ROLL YOUR OWN 6: A THIN VENEER

[SmokinAl]

G’day again folks...and the saga continues...

You’ll all recall in the last part of this tutorial we’d glued up the carcase of the humidor ready to be veneered which is just the topic I’ll cover in the following pages. I should explain from the outset that this is an unusual way to be doing things. Normally, a cabinet maker would have done his veneering on the boards prior to cutting and assembly. I’ve specifically avoided that as it’s much easier to hide a mistake if you do things in this order and our design doesn’t call for the veneer to meet at the corners in a mitre, but more about that later.

Veneering has been around for centuries and whilst there is a perception that veneered furniture is cheap and nasty, there is undoubtedly a place for it. Commercial veneer is very, very thin, about 0.6mm. It’s generally taken from a board of cabinet grade lumber that is outstanding for its colour and grain. The best of woods harvested today go to the veneer manufacturers because they get a lot more mileage out of one board than can any cabinetmaker.

With the work I do, I fall back to cutting my own veneers as 0.6mm just doesn’t provide the wear that I require. The corners are easily chipped. I generally cut my own veneers about 1/8thh – 1/4th of an inch thick which gives the look and strength I want, whilst still making economical use of expensive stock.

More and more furniture today though doesn’t get to see any wood at all! There’s a process called

“Foiling” which lays a plastic sheet of “wood patterned stuff” straight onto MDF. The result? A wooden table made without any wood at all. So too, a lot of humidors on the market are made the same way. To keep things even more interesting, there’s a hybrid marquetry used commercially now, which involves using real wood veneers and (wait for it) inkjet printing. I’ve seen this latter technique used on humidors costing $5k+. So much for totalmente a mano.

The processes used to achieve a good looking humidor like those I’ve mentioned are fine. They won’t cause any detriment to your cigars and you’ll still have a good looking humidor. Just keep in mind that I’ve been saying all through this exercise that you can easily do it yourself and you’ll get a humidor every bit as good but yours will be unique! Totalmente a mano.

In this project I’ll be using the thin commercial veneers because that’s most likely what you’d be using as well.

There are a lot of ways to apply veneer. The traditional way is to use hide glue (the smelly stuff I’ve told you about) heated up and applied to both surfaces, let the glue dry, lay the veneer in place and use an iron to re-activate the glue. Then, just hold the veneer in place until it sets. That’s the way I will veneer the Hang Ten Humidor, but for you, no smell, no fuss and a great result by using Yellow Glue instead.

You will need some regular woodworking glue, a steam iron and a few sheets of photocopier paper.

Spread the woodworking glue over both the surface of the humidor and the back of the piece of veneer. You want to get this nice and smooth with no lumps, as we’re going to let the glue set. If you leave both surfaces for an hour, that should be more than enough. Notice the rice cooker in the photo? That’s what I use (as a double boiler) to keep my hide glue warm. I was surprised to learn that it also works well for cooking rice. Go figure!

Once the glue has set on both pieces, switch on your iron, set it to cotton (middle temp), lay your veneer on the box so glue faces glue, the paper over the veneer (to protect the iron) and start ironing from the centre out. The heat has the effect of re-activating the glue. Working from the centre out will push out any air bubbles. If you should get an air bubble, don’t panic. Just slice it open after everything else has dried with a razor blade (cut the veneer along the grain, try and follow a natural feature of the wood) and squirt a little glue into the bubble. Then, just press it all down flat, wipe off the glue that’s squeezed out and put a few telephone books on it to hold it down.

There you go. One paragraph to explain how to veneer. There’s really no point in me writing more about it, except to say that it really is that easy...

...unless you’re me, of course.

What the hell was I thinking! I’m using bloody wood glue! It’ll be set and partially cured in the next twenty minutes and I still have &*^%$# Marquetry to do on the bloody box lid!!!! Crap!!!!

Step1: Run around in small circles panicking.

Step 2: Pick up the nearest sharp thing that comes to hand and start trimming the piece of veneer I just laid.

Step 4: Bugger, I forgot step 3.

Step 5: Ignore steps 3 and 4, no time.

Step 6: do dodgy layup on marquetry border.

Step 7: quickly cut surrounding border of Redgum and start gluing down with hide glue.

Step 8: Mitre Redgum and frantically glue to the box.

