Can’t wait to see it in 20 years time on the equivalent of Reddit with a picture of the mapa burl veneer having been sanded through. ;)
Not really, I’d hope to be dead before I see that.
I have seen some straight up veneer murders on Reddit 😳 “HELP! I’ve sanded through the veneer on every corner of every panel on this piece with a very unique grain. What’s the easiest way to fix it?” 🤦♂️
I have always wondered how this is done.. you, sir, get an A+!!! Really appreciate the time this took- both to create all of it and post it! Thank you for sharing- unbelievable!!!
Some pcs I track time on, some I don’t as it would be too depressing to see the total. I DID NOT track time on this one but it was too many, prob over 120 hours. I did learn a few things so never time wasted. A second one the same size could be built in much less time since I know have the jigs. But the way that works is now that I have all the jigs I will never need to build another one, lol.
I understand. I've never tracked time on anything I've made but I know how it would work out (i've also never sold anything). Lets see 1 small box = hours + materials, math,math,math... sir that will be $1200. ;)
I’m pretty comfortable with veneer work at this point. I haven’t done much work in solid wood, that is intimidating to me. Mostly just not trusting the wood to stay straight and flat.
I love to see other people’s jigs and methods. I’d love to do videos on these projects but I’m also trying to make a living. I tried documenting a project with video once and it took 3x as long as normal, lol.
Bruh I squinted my eyes at first thinking it was one of those pics. To me on first pic it looks like three faces center is facing us and 2 flanking are kissing center on the cheek. Maybe its time to go bed. Oh nice work btw
this is absolutely superb!
i also take a lot of photos of my work to proof how much steps a piece like this takes and how much work it really is.
but the hours and hours of work and adjusting machines etc pays off!
Yes, a ton of work the client will never see. Some people looking for quotes on custom furniture seem to think you can just hit a button and 3D print a finished piece.
The even reveals are so important. That was one of the major challenges in this piece, keeping all the curves lined up across the tall drawer fronts and onto the carcass. I made the drawer fronts first and then matched the carcass to them. I used Blum TANDEM plus BLUMOTION 563H Undermount Drawer Slides with the side adjustable locking devices for most adjustability.
That attention to the neatness and all of the other details just really set it off. it's easy on the eyes, and there's nothing funny looking on it, but it also isn't overblown or tacky. Just one of the nicest pieces I've seen on here in a while.
Thank you, I can’t really take credit for the design, it was just a clone of the design an interior decorator sent me but with wider feet. I’ve seen imported burl pcs from places like restoration hardware and pottery barn in person, the veneer work is always pretty sad. The photo they show on the website is always a “money beats” type situation having the best patterns, but even those in the close ups have bad veneer work, lol.
A good friend of mine is a world class maker of all kinds of things. i'm not very good at designing things without knowing a whole lot about them. he has an eye and can just draw things freehand that look like they were traced on patterns.
But he taught me to see things in design and aesthetics just in discussion. and instilled the idea that it's far better to borrow from good design than it is to be a bad designer and work from original.
one thing I've noticed since he kind of turned my eye a little as he's kind of mentioned things that make things look good or not is that a lot of factory stuff had a chance at looking good, and a lot of professional design is involved at some point *before the rest of the decisions kind of screw with it* and make it not look as good. Point being, finding something not done that well but that could've and making it look great is a great idea.
it drives me up a wall a little bit that as time passes and we get more and more stuff made overseas, there is an opportunity to spend just a little bit of the savings and really make nice stuff. but we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory instead.
Very good points, on several occasions I’ve made a piece that was commercially available in the same dimensions and finish. Mine was several thousand dollars more but the client wanted the better quality and was willing to pay for it. Being made in the US by a small business has to be worth something.
was I wrong about it being veneer - is it actually solid? if it is, just stellar wood, and I love that you didn't just get strong figure/appearance and not have continuity from one drawer to the next. It's very natural looking and flows.
