coloured paint around the mouldings although standard did little to help it's appearance. David had kindly warned me the veneer to the front top curve was worn thin and David knew of my intention to experiment with veneering so the thin veneer wasn't a problem. Had the cabinet been constructed of plain flat panels I would not have bothered adding the work in progress but this cabinet has a curved section across the front top which should complicate veneering a great deal; the cabinet also has two large front openings so this should be fun.

I don't like using chemical stripper so opted to use cabinet scraper and abrasive paper to remove the finish. I was surprised by how much finish was on the cabinet it being quite thick. The finish was smooth but not highly glossy and the cabinet is in good condition. It took three sessions to remove the finish using the cabinet scraper which I sharpened a number of times as the job progressed; this was followed by a good going over using coarse abrasive paper with a backing block but going across the grain as I wanted to provide a good key for the new veneer.

[attachment=7114] [attachment=7106]

Stripping original finish.

I would like to stress that I'm no expert when it comes to veneering and it took me ages to get into the mood and to gather all the equipment before I started. During converting the workshop tools and materials had been scattered around the various rooms and in the garage so a lot of time was wasted trying to locate my veneering items; the cast iron double glue pot proved very elusive and was eventually found in the very corner of a wall cupboard in the garage; the hide glue played hide and seek very well indeed especially considering that I had been looking for a biscuit tin when in fact I had previously transferred the glue pearls into a large plastic tub completely forgetting I had done so. Just gathering these items took a few days but eventually everything fell into place.

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Plenty of bench space.

During this time I was trying to decide on what veneers to use? I still had some Sapele Pommelle veneer left over from my Ekco TV restoration and at first considered using this to cover the front and top panels of the cabinet. There was just enough Pommelle and having it to hand would save the cost of buying new veneer? I have a stock of assorted veneer and pulled out some being very dark in colour with a striking grain; this would be ideal for both side panels. Looking closely at the Pommelle though I thought it might be over powering given the plain shape of the cabinet and the more I thought about it I decided against using it.

For many years I've very much admired Burr Walnut for it's beauty but being a novice to veneering I could never justify the expense of experimenting using it. Thinking about this I started to browse eBay and to buy a single sheet of Burr Walnut to cover the top and front panels would cost in excess of £50; ouch!! More browsing though revealed four smaller consecutive pieces of European Burr Walnut which could be laid "quartered". At £29 inclusive I bought the four pieces. Whilst on eBay I also bought a circle cutter and a monster roll of proper veneering tape. The cutter is a Jakar Compass Circle Cutter with six blades and two leads at £3.72 inc P&P. The tape is Veneer Tape Large Roll 20mm x 400m, £7.50 plus £2 P&P.

I had been surfing the web and found beautiful Burr Walnut as used in Rolls Royce cars but I've a long way to go yet before being let loose with such wonderful material although I hope to eventually gain enough experience allowing me to have a go with some but not yet.

The Burr Walnut arrived and it is badly buckled and rippled; this isn't a fault because this is how Burr Walnut behaves and it requires flattening before use; it is also very fragile demanding utmost care in its handling so at the moment it is stored safely in the front bedroom. The tape and circle cutter are also now with me; all three items from different eBay suppliers arrived rapidly and within an hour of each other; I thought it was Christmas. I have further ambitions regarding making veneer inlay motifs hence I bought the circle cutter but firstly I need to veneer this cabinet.

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Ready for veneering.

Yesterday afternoon I finally had everything together and I was in the mood to make a start. Simple decisions can sometimes take ages and so it was with the veneer for the side panels; under no circumstances must veneer ever be laid on top of another veneer with the grain running the same way or splits will appear ruining the work. The outer veneer grain on the sides ran vertically so if I wanted the new veneer grain to run in the same direction I would firstly have to cross veneer. This isn't a problem and cheap veneer is available for this purpose (backing veneer). I have some suitable backing veneer and had already pulled enough out but then Gary (Radio Fixer) kindly sent me a picture of one of his beautifully restored sets and I noticed the side veneer grain on this set ran horizontally and it looked most pleasing; This solved one small problem and saved me some work; I'll run the grain horizontally.

