Preventing Glue Bleed-Through Veneer

This is the first time I've used sepele on a project. The problem I'm having is glue bleed through.The dark areas shown here are glue filling the wood's pores. This bleed-though is caused by the pores pulling the glue under the veneer through to the top surface. With oak, cherry and maple, I haven't had much of a problem. And usually if I see this issue, I can just sand it out. But I'm especially seeing this with sepele and sanding won't help.

Because I frequently use a water-based dye, I always use Titebond II for bonding veneer because it is water resistant and reduces delamination. Applying less glue may reduce bleed-through, but how much less before risking delamination?

I've even had issues after removing the veneer tape. After it look like it is completely removed, I'll dye the workpiece and then evidence of the tape adhesive reappears. I think it is the same issue as discussed before. The glue from the tape gets caught in the pores and you need to sand again and again. The problem, of course, is that you may sand all the way through the veneer.

I've been pleased with the results of sealing the back of the veneer to reduce glue bleed through by spraying one coat of Deft lacquer on the glue facing side of the veneer. On the top, I sprayed along the veneer seam before applying the veneer tape.

This stopped the veneer tape issues and considerably reduced the glue bleed-through, but some areas continued to appear. My second step is to soak up glue if it occurs. I lay sheets of brown masking paper between the veneer and the caul. This soaks up the glue to the veneer surface. When bleed-through is evident, light sanding is more successful because minimal glue remains in the pores.

With my glue bleed-through issues, I was originally thinking that this would be my last project with sepele. I'm please that this glue-up approach seems to be working so I can use sepele without worries next time.

Art Deco Bookshelf

I made this bookshelf in an Art Deco style to hide my speakers behind the curved sheet metal. I've used a sepele veneer for the shelves and the sides. The challenge was creating the curved corners on the shelves using the small amount of mahogany I had for the edges. I've described making the large radii corners here and on the base I used a smaller diameter corner described here.

I've hidden the smaller speakers in the top right and left corners. In the base of the bookshelf I've hidden the large speaker. In order to prevent the whole assembly from vibrating from the music, I actually cut a hole in the base to allow the speaker to sit on the floor. It sounds good an now I can move my woodworking books out of the garage.

Cutting a Recess In Shelves to Accommodate the Back

I'm building a bookshelf and the back doesn't extend the whole width of the shelf. This is mostly a note-to-self on how to cut a recessed area in the shelves to accommodate the back.

I want to use my router table for a clean cut on the veneered shelves. For the top and bottom shelves, I route a stopped rabbet cut.

For the middle shelf, do the same cut as the top shelf. Then using a straight bit with a bearing, cut the recessed area to the other side of the shelf. Square the corners if needed.

The whole process literally takes minutes.

Smaller Rounded Corners on Veneered Wood

Veneer applied to plywood has some challenges - what do you do about the edge which shows the stacked plys? You can either apply veneer edging or something a little bit thicker. For this project I wanted a 1" radius corner. On a previous post I had discussed how to glue a similar species wood on the edges and route rounded corners using a circle jig. For a radius smaller than the router base, you need a different solution.

Here I have glued strips of real mahogany to the sides of the plywood and want to round the corner. For the veneer, I'm using sapele which looks similar to mahogany, but is much cheaper. To create the small radius corner, I need to use a template and a straight router bit with a bearing.

My second requirement is to use my router table because when I clamp my template to the plywood, the clamps interfere with the router. The circle on the right side was made with a hole cutter used for drilling a house door to accommodate a handle. I then created the template by aligning the circle to the sides of the template workpiece. A ¼" metal dowel pin (shown on the template) secures the circle and allows me to replicate the curve on the template.

With the template created, I need to align its sides to the sides of my workpiece. Another ¼" hole is needed to prevent the template from rotating on the workpiece.  Two metal dowel pins are shown here sticking out. Now I can use the template to guide the router around the corner.

This technique works because the veneer will cover the holes. So now, I simply fill the holes and glue on the veneer.

Art Deco Speaker Enclosures

I am building a bookshelf and want to incorporate into it the speakers that I use for my television. This is the design using Sketchup for enclosing the subwoofer speaker. I need a porous material to allow the sound to radiate so in this project I decided to use metal. This is my first venture into using this material.

My usual construction style is Arts & Crafts. I've decided to depart from that style for this project and try Art Deco using sapele veneer. I'm no expert, but this style uses metal, contrasting pigments, and curved profiles. The curves are especially challenging because I solely use veneer. The previous posts show my construction techniques for the veneered shelves. I have two enclosures that are a mirror of each other. The left enclosure holds the woofer and the right is empty. Since the woofer emits sound from the front and right side, the porous metal needs to be on these sides.