Step 9: Look at the box, realise the border is just too flaming thin, scream, kick the cat, abuse innocent passerby. Look back just in time to see the Redgum starting to lift off the box because Hide Glue won’t stick to normal glue.

Step 10: Acknowledge to the demons in your head that you’re a twerp and do the flaming thing over from scratch.

Isn’t it lucky that you guys have got a professional of my calibre to show you just how to do it! (shudder).

As I’ve been saying, I’m quite fond of my hand tools but sometimes, they’re nothing like some good old fashioned horse-power:

Just 3 passes through the drum sander and I’m back on track. Lovely. This drum sander gets a lot work done fast and I use it now to smooth the veneer I hand cut (which is an incredibly laborious job when done by hand).

The first thing I’m going to do is make sure that the box is still nice and square, so I’ll clamp the lid and base together in a vice and plane the joint to make sure it’s flush for when I veneer the sides.

Next, I’m going to use hide glue to glue down the New Guinea Rosewood Burr onto the lid of the box. The hide glue sets as it cools and I trim off the outside to lay some nice borders.

The edges of veneer are easily broken. I find the best way to get a straight edge on a piece of “wavy” grained wood is to clamp the veneer between two pieces of MDF to support it and then gently plane it down to the straight MDF.

If you ever do mitred edging like this, the easiest way is to cut through both pieces at once with a razor sharp chisel in-situ with the veneer taped into alignment.

It’s the fastest way and easiest way to get a join like this:

Once the outside edges are glued down, you end up with a pretty tidy looking box like this one.

It worked out quite nicely with most everything as expected, well, the second time around at least. I still have a lot of scraping to do to get the Redgum looking good.

If this is your first time to veneering, remember the trick with yellow glue and an iron only works once. It doesn’t re-activate like hide glue. If you try gluing normal glue-to-glue, it won’t stick at all well. I’d suggest you use the technique I‘ve shown you ONLY for a single piece of veneer. A complex lay-up like this one would be a nightmare. I know, I did it.

You’ll have noticed the lid doesn’t have veneer going all the way to the corner. That’s because I’m going to inlay solid wood around the box top and on the corners. This is to protect the veneer from chipping which happens very, very easily.

Many of you will have seen my post on what I was planning to do with the Compass Rose Marquetry in the centre of the lid but now, I’m in two minds about doing it. Have a closer look at those last two photos. I’ve put a single coat of shellac onto the lid for the sake of being able to show you grain in these woods and the burl in the centre is outstanding. Maybe one of the best pieces I’ve ever seen with zero flaws in it. If I inlay the rose into, it it’ll obscure the wood very substantially and I think detract from the overall.

I would really appreciate everyone’s opinion on this (or the two of you that bother reading this rot at least) to let me know what you’d like. I think that less is going to be more this time around but I still really want to know what you think.

If you’re concerned that losing this detail will detract from overall features, don’t worry, I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve, but I’m not going to tell you now. You’ll have to wait to see it finished.

I look forward to hearing from you, all the best,

Al.

[Dr.G]

Hi Alain,

Thanks again for another fantastic installment! :-) I love reading them and seeing the humi growing; it really is coming along!

Although it seems this one was a bit stressful for you; good thing you had the company of a cigar :-D

I agree with you; the burl is beautiful as is...but that's just me.

Cheers,

George

[AsetOne]

Looking absolutely beautiful, is that humi.

I would leave the Burl as is, as it looks fantastic already, my two cents.

James

[MaltPointer]

» I would leave the Burl as is, as it looks fantastic already, my two

» cents.

Completely agree, Alain. And I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying these, and how much I appreciate the time and energy you're putting into sharing all of this with us.

It's either a labor of love, or a love of labor . . . :-D

[Colt45]

The redgum border looks a bit wide...........

Looks great Al - I'm sure whatever you decide will fit the bill.

P.S. Maybe the time spent with RA and Wazz rubbed off on you, instead of the other way round :-D

[Guest Warren]

Al I have to agree with you on the less is more thing. That is one beautiful piece of burl and it would be a shame to hide the middle part which I think is the best part.

Cheers Mate

Warren

[bassman]

I've been rolling my own for over 30 years- but I don't use tobacco!:-D

[Fatshotbud]

Coming along nicely Al

I agree - leave the burl as is.

[SmokinAl]

G'day guys,

It looks like the ayes have it.

