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.