The left side of the enclosure is a slightly curved surface using sepele veneer. It has been bonded to a piece of 1/8" MDF. The curve is created by forcing the MDF into routed curved slots in the top and bottom pieces.

For the porous metal, I've used sheet aluminum that is 1/32" thick. Creases are very noticeable, so cutting it was a concern. I've quite successfully used my tablesaw with an old crosscut blade. I've painted and used a water finish before inserting the metal. The blue tape protects the wood from scratches when I install the metal sheet.

The curve in the metal sheet is formed by bending it around an aerosol paint can. The cutouts in the back accommodate the speaker wires and power connection.

Curving the surface of the sheet creates a fair amount of vertical strength, but the rest of the enclosure is intended for vertical support and the ¼" plywood inserts resist racking in the front-to-back and side-to-side directions.

This enclosure is on a shelf which is the bottom of the bookshelf. A square hole in this shelf will allow the woofer to sit on the floor. I'm hoping this will allow the bass sound to still radiate into the floor and prevent unwanted vibration into the bookshelf.

Rounded Corners on Veneered Wood

Solid Wood or Veneer?

Last month I asked whether this was solid or veneer. It is actually sepele veneer on plywood. Sepele is similar in color and grain to mahogany. I have strips of mahogany on the edges and the challenge was having the curved corner. Finish hasn't been applied yet and my intention is have it appear to be solid mahogany.

I'm going to show the processes to create the curved corner. After gluing the mahogany strips to the edges of the plywood, I cut the two corners off diagonally.

I then glue a piece of mahogany to the corner edges. I need a 4" radius so I made the mahogany strip wide enough to cut to this measurement.

I've inserted a metal dowel pin that my router circle jig used for the center and rounded the corner.

I'm starting to run out of mahogany so here I glue two narrower pieces.

These pieces need to be cut flush to the edges before using the circle jig.

Lastly, I patch the hole from the dowel pin and veneer both sides with the sepele. The mahogany edges are then rounded over on my router table.

Use Solid Wood or Veneer?

Solid Wood or Veneer?

I have issues with using solid wood.

There are few lumberyards where I live (Colorado) that sell solid wood. The big box stores have a limited selection of hardwood: red oak, birch, and maple. We have a Rockler and Woodcraft store, but solid wood is expensive.

With solid wood, the construction must accommodate expansion and contraction.

A joiner and planer is very handy when working with solid wood, but I just don't have room for them.

To address these issues I typically use veneer over cabinet-grade plywood. The benefits are

• Cabinet-grade plywood is readily available at the big box stores. It may already have a paper-thin veneer of oak or birch on it, so I just glue my veneer over it.
• Plywood is less susceptible to issues of wood movement due to humidity fluctuations. This simplifies the design and construction.
• Veneer is significantly less expensive than solid wood as it should be; you are only getting a fraction of the wood. Higher quality veneer is around 1/40" thick. This may sound like it could be easily damaged, but its pretty resilient when glued to plywood. I wouldn't recommend abusive applications like stair treads, but book shelves, cabinets, and many table designs could easily use veneer.
• Some awesome veneer is available on the internet. I've been buying veneer from Certainlywood for years.

Often veneer strips may be only 4" to 6" wide, so they must be glued side-by-side when a wide board is required. Because the veneer edges can be fairly uneven, I first cut them straight. When I started to use veneer, the biggest challenge I had was tearout when cutting them. I've discussed my solution to this problem in an earlier blog.

Tape holds the veneer strips together when gluing. First I use blue painters tape to temporarily hold the pieces, then I turn the veneer over apply veneer tape to hold the pieces during the gluing operation.
The veneer tape is the white strip with holes in the picture on the right. It has an adhesive backing that is activated with water like a postage stamp (used to be). Because the tape is so thin, its outline won't be pressed into the veneer. When the tape dries, flip the veneer over again and remove the blue painters tape.

I use Titebond II glue to bond the veneer to the plywood. I frequently stain the veneer using a water-base dye and before I started using Titebond II, I experienced some veneer delamination. Some woodworkers have raised concerns that it may setup too quickly, but I've never had a problem. I usually clamp it for an hour to assure a secure bond.

I'll talk about edge treatments in a later blog entry.

Aligning Drawer Fronts

Continuing my kitchen cabinet project, I've just finished the middle cabinet section which hold three containers for trash and recycles. There are two drawers on the top of the cabinet. In this posting, I will describe aligning drawer fronts to achieve a minimal gap. On the left is the completed center section of the cabinet. Additional cupboards and will be attached on both sides using sliding dovetails.

