# AP Media Unit...WIP



## woodbloke (15 May 2010)

Having had Bob9fingers saw up some timber for me last weekend, this latest project is under way. I started on the two ends, stuck them together in the AirPress, lipped the bit going on the floor and then planed them to size and dead square. 
I'd already prepared the veneers so it was fairly easy to: 







shoot them in with 'Big Woodie' after which each 'lay up' can be made with masking tape (to pull them together) and veneer tape along the seam: 






Slap on some TBIII, pop them into the bag with plenty of thick paper on the edges and corners, apply a bit of suck (the needle is well past the stop, so it's pulling a good vacuum: 






and it should be cooked by the time I've finished the vino :wink: :lol:

You'll note that although the AriPress pump is great, the bags, especially the seal bit, is not _quite_ so good  ...in fact it's rubbish - Rob


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## Steve Maskery (15 May 2010)

Bob
Why the newspaper, please? And why do you use such a short length of breather strip. It doesn't reach to the far side.

S


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## woodbloke (15 May 2010)

The thick paper just relieves the pressure on the plastic bag at the corners. The breather strip doesn't need to go right the way across as long as a bit is under the valve it'll work fine as shown - Rob


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## woodbloke (16 May 2010)

Having come out the bag last night, I've got the first one cleaned up:






The finish is straight from the LV LA jack an BU smoother, no sanding or scraping, both having dead straight blades with just the corners knocked off, with an EP's of 50 and 60deg respectively. 
There are no tramlines, so anyone who says that a straight blade will give you some and a cambered blade won't is talking tosh  :lol:

This pic shows the thickness of the finished surface:






after planing. Using bandsawn veneers this way is fandabby as you can treat the surface effectively as solid oak, with no danger of going through as you might with wafer thin commercial veneers - Rob


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## OPJ (16 May 2010)

That oak should look interesting when you come to put a finish on - what are you thinking of using, by the way? With the light and dark striping, it almost has the characteristics of tiger oak...


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## woodbloke (16 May 2010)

It'll be my usual...two coats of matt Osmo Poly-X followed by some wax over the top - Rob


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## ByronBlack (16 May 2010)

I believe Krenov was a fan of bandsawn (solid) veneers, for the very same reasons. Did you bandsaw these yourself on your Inca?


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## woodbloke (16 May 2010)

ByronBlack":3w466gow said:


> I believe Krenov was a fan of bandsawn (solid) veneers, for the very same reasons. Did you bandsaw these yourself on your Inca?


BB - yup, the Euro 260 just about coped with a 3 skip 5/8" blade and sliced up a whole load of oak for the main parts of this project...veneers cut were 2mmish thick and 100mm wide.
Interestingly, JK had the same bandsaw in his personal 'shop in the Redwoods - Rob


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## como (16 May 2010)

I hope I'm not going to look like an silly person by asking this, but.... 




what is an AP Media Unit???



.


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## big soft moose (16 May 2010)

como":qtf2hz5y said:


> I hope I'm not going to look like an silly person by asking this, but....
> 
> 
> 
> ...



well duh

its a unit for storing "AP media" obviously :lol:


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## woodbloke (16 May 2010)

como":1yl6ngvr said:


> I hope I'm not going to look like an silly person by asking this, but....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sorry...should have made it a bit clearer. The design is based on a form developed by the late Alan Peters, there are one or two examples of this type of style in his book - Rob


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## Benchwayze (17 May 2010)

woodbloke":3e9udlur said:


> Using bandsawn veneers this way is fandabby as you can treat the surface effectively as solid oak, with no danger of going through as you might with wafer thin commercial veneers - Rob



Quite agree Rob. it is 'fandabby' as you say. It also 'stretches' exotic timbers for economical use. Hence Ironballs use of a similar method for the legs of his Morris Chair. 
Hmmm.. (Must check if that's finished!) 

