Moving Forward on the Table

On April 18th I posted a picture of our spare table sitting in the middle of the floor of my shop. 

  I had begun by cleaning and staining the legs of the gate leg table.  I began on the bottom because it will be generally hidden, so I could do some experimenting with sanding and finish.  After a bit of work it was clear that the table was solid and would be worth the work to polish it up a bit.

  Moving onto the top meant dealing with some more visible issues. The veneer was thin but glued to a thicker sheet of plywood, then glued to a solid wood core.  In a several places the veneer was chipped,  and every where it is brittle.

 

  On the middle section I had to cut a entire one inch strip off one side, there were too many and too large chips to be repaired individually.  I trimmed the edge  back and glued in a strip of oak veneer, I hope to make the patch less visible at the finishing stage.  You can see that there is no way to glue the patch in the middle. No problem I have four 8 pound lead weights I got from my brother. He needed them in his scuba diving days.  If he takes up diving again he can have them back. For my purposes the  weights hold the veneer strip down perfectly.

   

  Once the table top is completely sanded the patch is already less obvious.  The table also needs to be extended by four inches to have it match our regular table exactly.  To make it four inches wider  I added a piece of oak board to one of the wings, using pocket holes and screws. You can see the addition next time.

  While I am working on this table I am also finishing the organization box and had to fix my shop stool.  I've laid out the second piece of chair rail, it is seven feet long, that is lots of relief carving and made a few wooden beer coasters.  I can't stay sitting. standing or bent over in a single position very long and so I need to have to have a variety of projects on the go using different tools and postures in the shop.  

  Having various projects on the go at one time can lead to a bit of chaos in the shop.  Every now and then I have to stop everything and make a focused effort at clearing things up.  I've collected some card board boxes and shortly there will be a cleaning binge where off cuts are hauled away to fire pits. 

  As I putter away at things in my shop I often listen to pod casts or admire other wood workers on the net.  If you want to have your back ache and your soul filled with admiration check out - Massive cross cut saw.  Or maybe I'd find someone local with a portable saw mill.....?

cheers, ianw

 

Bentley Factory Wood Shop

  Yes cars are steel and glass and high technology but when you want your car to look really good, you still need wood.

  Check out the video of the trim shop at Bentley working with walnut veneer.

sorting and matching sheets of veneer.

Veneer Shop making trim for Bentley cars.

  My shop is not going to be doing anything as pain staking or as artful as shown in the video.  I have watched the video several times, I love how the final work is done by hand even though they have all the high technology in the world available.

 Having finished the drums I have some basic projects ahead of me and a couple of repairs to do. First, vacuuming, there is saw dust everywhere. Cutting and machining the baltic birch plywood created tonnes of dust, even though all my machines have dust collection. 

  The next round of shop projects will make less dust and much less noise which will be a welcome break from the recent factory like work environment. 

  Since this has turned into a Blog with wood working videos I think I'll share another video that I have watched a few times and maybe even shared here before.

Making wooden tool boxes.

  It seems like a relax, drink and beer and watch some movies kind of blog this time.

   

   So, relax.....

cheer,ian

Bread Box - a first veneer project

   
   I made this box for my Mom to store loaves of home made bread.  There is a Tupperware insert for this box but Mom decided a nice box would be better.  I love to make boxes so it worked out well for both of us.

   This box is plain old plywood, 3/4 ply on the the ends and 3/8 for the sides.  The top is a really nice piece of maple with a strip of  "I don't know wood" in the middle.  The top was part of a project that never got going a few years ago but I kept the few glued up pieces that I had made, knowing that someday their moment would come along.

   What makes this box new for me is that I covered the plywood box with cheery veneer.  I have never done veneer before.  True to form however I had a bundle of veneer that I bought on clearance years ago.  I couldn't pass up the deal and here I am 15 years later using the veneer.  That bundle of veneer lived at at least three different addresses before it has come to be used.

  I had very good luck with three sides of the box and then my luck ran out on the fourth side. I think I know what I did wrong and will use more appropriate tools and experiment with glue for the next project.  I may even experiment with Hide Glue which is the traditional glue for veneering.

    There are things I learned on this project:

 Use a very very sharp knife.

 Measure extra carefully.

 Do not rush, do not rush, you can't rush. Rushing and not waiting for the glue to fully set is a bad idea.

 A nice veneer can make a plywood box look pretty good.

 I'll keep you posted when I take on the next veneer project.