For the drawer runners, I wanted to use some inexpensive Blum rails that I had purchased but never used. The drawer front needed to be inset in the cabinet frame but the Blum instructions didn't show this.  By recessing the rail by the thickness of the drawer front into the cabinet, I was able to accomplish the look I wanted.

The challenge is mounting the drawer front to the drawer with a uniform gap around the drawer. The two screws of the drawer handles hold the oak face to the drawer. I use playing cards as shims to create the required gap around the door. Playing cards are remarkably consistent and accurate. Six cards is very close to ¹/₁₆". I first drill two holes for mounting the handle and then use the cards to center the front in the frame (right). Then, I use the holes to align drilling two holes into the drawer.

Only drill a shallow hole just for alignment purposes. Clamp a scrape piece of wood inside the drawer to prevent blow out from occuring and then finishing drill the holes all the way through. 
Next, I will install this section in the kitchen and then construct and install the cupboards.

Sliding Dovetail Update

For my kitchen cabinet project, I wanted to use a modular approach to installing cabinets. Typically each cabinet is standalone, and are bolted together as they are installed. This means that between the cabinets are two walls, the right side of the cabinet on the left and the left side of the cabinet on the right. In furniture cabinets, only one wall would be used. I'm using sliding dovetails to allow cabinets to be interconnected while sharing a common wall.

The final cabinet will consist of five interconnected cabinets. The center cabinet shown below will hide trash and recycle containers on a pull out shelf. I plan to install this cabinet into the kitchen and then connect additional cabinets by sliding their walls into the corners of the installed cabinet.

  

The jig that I described in my sliding dovetail blog entry is working well. The cabinet sides are square and secure and if I need to use my router table for something else, the jig allows me to replicate the precise positions necessary to duplicate a cut.

Mission Style Finishing

Quarter-sawn white oak veneer purchased from Certainly Wood is used on most of the exposed wood surfaces. The panel frames on the pull out drawer face were made from recycled oak flooring. To have a 1" wide frame, I've ripped and glued together two flooring pieces. A white oak veneer hides the glue seam. To strengthen this frame, I've inserted dowels (shown on the left) and then to hide them, I applied another piece of veneer (shown on right).

Since this blog is oriented to wood finishing, I wanted to discuss my revised Mission Style finishing treatment.
I do a lot of Mission Style finishing and have some recipes on my blog. Here are my NEW easiest steps, with most products available from your local big box store.

1. Sand the wood surface to 150 grit.
2. Use a very diluted water-based dye stain. It should look like a weak tea. This dye colors the wood but allows the rays and flakes to still be visible. Spray the dye if possible, otherwise flood the surface. For the dye, I use TransTint. It's in the jar on the left in this picture.
3. Let the dye dry thoroughly and then spray with an unwaxed shellac (Bulls Eye, next to the dye in the picture). This protects the dye from subsequent steps.
4. I use Minwax Gel Stain to highlight the grain and figure in the wood (third from the left). I mixed one part Mahogany to four parts Antique Maple to get the color I wanted. After a minute or so, wipe the stain off across the grain. This leaves stain in the grain.
5. This is important, let the stain completely dry overnight. And because it is still cold in my garage, I can't use a water-based finish. I sprayed four coats of satin lacquer from Deft for the finish. Each coat will magnify the wood patterns.

 The major new techniques in this project have been Sketchup and sliding dovetail joints. So far, I'm happy with both.

Sliding Dovetails Made Easier

Mortise and Tenon

To keep a dresser or cabinet from racking, a secure joint is needed to keep the sides perpendicular to the top and bottom. There are many ways to accomplish this but a mortise and tenon joint is commonly used to connect horizontal rails to the vertical sides or legs. For the kitchen cabinet that I'm building, I need to connect up to three walls together and using mortise and tenon would be difficult.



For this project, I've decided to use sliding dovetails to interlock the walls together. Their shape resists any horizontal movement which would cause racking. Besides, I'm not that great at cutting mortises anyway.

End view of a Sliding Dovetail

Challenges of Cutting Sliding Dovetails

Sliding dovetails can be efficiently cut on a router table but the fence position and bit height is critical. Determining the fence position is a trail and error process. Centering the tail and getting the tail width just right can be tasking. When cutting the slot for the pin, using a straight bit to remove a portion of the material makes a cleaner cut when following it up with the dovetail bit.

Returning the Fence to Positions Accurately

After spending a considerable amount of time determining a fence position for a pin or a tail, this technique will allow the fence to return to those positions. To accomplish this, we need to reference the position of the fence to a fixed reference. The spacer backstop is this reference and is simply a 1.5" wide piece of scrap wood that is mounted flush to the back of the router table. A spacer, also made of scrap wood, is used to position the router table fence at a desired position.

