Thread: Small veneer-lidded boxes

Originally Posted by zenwood

After the back-braking saga of the bench, I'm relaxing by making a few small boxes. I may even see if I can sell these on consignment with a local bookshop. The basic design is modelled on one I made a while ago, shown in the first two pics here. These will be identical boxes with myrtle sides and veneered plywood lids. Pic 1 shows the veneers ready for glueing onto the plywood. The veneers are two types of eucalyptus burl, blackwood, and another one I can't remember.

Pic 2 shows the veneers about to be glued and clamped. Two lids at a time are sandwiched between wax paper and mdf cauls.

Pic 3 shows the myrtle boards resawn on the bandsaw ready for final thicknessing with handplanes. Pic 4 shows the debris from the thicknessing, and pic 5 shows the resulting boards (6.5 mm thick) being kept flat under a stack of tiles.

Gday Zenwood. I have a stack of various veneers in my shed. I used some pieces (Bubinga, Myrtle burl, Huon Pine and Queensland Red Cedar). I used exterior PVA crosslinked glue (whatever that means) and the only ones which really came out ok was the Huon Pine and the qld cedar. The Myrtle Burl and bubinga still had voids which when sanded "wore out" and left the underlying plywood exposed. I used about 10 clamps and left them for 3 days. How did you get the myrtle burl to completely flatten and what type of glue did you use.
Thanks
Mike

veneers should be "prepared" prior to fixing to substrate (eg mdf)
this is a link I was given by NewLou that provides HEAPS of info

http://www.diynet.com/diy/shows_wwk/..._35240,00.html

and here

http://www.diynet.com/diy/ww_materia...352105,00.html

I'm testing a small piece clamped between 2 pieces of melamine having first been wettened with plain water. So far so got, its flat, now to get the sucker dry.

cheers
tony

Zenwood,

Looks interesting, can't wait to see how they end up.

What glue did you use for the veneer?

TonySA, looked at the links - you are not trying the magic flattening formula?
I saw this article in the magazine some time ago, but couldn't work out our equivalent of "Plastic Resin Glue"??

Any thoughts, either of you, or do you just wet the veneer and dry in a press of some sort???

Chris

Zenwood, a problem I've experienced when veneering, is that glue seeps through the veneer and drys on the surface of the veneer. As I normally leave my panels in a vacuum bag for 24 hours, this glue has dried and is next to impossible to remove.

Have you, or other forum members, experienced this? What's the solution to this? :confused:

Banksia: I used Aquadhere PVA+ glue. I proceeded in blissful ignorance of the need to pre-flatten the veneer. I assumed that it would flatten in the press, which it certainly appeared to do. Maybe because my pieces as so small (about 60 x 90 mm) it's not so much of an issue compared to flattening tabletop sized pieces -- I don't know).

DPB: Yes some small amounts of glue seemed to seep through the veneer, and stuck loosely onto the waxpaper I used to line the press. I haven't made any attempt to remove it. I'll find out how much of a problem it is when I finish the pieces. I think the only solution would be to try different glues. Perhaps polyurethane, epoxy, or contact cement would have less tendency to flow throw the wood. (Pure speculation here.)

Not sure yet what finish to use. I'm tossing up either tung oil and wax or shellac and wax. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by banksiaman

but couldn't work out our equivalent of "Plastic Resin Glue"??

I found an answer from David as to the glues he uses here...
David Marks

One brand of which is...This one

Or read this thread...Here

Finally got some time to work on these, and did some experimenting with my new ROS, grain-filling with talcum powder and shellac, then polishing with EEE, and Traditional Wax. I'm very happy with the finish on the veneers. The burls have come up especially nicely, with a shiny finish that maintains depth and doesn't look or feel plasticky. Some work making the bases, cutting grooves in the sides and I'll be ready for assembly.

ZW, this is lovely work. I have a question based on your pictures.

I note that you are getting similar results to my attempts at veneering - small indents that that don't finish the way the surrounding timber finishes. Do you just live with this or do you have a method of concealing this with some kind of filler?

zenwood,great shine on the veneers,but never heard of grainfilling with talcum powder and shellac,could you please explain how it is done

Billylad

DPB: The indentations are due to the texture of the burl. In principle I guess you could fill them with somethingorther, but it would have to be quite thick -- casting resin would do it. Another option would be to try to sand them out, but with veneer of the thinness I'm using I'd be afraid of sanding to the point of making holes in the veneer. This will be for future experiments. After showing these examples to SWMBO she gasped and said "that's beautiful", and muttered something about not letting me give them away: so from that I take it that they're good enough

Billylad: This is for filling in the small pores of the grain (you'll note from DPB's observation that it doesn't fill in the larger texture of the burls). Mix 1 teaspoon of talcum powder (not the supermarket stuff which contains perfumes, but the clean stuff from our kindly host Ubeaut Polishes) in about 1/3 cup of Shellac (I mixed equal parts metho with Ubeaut's dewaxed white shellac), applied quite thickly with a brush and sanded at 400 grit between two coats. That was followed, as I said above, with EEE buffed by hand (wouldn't want to do that on a larger piece) and Traditional Wax.

Thanks zenwood.back to ubeaut again.Cant waitto see your boxes complete

Originally Posted by zenwood

DPB: The indentations are due to the texture of the burl. In principle I guess you could fill them with somethingorther, but it would have to be quite thick -- casting resin would do it. Another option would be to try to sand them out, but with veneer of the thinness I'm using I'd be afraid of sanding to the point of making holes in the veneer. This will be for future experiments. After showing these examples to SWMBO she gasped and said "that's beautiful", and muttered something about not letting me give them away: so from that I take it that they're good enough

Can't beat a commendation like that! I think there are some things in woodworking that speak of "this is hand made", like these minor imperfections caused by the natural texture of wood, and scribing marks in hand made dovetails, that we simply have to accept. And why not? If we wanted production line perfection, we could have them injection moulded in plastic.

I agree with your wife - the timber looks great!

hi zenwood
the veneers you have finished look fantastic.look forward to seeing the finished product. what you have shown so far i don't think you'll have any trouble selling them, good luck with that.
cheers wardy

........ This is for filling in the small pores of the grain (you'll note from DPB's observation that it doesn't fill in the larger texture of the burls). Mix 1 teaspoon of talcum powder .........

Zenwood

I read somewhere recently that baking powder, mixed with the sawdust and super glue is also a good gap filler. Still experimenting with the concoction, early results are positive?