George: It wasn't quite as bad as I made out. I was taking some poetic licence. I did want to see if I could use that technique to lay multiple pieces but its just way too chaotic.

Colt: the border is fine. FINE. I wish I could blame the boys for jinxing me, but I did all that two days before they arrived so it all rests with me.

Charles: I don’t know just what it is but I can promise you at this stage in the project, it is NOT a love of labour. I’m enjoying this exercise although there is a degree of performance anxiety involved with all of you looking over my shoulder.

About the only thing left for the tutorial is the trays; hinges and polishing which will be enough to get anyone following along over the line.

Cheers,

Al.

[El Presidente]

I wouldn't change a thing Al.

Another fantastic installment on a what is becoming a legendary post

[smokum]

That burl is stunning...tough choice since I can imagine the work you will do with the compass rose !!

[SmokinAl]

» That burls is stunning...tough choice since I can imagine the work tyou

» will do with the compass rose !!

Err, we might get a chnce to find out...I just scraped through the veneer...

(Rob, could we have a smiley face that spits the dummy, kicks the cat and makes obscene hand gesture?)

[Guest Warren]

» » That burls is stunning...tough choice since I can imagine the work tyou

» » will do with the compass rose !!

»

» Err, we might get a chnce to find out...I just scraped through the

» veneer...

»

» (Rob, could we have a smiley face that spits the dummy, kicks the cat and

» makes obscene hand gesture?)

Oh no Al , were you trying to be too much of a perfectionist ?

If it makes you feel any better you can come over and kick my cat.

[SubChop]

» I look forward to hearing from you, all the best,

»

» Al.

Excellent work Al!

Newbie here and an amateur woodworker myself (emphasis on the amateur) I'm fascinated by your work to date and look forward to further installments!

[SmokinAl]

»

» Oh no Al , were you trying to be too much of a perfectionist ?

» If it makes you feel any better you can come over and kick my

» cat.

I wasn't trying to be much of anything as it turned out...:-D

You find with sliced veneers with really wavy grain that they have varying thickness. I had a closer look at the Redgum and this 0.6mm thick veneer was 0.19 - 1.1mm. Here's another really good reason for me cutting my own own veneers.

If I ever do a tutorial again, it'll be what I do do, rather than what you can do. Doing it the "easy way" for me seems to be a recipe for disaster! In future, I will stick with what I know. The biggest tool in my shop is me.

[SmokinLightning]

Amazing work so far!

It's been fun watching it come together.

[kjellfrick]

This is one of the most interesting series of posts I've seen, and I'm very impressed by your kill, Al. I've been thinking of trying out some intarsia work myself, but haven't had the nerve yet. Maybe I'll have a go at it now, seeing how "easy" it is! :-D

I am very curious about how you cut your own veneer, since that strikes me as probably not so easy.

[SmokinAl]

Hi kjellfrick,

Intarsia is good fun. THe last time I did some was a raised family crest in 30 different species of wood. Time consuming but a great result.

For those that aren't familiar, Intarsia is cutting blocks of wood so they fit together to form a picture. They're higher than the surronding surface and generally rounded over on the edges.

There's a lot of different ways to cut veneer. I used to do it with a rip saw (a normal handsaw) and then plane to thicness which was the I had been taught. It's much easier to use a well set up bandsaw and a drum sanding machine.

If you're going to try Intarsia, I'd suggest practicing with hide glue before you do anything else. It will stink, but make your life much easier.

Cheers,

Al.

[kjellfrick]

Thanks for the advice! I'll give the stinky glue a try if I can find some for sale here in Sweden. Or is it one of these concotions you have to make by the full moon using long dead animals?:-D

Anyway, it sure sounds easier to apply the veneer when the glue doesn't catch as soon as the glue contacts as some contact glues tend to do.:-|

[SmokinAl]

» Thanks for the advice! I'll give the stinky glue a try if I can find some

» for sale here in Sweden. Or is it one of these concotions you have to make

» by the full moon using long dead animals?:-D

»

» Anyway, it sure sounds easier to apply the veneer when the glue doesn't

» catch as soon as the glue contacts as some contact glues tend to do.:-|

If you can't find it there let me know and I'll send you a bag and instructions. I pity the drug sniffing dog that gets anywhere near the stuff, the poor animal will need therapy.