I usually start this process with the cutting the pin. A pin is a profile cut into a work piece with a shape that will accommodate a dovetail-shaped tail. A tail is this shape, usually formed with a router bit with a 14° cutting angle. For each width work piece, a custom length spacer needs to be created.

Routing Pins

The same jig works for cutting pins, however an auxiliary fence is added. This is a piece of scrape wood surrounds the router bit and supports the wood fibers as the cut is being made to prevent a rough edge on the work piece. Be sure to keep this auxiliary fence because the spacers you will be cutting are dependent on it. To determine the correct length of the spacer, pick a fence position that you guess is the right distance from the router bit. Cut a scrape piece that is exactly the same width as your work piece and rout both sides. The resulting tail on the scrape piece should fit snugly in the pin grove. If you must use significant force, any glue upon the tail will be wiped off on assembly and the joint won't be secure.

Cutting the Tail Spacer

Cut a new spacer on your tablesaw that will fit between the fence and the spacer backstop, loosen the fence, insert the spacer, move the fence against it and tighten the fence. You will now verify again the the tail width is correct. DON'T MOVE YOUR TABLESAW FENCE. Just flip the scrap piece over, cut a new tail, and test it in the pin grove. If it is too loose, the spacer needs to be slightly shortened. Lightly tap the fence on your tablesaw to make this adjustment, remove and re-cut the spacer, and try again until the desired tail width is obtained. If the joint is too tight then the spacer is too short, cut a new slightly longer spacer and repeat the process.When the spacer is the correct length, label it as to its purpose.

Routing Tails

Summary

So now you have created custom length spacers (and an auxiliary fence) that will allow you to create sliding tails and pins for your furniture or cabinetry. As an alternative to mortise and tenon, sliding dovetails allow easy modular expansion of cabinetry without tenons. Out of the container, glues are too thick for sliding dovetails, so I recommend diluting glues with water. According to Franklin, Titebond II can be thinned with water by 5% without any weakening of adhesion strength.

Kitchen cabinet preparation

I've started a kitchen cabinet project and used Sketchup for my design. My requirement is for the cabinets to share walls. This is very different for typical kitchen cabinets where each cabinet is a complete box. Using this construction, multiple cabinets side-by-side means that there are two walls between each cabinet. Typically in furniture construction, cabinets would share a wall.

So what is the issue with this type of construction? At the top of the list is how to make and install it. A 101" wide series of cabinets made in the shop and then moved to a kitchen would be challenging. It is more modular to have a series of separate boxes and then screw them together as they are installed. Often these cabinets are frameless, otherwise the face frame will become very wide.

For this project, I plan to use recycled oak flooring. I started using flooring on a previous project. My reason is purely economic. Solid wood is expensive but reclaimed oak is $1.25 a square foot. A piece of flooring is shown on the left in this picture. After removing any nails or staples, I rip off the tongue on one side and the groove on the other. Since the flooring bottom is recessed in areas, I rip the bottom too for a flat surface. The final board is a little over 5/8" thick.

Sketchup has allow me to view the size proportions of the rails, stiles, drawers and cabinet walls without having to make a prototype or just live with the results. For this project I have a 1 ¼" wide wall. I use two flooring boards glued back-to-back to achieve this width. My tablesaw is the clamping surface and any warp that the flooring had is eliminated.

I plan to use sliding dovetails to hold a frame for the cabinet face and to connect the cabinets together. Preparing the flooring is taking a while but I'd rather save on the cost of wood.





This shows the face frame with a drawer and door opening made from cabinet-grade plywood which I had applied quarter-sawn white oak veneer. I will use veneer edging to cover the exposed inside edges. The piece of wood in the center shows a sample of the wood flooring. To cover the glue seam, I glued veneer and then rounded over the edges.

Sketchup and Cabinet Design

The wood finish is fine, the construction is strong, but sometimes I'm disappointed in the final result. The cabinet face is too bland or something is out of proportion. I seldom draw to scale so I only have a feeling of what the end result will be. I've decided to make a plunge into Sketchup and have started of a series of postings about my kitchen cabinet project.

I'm making a series of cabinets for my kitchen to fill a 101" wide opening using a Mission Style theme. My plan is to use face frame construction to give a furniture look to the project. The center cabinet will be a sliding shelf with three waste/recycle containers. The design constraints for supporting this will define the dimensions of the drawer and doors of the surrounding cabinets.

Using Sketchup has required time to learn (several days), but with this one time investment in time I feel I have a quicker and cheaper means of evaluating design alternatives.