Hello.
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The kitchen regions (where my food is made) have ordered me to veneer a shelf that is 2 ½” thick by 12“wide and 48“long. All six sides must be covered with veneer. The edges on the corners MUST be perfectly mitered. I am thinking about making a box made from an all-around ¾” thick MDF edge (1 ½” wide). The top and bottom will be made from ½” thick MDF. My plan is to fill this box with a 1 ½” honeycomb filler, to make the shelf both light and strong. My question is. What would you guys do to produce a sharp corner all around?
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My initial idea is to veneer the top, bottom, sides and end pieces separately. After they come out of the vacuum press I planned to cut them to size with the blade at 45 degree to obtain as perfect a miter as I can muster. After that I glue the entire mess together in sections.
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Any suggestions?
Or should I tell her to do it herself?
Stig.
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Replies
"Or should I tell her to do it herself?"
See a recent post by Sarge. He had some success with a 'hurry-up' request from his wife after he asked her to help with the sanding. However, it takes the fortitude of a Marine to take this approach.
As to your suggested approach, it sounds reasonable and innovative. However, I would recommend veneering the top and bottom after the assembly of the edge components.
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
Some marines are pretty soft. Maybe you should specify a marine cadre.
Tinkerer3.I have thought about that for a long time now. But she wants it really dark brown, almost black. And, i can't find a color like that. Ideas about stain and stuff like that keep me awake at night. This is worse than a winter exercise with full pack in the high country.You guys are okay. We'll get out of this alive, no problem.Stig.
Getting a really dark shade isn't really so hard. The key is to start with an analine dye--powdered water soluble dye. By mixing that strong, you can get quite a dark color on any wood. Then, finish off with some dark gel stain, followed by a top coat, and you'll have that expresso look, with enough wood grain showing to tell it is wood, not plastic.
Hey guys – this is gonna sound crazy BUT!
A friend of mine told me to rub some dark brown shoe polish on a piece of mahogany.
I did and it came out fantastic. Then I applied some shellac and a bit of lacquer on top.
It looks like a million bucks, really. So, now I can forget all the veneering and go with solid wood, like African mahogany or something like that. I can do the mitered corners all around. On top of all, I don’t have to worry about sanding through the veneer, something that I do very often. Suggestions?
Stig
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You may be able to get shellac to adhere over the wax in shoe polish, but nothing else will, and even so wax wouldn't be my first choice under shellac. Dark waxes, including shoe polish have a role, but it is mostly in toning down scratches and rubs in dark finished wood as well as adding some patina of age as it accumulates in corners. Save the wax til the end. Dye and stain with binder are, either one, better than wax on bare wood, before top coating.
If you proceed the way you describe I think you will then have a story to tell friends and family about the glue-up of hell ;-) Kidding aside, I think this method would require a lot of careful work, which sounds out of place for something that is not fine furniture.
What wood species must the veneer be? If available in your region I would use veneered plywood in that species to make a torsion box or even a simple sandwich where the ply edges are exposed. Then wrap the edges with iron on veneer or a 1/8" thick (or thicker) solid wood edge mitered at the corners. The iron on veneer would be faster to apply and no need to fuss with miters.
Using veneered plywood saves time (no need to veneer MDF yourself) and for a shelf I feel plywood is a better option than MDF because it is lighter and stiffer.
Is this shelf free standing of attached to a wall. What abuse will be it be put to?
I would do the plywood box, solid edging and veneer the top and bottom.
A veneered corner is not that durable against abuse.
Ask for her help, get her to put on an old beat up t shirt, then get some glue on it :)
That is the way I would do it too, Mr. Shoe.
Thank you all.
The order is for a modern and crisp look to it. Sharp and precise corners with a high gloss finish. There will be a stand for the shelf and it will be free standing. It is destined to hold some fine porcelain figures and vases that are totally useless as beer steins.
I tend to like the suggestion from Frosty. Make the edges first, mitered and all. After that I could vacuum press the veneer on the top and bottom in the vacuum bag. Then I could trim the edges to a fine detail. How does that sound?
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Stig
"The edges on the corners MUST be perfectly mitered."Since it appears the shelf won't actually be subject to robust usage, I'm not sure the perfection of the mitered edges is really true. They just need to APPEAR to be perfect. In other words, as long as the edges are straight, so they mate with a fair degree of precision, the angle of the miter can be a bit less than a perfect 45°, but not more, so the "knife" edges touch with enough glue to hold them together.
Ralph Barker.
You are right on Ralph. This is going to be a fancy shelf for lots of finery. The item about a sharp edge is correct. So, i make the cut a "hair" less than 45 degree. I am thinking about doubling up on the veneer by cross veneering. That way i would lessen the risk of sanding through when finishing. Good idea - or what do you think?Thanks for your help. Stig
Rather than double veneering, you might try to find veneer thicker than normal. Or, use veneered ply and under cut the edge at 45° to the depth needed for a conventional edge strip, 1/8" to 3/16" or so.If the assembly is stained quite dark, though, a standard butt joint might not really show. I'd be tempted to do a test board, and get "approval".
My initial thought is, instead of doing all that veneering, why not just get a board of those dimensions and of the correct species. How will she know?
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