:lol: 

John


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## como (17 May 2010)

woodbloke":2luxczyk said:


> Sorry...should have made it a bit clearer. The design is based on a form developed by the late Alan Peters, there are one or two examples of this type of style in his book - Rob



Thanks for making that clearer Rob, I do have Alan Peters book, I should have known AP was refering to his initials, didn't you make his music stool recently? That was a really good WIP by the way, with excellent results.


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## woodbloke (17 May 2010)

como":1betyr1m said:


> Thanks for making that clearer Rob, I do have Alan Peters book, I should have known AP was refering to his initials, didn't you make his music stool recently? That was a really good WIP by the way, with excellent results.



Yup, that was done recently, but not a full size version...I made a 3/4 scale stool owing to the sizes of the timber I had available.

Going through an Alan Peters phase at the moment  - Rob


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## woodbloke (20 May 2010)

The last of the lay-ups for the main construction have now been produced:






The pic shows the lay-up for the top of the unit, made from four consecutive bookmatched leaves. All the veneering for the moment (bar the top) has been done now, so this will go into the press on the 'morrow, after which it'll be cleaning up...each of these leaves is 1.38m long (around 4.5' if me sums is right) so shooting them in with 'Big Woodie' took some time - Rob


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## woodbloke (14 Jun 2010)

Bit of an update on this one. The veneering has all been done, together with the biscuiting...this is all held together with the things as I haven't got a Domino :-({|= :lol:: 






You can see that an 8mm groove has been cut at the back for the rear panels with a double line of biscuits for the central drawer unit. I had to get this together here to flush the sides exactly so that the lipping: 






could be applied. The joints were then marked out and chopped: 






finishing off to the line by hand paring...Jap parers are good for this  after which: 






the 'V' section of the joint could be shot in using the LN block and 45deg jig. 

Then the joints could be pulled up dry: 






to test the fit and fettled accordingly...not easy 'cos the lumps of wood are now heavy. The thing I'm working on currently is shaping the sides: 






with the initial material being removed with my woodie, after which it can be refined: 






to the profile with the LN block. I'll also make up a curved sanding block for the final sanding to profile. The easier and quicker commercial way to do this shaping would be to do it on a spindle, but I haven't got one of those either, so it's got to be done the long way. 

Still a lot to do on this, mainly the back veneered panel(s) and drawer unit with it's four drawers. I'm completely stumped at the moment on the sort of drawer knobs that ought to be fitted to this sort of chunkable project...I guess I'll have a play around with some ideas once everything's in place - Rob


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## Chems (14 Jun 2010)

Inspiring hand tool tour de force. Very impressive.


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## Benchwayze (15 Jun 2010)

Watching with interest Rob.

My AP book went into the attic when daughter came to stay, so I haven't seen the original version of this for some time. (I assume it is from the AP 'Professional Approach' volume?) 

So instead of traipsing up into the rafters, I am going to prepare to be surprised when this project is done! 

Looking set-fair thus far.

John


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## woodbloke (15 Jun 2010)

Benchwayze":33mscpaa said:


> My AP book went into the attic when daughter came to stay, so I haven't seen the original version of this for some time. (I assume it is from the AP 'Professional Approach' volume?)
> 
> John


 
This is another project John, based on an Alan Peters idea. There are severial pics of this sort of form in the book, mainly smaller tables in solid timber. I've just taken the idea and enlarged it to hold media stuff (hi-fi gear and the Sky box) and included a drawer unit in the centre - Rob


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## Chems (16 Jun 2010)

woodbloke":2timyhlm said:


>



I just spotted in the back corner of the rebate furthest from the camera that little section of bottom you've put in the rebate, I assume to keep it aligned in glue up. That is genius! I often glue up drawers etc and you get just the tiniest amount of difference and it makes it so difficult to get it togethert. I'll remember that one, thanks Rob.