It’s veneer. Really hard to find highly figured Burl in solid wood as they reserve the best stuff to make veneer. It is all the same veneer. Left curved section is one piece, right curved section is another whole piece just mirrored. Center flat section is the same piece flipped top to bottom. I had considered doing a mirrored match on the center flat section and lineing it up with the two outer pcs but liked the more organic look.
that is one of the most impressive dressers I've seen, and I watch a lot of woodworking videos and shorts on YouTube, as well as frequent this sub. I'm equally as impressed with your ability to find such an excellent piece of burl for those large panels thats so uniform.
Thank you for the kind words. When I find a Burl veneer lot in a large size and with good figure I snatch it up! I know I’ll use it eventually. The pcs used on this dresser were 18x48-55” I got these at [Certainly Wood](https://certainlywood.com)
https://preview.redd.it/fgbjqjrgd4ad1.jpeg?width=1210&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ae14e7ae561aff57891edda7456b929606197d2
They sell to anyone in any quantity! I wish I was local to them so I could look in person! They are very reasonable on shipping tho. Funny you should mention walnut Burl, I just sent out a quote on this dresser in walnut Burl, used the images from certainly woods site in my rendering.
https://preview.redd.it/io7a49g8h4ad1.jpeg?width=1660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff7965f7618d4f733a362ce262dd71843ac203db
Always stunned at the beauty of these veneer pieces i see on here. My boss isn't a fan of veneers so we stick to mostly ready plywood but now that he jas a pump and small bag im hopeful he gets a full bag soon for maximum veneer potential.
Great work what's better than clamps and jigs? I honestly don't know if I love it or I hate it (maybe [trypophobia ](https://www.reddit.com/r/trypophobia) ?) but I can't stop looking at it.
Very good work! I started a Bombe chest years ago (same premise) with the hand carved everything and just got burnt out on it. This is more my style. Might have to make a rosewood knock off for my guest room. Thanks for the inspo!
Wow. Very pretty, but I think it's too uniform for my tastes. The same visual texture from every angle kind of makes the curves hard to see and blends all the detail together. I think a face frame of a different wood would really make this thing pop. Or some other visual accent on the top.
Oh! lol I see. These are pretty good especially the Taunton one in the middle.
https://preview.redd.it/y7eouwrqw4ad1.jpeg?width=3391&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea5662011a23aa72c158156e6156aa63868e1b5d
No issues, the Burl is a thin veneer only about 1/40th of an inch thick. I also use a flattening/ softening mixture that makes it more pliable. No issues at all on a large radius like this, freshly softened you can even bend it around a pencil.
On that sub you often see people showing these amazing works that are absolutely outside the league of a beginner! Don’t know if it’s for bragging or just because what one consider easy can be pretty difficult for others…
I’ve only been doing veneer work for about 3 years but I have a background in woodworking. I did custom millwork install on high end department stores and offices for many years and then about 10 years in custom exhibit (trade shows) fabrication/ cabinet making. This “fine woodworking” is a whole different beast for sure. I’m saying, I’m a fairly seasoned woodworker and this was still a stretch for me and down right difficult at times. Always learning!
Wow, amazing stuff. Cool to see dowels used even though you have a domino... I don't know when I would use a dowel these days... maybe the dominos are too short? Ive always wondered how you go about sanding something like that for finish prep. Just light hand sanding? And is this a spray lacquer finish?
I was contemplating using dominoes, I could just have easily had the CNC cut domino slots tho I would have had to change bits. The issue was having to align the machine cut dominoes perfectly centered and aligned in the drawer side ends with the CNC cut dom slots in the drawer face. I just decided dowels would be faster as I cut a dowel drilling template on the cnc as well, so pretty idiot proof.
I’ve gotten pretty good at sanding this particular veneer, you do have to be careful especially on radiuses and near edges but I start with 120 usually on a Mirka Deros 5” DA and a 2x3 SurfPrep on smaller pcs. Thin edges I hand sand as it’s just too risky. Sand to 320 before finish.
As far as finish I’m using a product called Clean Armor Wood 700 UV cured. I will pre fill all the larger voids with a syringe, cure it, flat sand it. Then a flood coat rolled on and squeegeed off(this gets reused), then wiped mostly dry, it soaks in well and stabilizes the wood, basically a uv cured epoxy. Sand 320, 400, 600 then lightly buff with a towel on the DA. Gives a nice satin that is easily reparable.
