General questions about veneer and veneering.

[Jake]

No comprendo? If you lip a piece of mdf (or similar) all round and you don't want the end grain of the lipping to showanywhere, it follows that you must mitre the lipping, either that or I'm being a bit dense, at least that's how I've always done it - Rob

Presumably what Colin means is that you can lip the ends in end-grain strips instead of long-grain strips all round, so, as he said, it looks more like a solid board would.

 

[Colin C]

Yes Jake that was what I meant

 

[builderchad]

...Are you veneering onto a flat substrate or a curved one?...I have to ask, Chad, have you mastered the technique of bandsawing your own veneers yet?...

All pieces will be flat. Once I have got to grips with the flat stuff I will look at doing a project with curved pieces.

I have tried it a bit but still need to make an attachment for the fence - a pointed block in line with the blade. The little bits I have done came out pretty well once I made sure the edges were nice and square to run straight on the saw table. But I am sure I need a lot more work at it. I have a resawing blade from the US which was mentioned a few times in these forums (can't remember the maker). I think I will definately do what you suggest and try some pine on MDF and ply as I have a fair bit of all three.

... You can also have fun making some of your own tools , do you have some thick brass , pespex or alu ( about 4mm)...You also have to remember to veneer both sides to balance the board or you will have problems have the board cupping.

I really enjoy the idea of making my own tools and have already made my own bowsaw. https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10004&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0. Look for the pics near the middle of the page for what it ended up as. I don't have thick brass but I know where I can get some in bar form, and even aluminium. Is this to make a hammer? I would love to make one seeing as they are £30 on Axminster . I have the Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking books (which are excellent by the way) and his first or second rule about veneering is "What you do to one side, do to the other" - make sense .

...lipped corners need to be mitred...I would recommend that a good biscuiter be your next power tool purchase...have a look at the Capital Crispin site - that's where I get all my stuff from. Also you could have a trawl round your local cabinet shops and see if you can scrounge some oddments of veneer

I see the point about the end grain. Makes perfect sense to have the end grain showing on two opposite sides so it looks like a real board. For my chest of drawers though I think it will actually look nice with long grain lipping all round and for that I will need to mitre the "lip-strips" . This would have the added bonus of giving me more choice in what kind of joints to use and where, wouldn't it? I've also finally got it into my head that joints that show are for solid wood and for veneered wood you need to use biscuits, dowels or stopped housings.

I will look at that site thanks Rob. Biscuit machines are surprisingly expensive. The cheapest I have found is from Draper (£45) and the next tier is quite a bit more (£150). I doubt the Draper or any low end machine is any good.

Cheers, Chad.

 

[Colin C]

Hi builderchad
you do have it right that brass is for your hammer which is not hard to make
and I did see your bow saw, well done .
As for biscuit joiners, some have got the sip one and been happy with it and its £50, its a start

 

[builderchad]

Hi builderchad
you do have it right that brass is for your hammer which is not hard to make
and I did see your bow saw, well done .
As for biscuit joiners, some have got the sip one and been happy with it and its £50, its a start

Great stuff, not sure where to get anything other than brass bar though. Had a look and the SIP looks good, I have their 14" bandsaw and am very happy with the quality for money in that - so all things being equal their biscuit jointer is probably pretty decent.