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Book matched veneer.

As the veneer would need fitting in two pieces to each side an accurate joint would be required. I could cut these joints during laying the veneer but I had also seen a video on You Tube showing a guy using a long wooden straightedge with abrasive paper secured using double sided adhesive tape so I thought I'd give this a try out. In order to bring the veneer roughly down to size it would need marking and now the fun began. This cabinet has a sloping front and as it has a long batten to the front acting as a foot the bottom of the cabinet sides were also sloping so how could I align the veneer for it to look right?

Trying to handle overlong narrow pieces of veneer is difficult and I had two for each side to play with. If I placed two pieces on the upper cabinet side with the cabinet placed on its side on the bench I could no longer see the cabinet side panel? If I placed the veneer on the bench and seated the cabinet on it I still could not determine the best position for the new veneer? Already I was into some head scratching because I knew if I got this wrong the cabinet would appear "odd".

I went into the garage and collected a large sheet of picture glass; this was only an idea at this point but worth trying and I wasn't in a hurry. The sharp edges of the glass were removed using abrasive paper and wooden backing block taking care not to cut myself. This glass is very thin and fragile so I was very gentle with it; the glass was placed onto a clean piece of MDF then the cabinet was placed side down aligning it carefully and it was drawn around using a fine black marker pen giving the outline onto the glass.

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Best veneer alignment.

The two pairs of veneer were taped and each pair was laid in turn on the MDF and the glass could now be used as a clear template; it worked a treat and it was very easy to obtain best grain alignment; one important point here is that each pair of veneers now became "handed" the better face and pattern would be on the outside so using a pencil the veneers were numbered on the inside (glue side). The veneers were marked for position and now the glass could be removed allowing the cabinet to be aligned and drawn around using a pencil with the pencil held vertical this gave an extra margin around the veneer; better slightly too big than too small at this stage and I was taking a lot of time over this. My plan is to learn from this project and I can then progress onto better projects this being merely a stepping stone so to speak. Speed will come later all being well but if not I'm still enjoying myself.

One thing I must buy is a hand veneer saw but for now I have to make do with a craft knife. Veneer is very brittle; it is easily cut using a sharp craft knife but a lot of care is needed to prevent breaking away outer strips of veneer whilst cutting across the grain as the knife breaks out from the end of the cut; to prevent this breakout the knife must be reversed so that the cut is always made into the veneer and not out of the veneer; the knife will also cut fingers if allowed to slip. Cutting with the grain also has it's own problems because the knife if not kept in proper control will try to follow the grain. Three light cuts work much better than trying to cut through the veneer in one pass. The new veneer was cut to the marked lines.

A quantity of Hide Glue pearls had previously been placed in a clean margarine container and covered with clean cold water then the lid added. The hide glue was ready and some was transferred to the cast iron glue pot which was in turn placed on a single electric hot plate and the plate switched on.

[attachment=7110]
Hide glue.

Whilst the glue was heating I set about making ready the veneer; the joints were not perfect and I could have cut perfect joints during lay up but now I used the abrasive paper as I would use a plane; the veneers were placed on the MDF but slightly overhanging one on top of the other; on top a wooden batten was placed allowing them to be securely held; the abrasive paper had been attached to a thicker length of wood allowing the paper to bear onto the veneer edges; the abrasive paper was worked to and fro until dust could be seen all along the edge; dusting off then placing the two pieces of veneer together resulted in a perfect joint;

[attachment=7112] [attachment=7113]
Sanding accurate joints.

Clean warm water was added to a bucket and a clean rag was soaked; the electric iron was plugged in and switched on at its highest setting. By now there was a strange smell when I should be smelling the hide glue? I can be so stupid at times; I had forgotten to add water into the outer glue pot;

The veneer pieces were dunked into the bucked and using the wet rag they were well wetted; then in turn they were placed on the MDF board and run over with the hot iron producing cracking and hissing noises; care was taken to keep the veneer wetted.