I’ve found it helpful to pre finish some of the parts, at least one coat, before machining the raw pcs, stabilizes the delicate veneer and reduces chip out.
I’m sure a domino in hardwood is stronger than in plywood, gotta be. As far as longevity, it prob depends on application. Modern PVA glues are very strong even on butt joints.
I get my veneer from veneersuppies.com and Certainly Wood. This was part of a large lot from[Certainly Wood](https://certainlywood.com). I have always had great luck with them, they have awesome discounts if you buy an entire lot. I also long that they have high res photos of all their stock I can pull into Fusion 360 for accurate renderings.
Is a vacuum table really necessary for doing veneer? I built a cabinet and put veneer on with contact cement. Trust me once you applied pressure, it wasn't moving or detaching. Maybe you need the vacuum table if you are using traditional wood glue on the veneer?
You can get away with contact cement on paper backed or wood on wood veneer. But this is raw wood veneer and burl to boot which is even more unstable, I would never use contact on raw wood veneer. You can get mappa burl veneer with a phenolic backer but it’s $600-800 a sheet and you have no control over the pattern.
The vacuum press is also used to form the curved panels.
Hm . I did it with real wood veneer attaching to plywood. Seems to work fine for the cabinet I did anyway, even bent around some corners...solid and stable.
I have tried it on raw wood and it worked I just don’t trust it long term on something I’m selling to someone else. It would certainly make the project easier and faster tho!
Trimming the curved parts of the drawer fronts to final size. Each side is cut from one larger curved veneered blank (3 drawers tall). If I miscut something I would have to start the whole side over again as there would be no way to match the veneer on a single replacement piece. So it would be, prep another piece of veneer (flatten), lay up a new curved blank, veneer the blank.
After that just assembling the drawer fronts to where the curves all match between drawer fronts and the carcass.
This build would have been a lot simpler if the drawer box was one piece and the drawer front was added after as an overlay but that would have looked cheap when you opened the drawers.
Amazing. But the all that effort and risk makes the satisfaction with the finished piece very much worth it. I’ve never gotten into veneering but have often thought that it should be on my one day list. That is beautiful work!
I was using super soft but with shipping the price got too high. Now I’m using a shop made mix of 4 parts distilled water, 1 part glycerin and 1 part denatured alcohol. This really more softens it than keeps it flat. I think the super soft worked a bit better. It’s fine if I’m just pressing flats but if I have to make book matches or 4 way matches it’s a problem, soon as I take it out of the cauls it starts to warp again making line up difficult. I bought some cascamite plastic resin glue to try in the mix but haven’t done it yet.
I’ll press it between brown paper several times changing out for dry paper. Then I’ll put in a stack under a flat piece of mdf, with fiberglass windowscreen between the sheets of veneer for a day. It’s usually pretty dry by then being so thin, the alcohol in the mix helps it dry faster as well. You can apply it still fairly wet but your panel is more likely to warp.
I saw on another comment you said the curved faces are made with a 1/4” bending ply core and 1/8” mdf faces. My question is, what causes them to hold the same bent shape over time after you’re done?
Take a 1/2” thick stack of copier paper and bend it into a radius, hold it pressed tight at the ends and try to bend it back straight, same idea but with glue holding it in place. Now when you glue the sheets of wood onto a curved form the tension in the wood will cause it to spring back some. I use plastic resin glue (unibond 800) for curved laminations as it cures much more rigidly than PVA glue thus less springback.
If I’m understanding correctly, the glue itself and the fact that several curved forms are glued together is what’s holding it in the short term. In the longer term, the fact that the ends of the curve are locked in by the other parts of the drawer keeps it stable?
I'll be the first to say it: That is a damn fine looking piece of woodworking!
You won’t be the last to say it.
Customer: "What's with those spots? Make it even!"
So anyway, that's when I started blasting!
Awesome stuff. Can't wait to see it in 20 years time with a coat of paint on it.
lol, after the check clears you do what you want with it
How much does something like this go for?
