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

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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

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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.

Moisture Meters - Choosing and Using Them

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Created on Saturday, 26 January 2013 06:46

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 April 2013 07:38

Written by Colin

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Surprisingly, many woodworkers do not have moisture meters, and of those who do own them, most seldom use them. With wood being as active as it is, it seems that using a moisture meter to help determine the amount of wood movement would be pretty important. To novice woodworkers, wood movement is something that is not well understood, but it is a very important component of woodworking and needs to be studied by any serious woodworker. As we all know, wood, even after it is cut is constantly either absorbing moisture or giving off moisture. This is the a nature of wood. The absorption of moisture is primarily taken in through the end grain of wood, but some moisture is absorbed through the side side grain as well.

The result of this moisture absorption is that the cells of the wood expand, and can, in some situations, damage woodworking projects by breaking glue joints, expanding doors, having some wood material bow, and generally making your hard created woodworking project distorted at the least and even destroyed in rare conditions.

But as everyone knows who is working with wood, movement needs to be understood in order without the wood coming apart on you or reacting in some way you don't know. Knowing how moisture meters work can help you understand how to use them properly ....

Using a Commercial Dovetail Jig

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Created on Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:20

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 April 2013 07:38

Written by Colin

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Dovetails have long been associated with quality woodworking and quality furniture. Dovetails look great and add a unique detail that shows the craftsmanship of the woodworker. Traditionally, dovetails were cut by hand using a back saw and a chisel, and in some cases a coping saw top help cut out the unused pieces. If you are a dedicated hand tool craftsman and or are a commercial woodworker and you can take the time to practice hand cutting dovetails, it is possible to get some amazingly accurate and beautiful results. If you are a some-times, novice or infrequent woodworker, cutting hand dovetails is something you may do very seldom so getting nice cut dovetails is much harder to do, and that is why a number of companies have developed and sell, jigs that can help those "infrequent" woodworkers in making quality dovetails.

Many of the commercial dovetail jigs are similar in their designs and in the way they operate. In most cases they will use a router with a dovetail bit fitted to it, and often these bits are included with the jig. Another thing in common with most of the commercial jigs is that they will only make what are called 1/2 blind dovetails out of the box, if you want to make Through dovetails you may need to purchase additional pieces for your jig. To see pictures of the difference between Through and 1/2 blind dovetails, see pictures further in the article.

Making and iPad or Tablet Stand

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Created on Friday, 21 December 2012 18:42

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 April 2013 07:38

Written by Colin

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Trying to integrate technology into a woodworking shop can be a bit of a challenge, depending on the tool. It's pretty easy to purchase cordless drills, grinders, sanders etc. but what about bringing technical information into the workshop in the form of a Tablet or iPad?  To start off with, the tablet needs to have a place to stand, because you can's always be picking it up and holding it, and often your hands may be dusty or dirty, which you also don't want to transfer to an electronic device, so the first step was to get a stand for my tablet. I had looked at the dozens and dozens of tablet and iPad stands, but found nothing that really inspired me, yeah, they all worked but ... hey, this is a workshop and here we try to make nice looking, functional things out of wood - not plastic.

I decided a simple "sandwich board" type design would work well, would be easy to make and would look good. The first step in the simple design was deciding on what angle would work best for both sitting and standing, and I determined that 30 degrees was near perfect for both.

Since I wanted the stand to be quite rigid, I decided that making box joints along the top edge would not only look great, but once glued, would hold the stand together extremely well and last for a long, long time. Next I had to determine what wood that would look nice, yet would hold up well which means it is probably best being a hardwood, and what thickness would it be. Then I needed to .....