One cabinet end was then wetted and noting it's number I selected the correct pair of veneers; the cabinet was given a generous coat of hot hide glue and the first veneer accurately placed going over with the veneering hammer; the second veneer was quickly aligned and again attached using the veneering hammer. The veneer was overhanging about 1/4" so the hammer was always used diagonally near the edges to avoid damage. Excess glue was removed with a wet rag then a dry rag was used to remove excess moisture; to finish this side veneer tape was added to prevent the joint opening as the veneer dried out; the other side was done exactly the same. It is incredibly easy to get veneers mixed up or to apply glue to the wrong side; this was one of my first hard leant lessons when I first started veneering.

For once I had been working in total comfort; feeling warm with sleeves rolled up; plenty of bench space and favourite music playing it was bliss. Pity this didn't last because now the workshop is out of bounds once again; the central heating boiler is out of action so apart from the front room with its gas fire the rest of the bungalow is perishing and I'm in the hall wrapped up like an Eskimo typing these notes. Yesterday I had a glimpse of paradise today I'm back in reality. I can only dream of doing my best work because the world is stacked against me and I'm not kidding. I don't even know what kind of job I've made of veneering the cabinet sides but hopefully the British Gas engineer will arrive this afternoon armed with a sledge hammer to sort this wayward boiler out then later in the week when I stop sulking I'll have another go at this cabinet.

Kind regards, Col.

Hi,

With the central heating boiler now repaired I'm feeling much happier in fact someone has turned off the terrible weather for a short while as the sun is shining; WOW!!

I was keen to see how the cabinet sides had turned out after veneering so managed to get into the workshop yesterday morning to play around.

Just one tiny problem; I knew I had caught one corner of the veneer whilst I was removing the excess water with a dry cloth but thought it had pressed back into position OK; it's only the size of a small splinter but now it is still loose and will be re-glued later. Overall though the veneering of both sides is perfect; I'm particularly pleased with the joints which have closed tightly.

Erring on the side of caution I allowed too much overhang whilst cutting the veneer and this proved to be a mistake as extra care was needed during lay-up and also it presented problems as I ran the router round to bring it flush now the glue had set.

[attachment=7123]
Too much overhang.

The router was fitted with a bearing guided flush cutting straight bit and cut depth carefully adjusted. The cabinet was clamped securely to the bench and the router run round removing the overhanging veneer; this was followed by careful sanding using 240g abrasive paper backed by a wooden block; the abrasive paper was worked towards the cabinet all the time in order to avoid break-out of the fragile veneer.

[attachment=7120]
Cabinet securely clamped to bench.

The veneering tape proved obstinate as I tried to remove it using a cabinet scraper in fact it put up a fight and I was worried about damaging the cabinet if I applied too much pressure so I wetted the tape and suddenly it came away very easily with the cabinet scraper; with the tape removed the area was cleaned with a wetted rag to remove any tape adhesive and the pictures show the perfect joints but they are still damp from the wetting.

So far so good; both side panels now veneered with excellent joints and nicely aligned grain pattern. I've never used this type of veneer before but it has a very course grain similar to oak so it's unlikely it will ever flat down dead smooth in fact whilst I tried to remove the tape some of the tape was embedded deep into the grain but fortunately proved easy enough to remove once wetted.

[attachment=7121][attachment=7122]
Perfect joints; can you spot them?

I've never previously used proper veneering tape but I can now say it is worth buying; it is strong with a powerful adhesive activated by wetting; it is also very thin. Previously I've used 2" wide gummed parcel paper tape but this always left signs of where it had been attached.

I'm learning all the time; veneering both cabinet sides I found easy enough having done this previously but now I need to find a way of veneering using Burr Walnut which I've never attempted although I know it to be very difficult even on flat straight surfaces; I need to veneer around a curve and there are also two large openings to the front of the cabinet. The Burr is badly buckled and it is also fragile and very brittle. I need to proceed with a lot of caution and patience whilst finding solutions to a number of problems such as cutting to size and bending the Burr around the curve without destroying the Burr; will the joints align and do I veneer over the openings trimming later or trim to size before veneering. If it was easy I wouldn't have bothered. I've a number of ideas to try out but I'm on my own; I've surfed the web and looked at "You Tube" but am unable to find any reference or information as to how to apply Burr around a curve using the hammer and hide glue method. Veneer presses; cauls and vacuum bags are used but not the hammer; this is going to be an interesting challenge for me but if I succeed it will lead to even better things. I regard each of my projects as a stepping stone allowing me to gain knowledge and experience.

