Building a Planing or Surfacing Jig

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Created on Friday, 19 April 2013 00:22

Last Updated on Sunday, 21 April 2013 03:11

Written by Colin

Hits: 798

Woodworking often seems to be about building or making something to do a job you need done, but don't have the tool for. I would love to have a 20 or 24 inch planer, or 24 inch belt sander, unfortunately I would use either so seldom it would not be a cost effective purchase.
So, when I need to plane a board that is too thick, if it is larger than my 15 inch planer, I have to devise another way of planing the board down. There are a few options, you can find a local woodworking shop to plane or sand the board down (for a price), or you can use a hand plane (which is very tedious if it is a large board), you can take the fence of many jointers and make multiple passes, but then you have re-install the fence and adjust it, you could use a hand power planer (but they can gouge the wood if you are not careful) and the last option ... which is the one I opted for is to make a planing jig or planing sled that I can use my router on.

These jigs are not new and have been around in one form or another for years. I you purchase rough sawn lumber from local mills or suppliers, this is something that will be a Must Have in your workshop. Or if you don't have a planer of any size, this allow you to plane and re-surface boards in fairly short order, and do a great job of it.

Contest to Win a Right-Hand Tape and Veritas Scribe Marker

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Created on Sunday, 07 April 2013 05:15

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 April 2013 07:38

Written by Colin

Hits: 737

Yes I know it's been quite a while since we had our last contest, so here goes with another contest for all our YouTube and Woodworkweb subscribers. This contest is really easy to enter, all we ask is that you comment on what you would like to see us do in the future for woodworking videos. If you are watching the videos through woodworkweb, to get to our YouTube channel where you can make the comments, once the video starts playing, just click on the YouTube icon at the bottom of the screen and you will be taken to our channel where you can comment underneath the video.

We have a couple of great prizes this time, and the winner of the contest will win BOTH items. The first is a Right-Hand Tape. I know, this sounds a bit boring but once you have watched the video you will see how for some of us, being able to read the numbers on a tape right-side-up can make the difference between making a correct measurement or not. The old rule of measure twice and cut once doesn't always work and it always made me think, there must be a better way, and sure enough there is, get a tape where the numbers are right-side-up when you read it. For all of you who are left handed, almost all the tapes produced are left-hand tapes, so all of you are already in great shape in that area, but enter the contest anyway, if you win, give the tape to a Righty and you will have a friend for life!!

The second item is a Veritas Workshop Striking Knife. This is a newly released striking knife and many people who hand cut dovetails prefer these kinds of knives for marking their pins and tails. The knife is very well made (hey, it's a Veritas) and with proper looking after, should last a long time and is easy to re-sharpen when needed.

SO  !! ... Take a moment to tell US the kinds of things you would like to see for videos in the future, and one of you will be the lucky winner of the striking knife and tape measure.
Thanks in advance for participating

Copyright - Colin Knecht
woodworkweb.com

Cold Press or Vacuum Press Wood Veneering

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Created on Monday, 01 April 2013 22:59

Last Updated on Friday, 19 April 2013 19:41

Written by Colin

Hits: 476

The next step after understand HOW veneering works, is to try it, and in this video, that's what we have done. To show a bit more about what veneering is all about we actually too three bookmatched sheets of veneers and attached them with veneering tape. The process is quite simple, but being able to watch a video of it being done is much easier than try to explain it.

After attaching the sheets and preparing a back sheet as well (all veneering works best when veneering is done on BOTH sides of the substrate). The next step is simple, coat ALL sides to be glues together with a coating of veneer glue. All glues have what is called an Open Time, which simply means how long the glue can be exposed to air before it starts to dry out. With veneering glue the open time (depending on brand) is normally around 15 - 20 minutes, unless you are working in a dry, hot environment, then it is substantially reduced. All this means is that when you are working with glues, you need work steady, with no lag times.

Once one side of the substrate is covered with glue and the matching veneer as well, they are simply bonded together and it is best now to roll the veneer to make sure no air bubbles are showing.

An Introduction to Veneering

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Created on Tuesday, 26 March 2013 04:15

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 April 2013 07:38

Written by Colin

Hits: 514

Veneering in woodworking is not new, it has been around in one form or another for centuries. It has been practiced by woodworkers in many different parts of the world, often as smaller pieces, for inlays, accents and other features. Today, we have an amazing breadth of wood species to choose from, from almost any exotic hardwood you can imagine, to figure woods and burls that are spectacular. With all the varieties and figured wood veneers that are available now, anyone who wants to take the time to learn veneering can turn out wood projects that are truly works of art.

There are basically three kinds of veneering, the oldest form and the one we are going to spend the most time on here, is called cold veneering, where veneer strips are glued to a substrate or base. Also becoming quite popular are is veneering where a glue has been applied to the back of the veneer and it can be attached to the substrate by simply by peeling off a plastic or waxy backing and then sticking the veneer on to the substrate. This is called Pressure Veneering and only requires a type of blade or edge to smooth the veneer out over the substrate and is ideal for smaller projects. The third kind of veneering is done by using a veneer with a heat activated glue pre-applied to the back of the veneer, and is called Heat Activated Veneering. In this case the veneer is laid on the substrate material and something a simple as a household iron is used to attach the veneer to the substrate.

All of these methods of veneering work well, not all of them in the same situations, and that is why there are different kinds ... because some work better in one instance while another works better somewhere else. Any of the pre-applied glue veneers are more costly than raw veneers and the choices of veneers is far less with the pre-applied glue types. For larger veneering projects and where ongoing veneering is the norm, the cold veneering with raw veneers is easily the most effective and preferred method. Other types are normally more suited for smaller projects.