This was “to the trade” so I can only say it was more than $6k but less than $10k
Honestly... That's a steal for this. Some people sell much less for much more
That's shockingly little if I'm honest
How much do you think it should be?
Can’t wait to see it in 20 years time on the equivalent of Reddit with a picture of the mapa burl veneer having been sanded through. ;) Not really, I’d hope to be dead before I see that.
I have seen some straight up veneer murders on Reddit 😳 “HELP! I’ve sanded through the veneer on every corner of every panel on this piece with a very unique grain. What’s the easiest way to fix it?” 🤦♂️
Why do you have to go ruin everyone's day?
Not gonna lie, crossed my mind. I've see things that look like this at thrift stores.
No way that’s wood. I wouldn’t be able to have that in my house because I’d simply gawk at it 24/7
Yeah once you get into rare woods you start to realize why those are always rare.
Actually mappa burl is just a species of poplar. It's not al that rare.
I didn't say poplar was rare.
O 9 ow9
Incredible job dude, fine woodworking for sure. The veneer matching is perfect 👌🏻
I have always wondered how this is done.. you, sir, get an A+!!! Really appreciate the time this took- both to create all of it and post it! Thank you for sharing- unbelievable!!!
It looks like a big chunk of cheese, and cheese is loves by everyone
Cheese is loves me, this I know…
For my waistline tells me so…
Photographic proof you can never have to many clamps. Nice work, looks great. How much time does a piece like that take?
Some pcs I track time on, some I don’t as it would be too depressing to see the total. I DID NOT track time on this one but it was too many, prob over 120 hours. I did learn a few things so never time wasted. A second one the same size could be built in much less time since I know have the jigs. But the way that works is now that I have all the jigs I will never need to build another one, lol.
I understand. I've never tracked time on anything I've made but I know how it would work out (i've also never sold anything). Lets see 1 small box = hours + materials, math,math,math... sir that will be $1200. ;)
Every time I think I’m getting good at woodworking, this sub immediately humbles me. That is a stunning piece of work.
I’m pretty comfortable with veneer work at this point. I haven’t done much work in solid wood, that is intimidating to me. Mostly just not trusting the wood to stay straight and flat.
Breathtaking
That's a bold looking dresser! I want to put it on a leopard skin rug with a frilly gilded mirror
The Trypophobia dresser
I have to agree. The workmanship is amazing but the pattern makes it unbearable to look at.
My friend...amazing work.
Museum worthy
Breathtaking work
wow, absolutely stunning. does it have a high gloss shine? It looks like it would be great with a high gloss shine
Satin on this one, but yes would look nice in high gloss for sure.
Inspiring work, thanks for all the detailed photos
I love to see other people’s jigs and methods. I’d love to do videos on these projects but I’m also trying to make a living. I tried documenting a project with video once and it took 3x as long as normal, lol.
Big Design Energy
Damn
Its beautiful. Thanks for sharing
Bruh I squinted my eyes at first thinking it was one of those pics. To me on first pic it looks like three faces center is facing us and 2 flanking are kissing center on the cheek. Maybe its time to go bed. Oh nice work btw
Awesome work. What a mission!
this is absolutely superb! i also take a lot of photos of my work to proof how much steps a piece like this takes and how much work it really is. but the hours and hours of work and adjusting machines etc pays off!
Yes, a ton of work the client will never see. Some people looking for quotes on custom furniture seem to think you can just hit a button and 3D print a finished piece.
Superb
Holy shit. I’m in awe.
Beautiful work
Just came here to say what everyone else is saying. Incredible work!
that is a superb handsome piece, from the selection of the veneer to the style to the very even and attractive reveals.
The even reveals are so important. That was one of the major challenges in this piece, keeping all the curves lined up across the tall drawer fronts and onto the carcass. I made the drawer fronts first and then matched the carcass to them. I used Blum TANDEM plus BLUMOTION 563H Undermount Drawer Slides with the side adjustable locking devices for most adjustability.
