Guys,
This is great! Thanks Neil for getting everyone together to help out. I'm really glad that there's a community like the 207 already assembled to help out guys like Paul with his build.

And, yes, this is pretty much exactly why I started the Challenges. To help people explore new avenues of woodworking and grow in areas that they probably would not have pushed themselves.

Thanks everyone!

Rick

Hi all.

First, let me send a hearty "thank you" to Ronaldo, who has sent me several private messages on veneering and marquetry techniques. As with many other brothers here, he's been very generous with his time helping me settle on the design and techniques I'll use on my build.

Second, another hearty thanks to all the rest of you who have taken the time to hit the keys with great advice and ideas. It's this kind of thing that makes the 207 so special and why I'm proud to be a part of it. While I'm a bit short on the hands on experience, I've got a lot of technical know how from many years of studying the craft and wishing I had the time and the tools. If I see something that I think I can offer some useful points on, I'm happy to toss in my two cents worth, even if my hunt and peck typing takes ages to do.

Lastly, an apology for not doing anything yesterday, not even getting online to read the postings. My back trouble is flaring up right now and isn't responding to the Demerol the doctor has me on.

I hope it clears up soon, as I need some sleep. (sigh)

Once it gets a little better, I'm off to the local wood sellers to pick up the Baltic birch ply and have a look at their rather limited stock of veneer.

More reports as things happen.

Paul
the little aching guy

It's been a while since I updated my status of the sawdust chronicles challenge build, so here goes...

My back has been giving me a really hard time the last couple of weeks, keeping me out of the shop. I have, however, been able to do some experimenting with the veneering. I tried the RIT dyes but wasn't happy with the results. What I did try that worked out great was using lye to colour the veneer. I used a mixture of one teaspoon to a cup of distilled water and tried it on some of my cherry veneer. WOW! It went from a wishy washy pink to that lovely deep reddish brown that usually takes decades of age to produce and it worked in seconds! I am definitely using it for the Louis cubes! I found out that I don't have enough walnut to do the top, so it's maple, cherry with the lye treatment, and somethging out of my sampler of veneers from Lee Valley. I sure wish they had labeled the wood species in this kit. Some beautiful wood in there, but I don't know what 90% of them are.

I've been cutting cube sections a dozen or two at a time as my back allows, and hope to start preparing them gor gluing by the weekend, and possibly have the top ready for finish by the beginning of next week. Keeping my fingers crossed with the back.

Back troubles or not, I haven't had this much fun in AGES! (at least not with my clothes on)!

Paul
the enthusiastic little guy

If I remember correctly, you can use the RIT dyes to dye veneer but not the salt based dye. And to get the dye to fully penetrate the veneer it takes heat and time. Again with the Marc Adams marquetry video, but he demonstrates a quick and dirty technique using an electric turkey roaster. From memory I think the trick was to keep the temperature of the dye bath just below simmer and keep the water level constant.

I haven't tried this myself yet.

A weak nitric acid solution works with a lot of woods to "patina" them quickly. I'm surprised the lye can do the same thing. Did you do anything to neutralize the surface after getting to the color you like? Dilute vinegar followed by a quick bath in distilled water? Just speculating, I imagine there would be significant curling of the veneer.

Alright Big T----glad your at it. Saw where Rick put out a mid challenge update.

Short update...

Been busy cutting diamond shapes for the Louis cubes and gluing them down to a paper caul in preparation to affixing them to the substrate. I just wishy my fingers didn't keep sticking to the keyboard.

It's going tgo be a race down to the wire to get this done on schedule with my back giving me so much trouble, but ?I'm having a ball trying.

Paul
the sticky little guy

Alright Sticky Big T......everybody will be working that deadline. Nobody's work is ever gonna be right until the bell rings.

I've been curious about your piece since the sketch-up drawing. I don't know when I saw it.....very long time ago....but I remember seeing a huge metal sculpture somewhere, much like your tabel. The sculpture was set on the corner as you showed your table, but on some kind of axel and as a kid, I remember pushing the corner of the cube and rotating sculpture around...I remember it being fun to do.

Go-Go-Go-....Neil

Greetings all.

Here's the finished Louis cubes top for the table. When glued down, it will include a narrow band of ebony around the cubes and an inch and a half ash border.

The cubes are cherry treated with lye, maple and an unknown veneer from a sampler from Lee Valley.

Also included is a pictire of two pieces of cherry from the same sheet, one raw and the other a minute after wiping it with the lye solution. Quite a difference.

Paul
the little guy

Hey Paul

nice to see the advancement on the build
with a tiny bit of water you may swell the veneer
to close the small gaps that remain without loosing
the glue bond.

when you glue the cubes to the substrate, the
brown paper will block some of the glue from
passing to the view side, be careful not
to pierce it. Use yellow or white glue so you
can remove the paper with a bit of humidity
(PM me if I did not explain how to do it with wallpaper paste.)

note that you could also glue the borders
on the stretched caul; keep this for the next build

the lye put a nice contrast to the cherry!!
did you try to rotate the piece to see how
the light is reflected? should have a nice effect.