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## woodbloke (17 Jun 2010)

That groove for the rear panel(s) acts as a datum for all the other faces. Placing a little bit of 8mm stuff in the corner not only allows me to line up the slots but also to reference all the other surfaces and get them flush...essential in this job - Rob


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## woodbloke (20 Jun 2010)

The central drawer unit has now been sorted and offered up: 












...again, entirely biscuited together. The dust boards are veneered in mahogany as I didn't have any skinny oak veneer and are .5mm wider at the back than the front, so in theory, drawers shouldn't stick [-o< 
All the grooves in the back line up: 






so that there will be two veneered panels left and right of the drawer unit which will have a separate frame and solid panel which will fit into the big rebate. 

There was one ever so tiny eansy weansy little problem which the fortuitous application of Veritas plug cutter sorted out: 






There are 90 shelf support inserts (all I have) in that pic and 






this is a quarter of the holes drilled #-o - Rob


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## Benchwayze (20 Jun 2010)

Rob,


Are you using brass 'banjo supports' perchance?

John


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## woodbloke (20 Jun 2010)

Benchwayze":1xdsdf5g said:


> Rob,
> 
> 
> Are you using brass 'banjo supports' perchance?
> ...


They're chromed John, but I guess it don't make a lot of difference...I cut too many 'oles :shock: - Rob


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## Benchwayze (20 Jun 2010)

woodbloke":2h2td9l7 said:


> Benchwayze":2h2td9l7 said:
> 
> 
> > Rob,
> ...



Achhh... The ones I have are brass! Screwfix stock them I am sure. Or ironmongery direct.

Looking good.. Nice chunky edges. Like it, too many 'oles or not! 

Regards.. John


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## rileytoolworks (20 Jun 2010)

Woodbloke, are they &mm shelf inserts?
If so, how many do you need? I could pop some in the post for you, if it's any help.
Let me know.


Adam.


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## woodbloke (21 Jun 2010)

Many thanks for the offer of some inserts, but the 'oles have now been filled and plugged. A bit of care with the selection of the timber for the plugs means that it's barely visible - Rob


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## woodbloke (3 Jul 2010)

This will be the last of the WIP shots of this job before it's dun and dusted. The backs are shown in this shot: 






The left and right panels with the big 'oles (for cables etc and the 'inside out' pic frames) are veneered in oak from oddments left over and the centre one has been made with a traditional floating panel. This shot: 






shows the front of the unit with the drawer section already glued in place. The ebony end caps have been biscuited on and have been roughly shaped with the LA jack and LN block plane...the top has just been dropped onto the locating biscuits in the drawer unit to check for a fit. Interior surfaces have already been finished with two coats of hardwax oil with wax over the top. The material for the drawers has been prepared (sides in quarter sawn oak) and the drawer bottoms in cedar have been glued and can be seen as well under the table. 

The next big job will be the glue-ups, which'll need to be done in two stages. Pete (Newt) has agreed to help me do this 'cos without any doubt, it's a two bloke job...many thanks Pete :wink: 

The first of the glue sessions will be to glue on the two sides (yet to be cleaned up and polished) and then the top will go on...and hopefully [-o< [-o< everything will line up. 

Then it's just a simple matter  of making and fitting four drawers and handles - Rob


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## OPJ (3 Jul 2010)

Looking good, Rob. I like the way you've framed the access holes on the back. They actually look intentional - unlike a lot of mass-produced stuff! :wink:


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## RogerM (4 Jul 2010)

This is shaping up really nicely Rob. I love those triangular joints and feel very intimidated by the quality of the fit. Lots of ideas here for a similar project I have planned for next winter in English Oak. A few questions if I may.

Is the use of a vacuum press essential for this type of thick veneering? Would a couple of pieces of 18mm MDF clamped and weighted together be a workable alternative?

What equipment do you use? Costs?

Any threads or sites you can direct us at to learn the techniques?

Presumably the top is laminated to a 24mm ply base? Did you choose to veneer rather than build in solid to reduce timber costs, or to end up with a stable top that will be pretty much immune to shrinkage? Do you veneer both sides for stability or is this unnecessary for this thickness of top?

Sorry for all the questions, but this piece had really got my creative juices working overtime. Many thanks for the WIP piccies. WE LIKE THOSE!