That attention to the neatness and all of the other details just really set it off. it's easy on the eyes, and there's nothing funny looking on it, but it also isn't overblown or tacky. Just one of the nicest pieces I've seen on here in a while.
Thank you, I can’t really take credit for the design, it was just a clone of the design an interior decorator sent me but with wider feet. I’ve seen imported burl pcs from places like restoration hardware and pottery barn in person, the veneer work is always pretty sad. The photo they show on the website is always a “money beats” type situation having the best patterns, but even those in the close ups have bad veneer work, lol.
A good friend of mine is a world class maker of all kinds of things. i'm not very good at designing things without knowing a whole lot about them. he has an eye and can just draw things freehand that look like they were traced on patterns. But he taught me to see things in design and aesthetics just in discussion. and instilled the idea that it's far better to borrow from good design than it is to be a bad designer and work from original. one thing I've noticed since he kind of turned my eye a little as he's kind of mentioned things that make things look good or not is that a lot of factory stuff had a chance at looking good, and a lot of professional design is involved at some point *before the rest of the decisions kind of screw with it* and make it not look as good. Point being, finding something not done that well but that could've and making it look great is a great idea. it drives me up a wall a little bit that as time passes and we get more and more stuff made overseas, there is an opportunity to spend just a little bit of the savings and really make nice stuff. but we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory instead.
Very good points, on several occasions I’ve made a piece that was commercially available in the same dimensions and finish. Mine was several thousand dollars more but the client wanted the better quality and was willing to pay for it. Being made in the US by a small business has to be worth something.
was I wrong about it being veneer - is it actually solid? if it is, just stellar wood, and I love that you didn't just get strong figure/appearance and not have continuity from one drawer to the next. It's very natural looking and flows.
It’s veneer. Really hard to find highly figured Burl in solid wood as they reserve the best stuff to make veneer. It is all the same veneer. Left curved section is one piece, right curved section is another whole piece just mirrored. Center flat section is the same piece flipped top to bottom. I had considered doing a mirrored match on the center flat section and lineing it up with the two outer pcs but liked the more organic look.
It is personally not my taste, but holy heck that's an amazing job! You have some serious skill sir!
that is one of the most impressive dressers I've seen, and I watch a lot of woodworking videos and shorts on YouTube, as well as frequent this sub. I'm equally as impressed with your ability to find such an excellent piece of burl for those large panels thats so uniform.
Thank you for the kind words. When I find a Burl veneer lot in a large size and with good figure I snatch it up! I know I’ll use it eventually. The pcs used on this dresser were 18x48-55” I got these at [Certainly Wood](https://certainlywood.com) https://preview.redd.it/fgbjqjrgd4ad1.jpeg?width=1210&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ae14e7ae561aff57891edda7456b929606197d2
Whoa, they have walnut burl for $4.50 a board foot. I'm jealous you have easy access to that.
They sell to anyone in any quantity! I wish I was local to them so I could look in person! They are very reasonable on shipping tho. Funny you should mention walnut Burl, I just sent out a quote on this dresser in walnut Burl, used the images from certainly woods site in my rendering. https://preview.redd.it/io7a49g8h4ad1.jpeg?width=1660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff7965f7618d4f733a362ce262dd71843ac203db
Always stunned at the beauty of these veneer pieces i see on here. My boss isn't a fan of veneers so we stick to mostly ready plywood but now that he jas a pump and small bag im hopeful he gets a full bag soon for maximum veneer potential.
Pre laid up plywood is certainly more cost/ labor efficient but the design potential of picking your own veneer is amazing!
Oh my! That masterpiece is gorgeous! Bravo!👏 Thanks for sharing! How long did it take from start to finish? (Just curious)
I didn’t want to track hours on this one because I knew there would only be hurt feelings seeing the real number, lol. I’m guessing over 120
WOW. Gorgeous, great work!
Great work what's better than clamps and jigs? I honestly don't know if I love it or I hate it (maybe [trypophobia ](https://www.reddit.com/r/trypophobia) ?) but I can't stop looking at it.
Stunning piece! You didn't lose your head putting everything together? Well done
I cussed myself for taking on the project on several occasions but you gotta deliver!