-Ronaldo

it looks like "cerejeira" (which means "cherry tree" in Portuguese, but it is not
a cherry tree!)

Tiny,,, lookin good little guy... Can't wait to see the finished product

I used fish glue from Lee Valley to fix the pieces to the paper as it is water soluble and I'll use Titebond to glue it to the substrate. Once it sets, I'll mist the paper with a mixture of water and a tiny bit of dish soap so it penetrates better, then strip the paper off. I'm leaving the borders so I can press the top before adding the edges to it as I want the borders to overlap the side veneer.

Got a lot of work to do before the deadline so I hope my back holds up.

Wish me luck.

Paul
the little guy

Well the Sawdust Chronicles Challenge is over and all projects have been submitted.

I have to say I am rather impressed with the work. It represents all skill levels. Its fun to look it at because if you've done this for a while, you see techniques you've used along the way.

The best part is to read about an indivdiuals design process and see it implimented.

Do you know that one statement where a person says, if we just get through to one person then its a success. Well Rick Waters the organizer of the Challenge, has a young kid from Utah who gets it when it comes to going after furniture deisgn and manufacturing as a career. Although his submitted project isn't there yet, his writing about his submitted work is obviously from a thoughtful furniture designer ahead of his years.

After Monday when we critique and have selected the winning pieces, I will have more on this, but suffice to say its rewarding when what you are involved in shows results and Rick and his Sawdust Chronicles Challenge got a few real good ones.

OH.......Tommy OK'd that the winner of the Sawdust Chroinicles Challenge has the option to show his work (no lady's particiapted) at the WoodExpo.

Neil

Greetings all.

Due to poor health I wasn't able to complete my entry on time, but here's what I had done by the deadline.

Paul,

I think you did a great job on the inlay work. Looks like the mitered corners on the frame could use a little work to tighten up the joints, but all in all a good effort. Now, get back to good health and finish it.

Bruce

Big T.......finish 'er up!!!! We'll do something with Rick's Sawdust Chronicles down the road.

You're design is on to something and we all need to see the end result.

Keep go'in Big T.......Neil

Hey Paul

it will be great to see it finished!
get well soon and show us the fruit of your
imagination and hand (/hard) work!

I agree with Bruce, the joints need some
tightening, but that will come with time.

-Ronaldo

Hi again guys.

I agree that the mitred corners aren't up to par, but I was running out of that particular flitch of veneer and didn't have enough to recut them. I didn't like working with the ash as it was far too brittle, so I didn't want to buy another piece.

Paul
the little guy

Paul,

a nice trick is to leave the bands wider than needed,
then you can make them "longer" by planing a bit
of material on all inside "edges", so you can tighten
the corners.

Hi Ronaldo.

I was doing something similar, as the side borders are pieced together from narrower strips (about 6 inches wide). I cut the angle on the end and then trimmed the piece to fit.

As for planing the angles, the ash was far too brittle to get away with doing that, but I will definitely keep it in mind for the future.

Paul
the little guy

Big T----

very important observation:

When its in lumber form, ash is fine to work with, in veneer form I believe its one of the toughest. Betweeen being brittle as you observed, the open grain nature in veneer form really rears its ugly head. A long slipped or book matched seam is hard to get clean as the open grain really opens up. When you cut along an open grain area the little fibers that are present just crumble away. Yeah you can tape and what-knot, but that's alot of time. A quarter sawn curly ash is tighter, but then you loose the straight grain of quarter sawn ash.

Good call Big T......Neil

I've been sanding the veneers in preparation for finishing and have hit a snag. I've had a number of pieces partially delaminate. Looks like it's time to get the hypodermic and some thinned glue out. Oh to have a vacuum press...

Paul
the little guy

Hi Paul
you plane the edges, not the angles (that you can fix with a veneer saw;)
but I think is "safer" to mark the angle to be cut on place, so even if the
motif is not perfectly centered, you can still have the "diagonal"
of the joints in their supposed place.

to avoid splitting, you put the veneer between cauls with just a tiny
bit showing, with this setup and a wicked sharp iron (very light passes)
you can get away with any kind of veneer!

Hey Ronaldo......e-mailed you about WoodExpo!!!


Rondo is absolutely correct here:


BUT......there's always a but......having laid more ash, than anybody should, even had a design that mixed ash and black lacquer "back in the day"..... this is more about applying the right species to an application. I do not care who the craftsman is, using commercial ash veneer will leave small voids on edges. I cannot say that for resawn thicker than commercial veneer, having only used commercial ash veneer. I have used ash veneer as the sun in a motiff but first looked for the perfect spot on a sheet to cut out of, then taped it up before hitting the scrollsaw.

Bit off topic but relavant.......recently had opportunity to gather up 1/16"+ walnut veneer in 8 and 10 foot lengths (6-7" wide).......what a pain in the neck to store. Fine now but had to get weight on top in order to store it flat. We all complain about the thickness of commercial veneer but there are advantages.

Neil