Since adding the notes above I've been in the workshop and can now add pictures of the Burr Walnut veneer shown below. This burr veneer is stunning and I hope I'm up to working with it.

Kind regards, Col.

[attachment=7124][attachment=7125]
Burr Walnut veneer as bought.

What an ambitious project Colin - so difficult to work with burr walnut veneer, but excellent progress already!

The Barker 88 is quite an interesting set, the 88 allegedly meaning 8 valves, 8 Watts output, from a push-pull 6V6 output stage. One of the eight valves, (which is missing), is a Y63 magic eye. Barker was a furniture store so the sets weren't manufactured by Barker, but for them. I rather like the half-moon dial, which covers LW,MW and SW. It was made soon after the war, and some components were ex WD - the metal clad caps for example. The were made with different cabinet styles, and every set seems to differ from every other, probably based on what components were available at any one time. I've no idea how many were made, or over what period of time. Although I wouldn't say that they're rare, they're not commonplace.

It's certainly going to look dandy in it's 'new suit of clothes'!

I had an 88 once in a different cabinet ...I'll see if I can find a pic.

The chassis were made by Plessey, normally considered a component manufacturer, they also made chassis for the CO-OP Defiant sets. They were at Ilford, maybe only 3/4 hours drive away from where we live.

Well done so far on the veneering Colin , the real 'fun' starts with the burr. Breaking new ground there.

Gary

Hi,

Many thanks David for adding this additional information regarding the Barker 88. My fingers are well and truly crossed that I can pull this project off not only to boost my own knowledge and confidence but to encourage others to have a go at this most interesting area of woodworking.

Thanks also Gary for the information; I'm sure you are correct when you say the real fun starts here.

I'm waiting for the workshop to waken up this morning after turning on the heat; once it warms up I'll resume work on this cabinet and I have a few ideas to try out; sometimes I think I'm living in "virtual reality" with the ideas which pop into my head but such ideas although strange at first tend to work out OK.

I spend lots of time browsing "You tube"; the following two videos are just brilliant and I've watched them over and over again. The Chinese video is remarkable and the sculpture of the winged lady is out of this world; this being initially done in wax then cast using the lost wax casting method.

The second video covers all aspects of hand made furniture in the traditional style. Please turn on the sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je_rkQ1UUQc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM3OT66iTOs

I adopted Gary as my role model over ten years ago after seeing his wonderful cabinet restorations in the BVWS Bulletin and at that time I could only aspire to such workmanship. Thank you Gary for setting the spark which subsequently encouraged me to have a go and over the years I keep improving little by little.

Having cleared out my electronics workshop I'm now kitting out to follow my dream of producing woodwork to the very best of my ability; as Gary inspired me with radio restoration I'm now inspired by the craftsmanship I see in these videos and although I'm attempting yet another "woody" radio restoration I hope to diversify once this is completed. The more I seem to learn the less I seem to know; what a truly wonderful world woodworking is.

Kind regards, Col.

Hi Col, I'm with you on the 'joys of woodworking' though I also love the vintage electronics side of things. As I've run out of space in my workshop I've decided to move the electronics upstairs so the downstairs space can be fully dedicated to woodwork.

Interestingly, my current project is the repair of an antique chair very similar in design to the one shown in the Cavan video clip. The chair is in really bad shape so not sure if I can save it - but I'm giving it a good try.



It's clever the way the Chinese select very European names for their companies. It shows however that they can build quality as well as junk. It is unfortunate that most demand in the consumer space is driven by price so they build to a price and we get what we pay for. Fortunately I've bought some very high quality products like stepper motors, etc. from Chinese suppliers on eBay so I apply the same rules as for anything else - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

All the best with the on going woodworking projects!

Cheers, John