That's insane. Nicely done.
Damn fine piece of craftmanship
Wow, fantastic work.
Nice
Very good work! I started a Bombe chest years ago (same premise) with the hand carved everything and just got burnt out on it. This is more my style. Might have to make a rosewood knock off for my guest room. Thanks for the inspo!
Rosewood would be amazing! I have zero hand carving skills, lol.
Wow. Very pretty, but I think it's too uniform for my tastes. The same visual texture from every angle kind of makes the curves hard to see and blends all the detail together. I think a face frame of a different wood would really make this thing pop. Or some other visual accent on the top.
Some pieces the uniformity of the Burl is kinda the point. But yeah some contrast never hurts!
I agree.
Whats more fun making the piece or the jigs?
You know it’s the jigs! Nothing more satisfying than designing and using a well thought out jig.
Any tips for a good source for jigs?
If only it were so easy, sorry, beyond store bought circle cutting and box joint jigs you pretty much have to roll your own.
Yeah meant a book or something for diy jigs
Oh! lol I see. These are pretty good especially the Taunton one in the middle. https://preview.redd.it/y7eouwrqw4ad1.jpeg?width=3391&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea5662011a23aa72c158156e6156aa63868e1b5d
Thanks a lot!
You didn't have any problem with the burl cracking or checking bending the boards like that?
No issues, the Burl is a thin veneer only about 1/40th of an inch thick. I also use a flattening/ softening mixture that makes it more pliable. No issues at all on a large radius like this, freshly softened you can even bend it around a pencil.
Great stuff! I would definitely botch even the jigs. You should also cross-post to /r/BeginnerWoodWorking
lol, now that’s just mean!
On that sub you often see people showing these amazing works that are absolutely outside the league of a beginner! Don’t know if it’s for bragging or just because what one consider easy can be pretty difficult for others…
I’ve only been doing veneer work for about 3 years but I have a background in woodworking. I did custom millwork install on high end department stores and offices for many years and then about 10 years in custom exhibit (trade shows) fabrication/ cabinet making. This “fine woodworking” is a whole different beast for sure. I’m saying, I’m a fairly seasoned woodworker and this was still a stretch for me and down right difficult at times. Always learning!
Did you use bendy ply as the substrate on the curved panels?
1/4” Bending ply core with a 1/8 MDF faces.
Wow, amazing stuff. Cool to see dowels used even though you have a domino... I don't know when I would use a dowel these days... maybe the dominos are too short? Ive always wondered how you go about sanding something like that for finish prep. Just light hand sanding? And is this a spray lacquer finish?
I was contemplating using dominoes, I could just have easily had the CNC cut domino slots tho I would have had to change bits. The issue was having to align the machine cut dominoes perfectly centered and aligned in the drawer side ends with the CNC cut dom slots in the drawer face. I just decided dowels would be faster as I cut a dowel drilling template on the cnc as well, so pretty idiot proof. I’ve gotten pretty good at sanding this particular veneer, you do have to be careful especially on radiuses and near edges but I start with 120 usually on a Mirka Deros 5” DA and a 2x3 SurfPrep on smaller pcs. Thin edges I hand sand as it’s just too risky. Sand to 320 before finish. As far as finish I’m using a product called Clean Armor Wood 700 UV cured. I will pre fill all the larger voids with a syringe, cure it, flat sand it. Then a flood coat rolled on and squeegeed off(this gets reused), then wiped mostly dry, it soaks in well and stabilizes the wood, basically a uv cured epoxy. Sand 320, 400, 600 then lightly buff with a towel on the DA. Gives a nice satin that is easily reparable. I’ve found it helpful to pre finish some of the parts, at least one coat, before machining the raw pcs, stabilizes the delicate veneer and reduces chip out.
wow. Not easy to do on a flat surface much less a curved one. Thanks for sharing. Nice work man.
Is there any significant difference in strength/longevity of a floating tenon (domino) joint in plywood vs using them to join to pieces of hardwood?
I’m sure a domino in hardwood is stronger than in plywood, gotta be. As far as longevity, it prob depends on application. Modern PVA glues are very strong even on butt joints.