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## paulm (4 Jul 2010)

Looking good Rob !

Always enjoy seeing your projects and it's great that you take the time to do the wip photo's and updates along the way.

Cheers, Paul


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## woodbloke (4 Jul 2010)

RogerM":3s6hl1ys said:


> This is shaping up really nicely Rob. I love those triangular joints and feel very intimidated by the quality of the fit. Lots of ideas here for a similar project I have planned for next winter in English Oak. A few questions if I may.
> 
> Is the use of a vacuum press essential for this type of thick veneering? Would a couple of pieces of 18mm MDF clamped and weighted together be a workable alternative?
> 
> ...



Roger, a little bit of research on my behalf revealed that the joints are 'sword tip tenons' (but I'm happy to be proved otherwise)

I've not tried using boards and cauls with thick sawn veneer, which works fine if you're using commercial 0.6mm veneer as you can then guarantee the thickness of each piece and as such the boards will maintain contact under pressure across the whole surface. With bandsawn veneers there's always the possibility that there's a discrepancy in the thickness, so I think the vacuum bag is better, provided veneers are laid 'bag side up' In this way the bag will always exert pressure on the veneers.

The press I use is the AirPress but similar gear can be bought from Axminster...but it's not cheap :shock:

A forum member let me have the substrate material last year and I decided to glue two 18mm thicknesses together with 2mm veneers over each side...so the total thickness is a chunky 40mm (It didn't look right at 22mm thick, ie one thickness of ply)

I decided to do it this way really to reduce timber costs as I only had a limited amount of English Oak...doing it in the solid would have consumed a lot of prime material which I didn't have.

I think with a 40mm thickness of top there's not going to be much shrinkage or pull when the veneers are applied...the worst thing was that some of the veneer joints opened up :evil: in the hot weather but there's not a lot now I can do about that

At the Bash here later on this month, veneering is one of the topics under discussion, so there'll be some stuff on techniques in the appropriate thread - Rob


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## RogerM (4 Jul 2010)

woodbloke":1w0g5l5a said:


> Roger, a little bit of research on my behalf revealed that the joints are 'sword tip tenons' (but I'm happy to be proved otherwise)
> 
> I've not tried using boards and cauls with thick sawn veneer, which works fine if you're using commercial 0.6mm veneer as you can then guarantee the thickness of each piece and as such the boards will maintain contact under pressure across the whole surface. With bandsawn veneers there's always the possibility that there's a discrepancy in the thickness, so I think the vacuum bag is better, provided veneers are laid 'bag side up' In this way the bag will always exert pressure on the veneers.



Thanks - that makes sense.



> The press I use is the AirPress but similar gear can be bought from Axminster...but it's not cheap :shock:
> 
> A forum member let me have the substrate material last year and I decided to glue two 18mm thicknesses together with 2mm veneers over each side...so the total thickness is a chunky 40mm (It didn't look right at 22mm thick, ie one thickness of ply)
> 
> ...



.... and 40mm English oak would cost an arm and leg, even if you can find some that is shake free.



> At the Bash here later on this month, veneering is one of the topics under discussion, so there'll be some stuff on techniques in the appropriate thread - Rob



Great - looking forward to the reports. BTW, just read your blog. You're just going to love retirement. I got it 2 years ago and the novelty still hasn't worn off!


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## woodbloke (4 Jul 2010)

RogerM":357yl1ju said:


> BTW, just read your blog. You're just going to love retirement. I got it 2 years ago and the novelty still hasn't worn off!



Doncha just love sums...SWIMBO hasn't stopped laughing since she told me on Thursday   - Rob


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## 9fingers (5 Jul 2010)

woodbloke":2490o529 said:


> RogerM":2490o529 said:
> 
> 
> > BTW, just read your blog. You're just going to love retirement. I got it 2 years ago and the novelty still hasn't worn off!
> ...




Oops - That sounds a serious oversight Rob! Maybe SWMBO will keep you in the manner you hope to become accustomed to for that extra year!

Bob


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