That’s gorgeous, can I as where you got the veneer?
I get my veneer from veneersuppies.com and Certainly Wood. This was part of a large lot from[Certainly Wood](https://certainlywood.com). I have always had great luck with them, they have awesome discounts if you buy an entire lot. I also long that they have high res photos of all their stock I can pull into Fusion 360 for accurate renderings.
It is spectacular, thanks for the info. Haven’t done much veneering but have wanted to try for a while now
Is a vacuum table really necessary for doing veneer? I built a cabinet and put veneer on with contact cement. Trust me once you applied pressure, it wasn't moving or detaching. Maybe you need the vacuum table if you are using traditional wood glue on the veneer?
You can get away with contact cement on paper backed or wood on wood veneer. But this is raw wood veneer and burl to boot which is even more unstable, I would never use contact on raw wood veneer. You can get mappa burl veneer with a phenolic backer but it’s $600-800 a sheet and you have no control over the pattern. The vacuum press is also used to form the curved panels.
Hm . I did it with real wood veneer attaching to plywood. Seems to work fine for the cabinet I did anyway, even bent around some corners...solid and stable.
I have tried it on raw wood and it worked I just don’t trust it long term on something I’m selling to someone else. It would certainly make the project easier and faster tho!
It was the method recommeded to me by the Hardwood store that I bought the Veneer from. but yours will definitely be reliable as well
Quick question, what would you say was the most nerve-racking part of this build?
Trimming the curved parts of the drawer fronts to final size. Each side is cut from one larger curved veneered blank (3 drawers tall). If I miscut something I would have to start the whole side over again as there would be no way to match the veneer on a single replacement piece. So it would be, prep another piece of veneer (flatten), lay up a new curved blank, veneer the blank. After that just assembling the drawer fronts to where the curves all match between drawer fronts and the carcass. This build would have been a lot simpler if the drawer box was one piece and the drawer front was added after as an overlay but that would have looked cheap when you opened the drawers.
Amazing. But the all that effort and risk makes the satisfaction with the finished piece very much worth it. I’ve never gotten into veneering but have often thought that it should be on my one day list. That is beautiful work!
When you flatten the veneer what are you treating it with? Something like Supersoft?
I was using super soft but with shipping the price got too high. Now I’m using a shop made mix of 4 parts distilled water, 1 part glycerin and 1 part denatured alcohol. This really more softens it than keeps it flat. I think the super soft worked a bit better. It’s fine if I’m just pressing flats but if I have to make book matches or 4 way matches it’s a problem, soon as I take it out of the cauls it starts to warp again making line up difficult. I bought some cascamite plastic resin glue to try in the mix but haven’t done it yet.
So do you apply the veneer while it's still wet?
I’ll press it between brown paper several times changing out for dry paper. Then I’ll put in a stack under a flat piece of mdf, with fiberglass windowscreen between the sheets of veneer for a day. It’s usually pretty dry by then being so thin, the alcohol in the mix helps it dry faster as well. You can apply it still fairly wet but your panel is more likely to warp.
I saw on another comment you said the curved faces are made with a 1/4” bending ply core and 1/8” mdf faces. My question is, what causes them to hold the same bent shape over time after you’re done?
Take a 1/2” thick stack of copier paper and bend it into a radius, hold it pressed tight at the ends and try to bend it back straight, same idea but with glue holding it in place. Now when you glue the sheets of wood onto a curved form the tension in the wood will cause it to spring back some. I use plastic resin glue (unibond 800) for curved laminations as it cures much more rigidly than PVA glue thus less springback.
If I’m understanding correctly, the glue itself and the fact that several curved forms are glued together is what’s holding it in the short term. In the longer term, the fact that the ends of the curve are locked in by the other parts of the drawer keeps it stable?
Is this the melanoma dresser? Just needs a red wig lol
Great job on all those jigs, that’s where a lot of the work is!
Beautiful wood, wonderfully done but for some reason, im not a fan of it as a dresser. Kinda looks like something in grandmas house. Great work tho
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