Peter Sefton - Veneering & Laminating Course

[Glynne]

Having worked essentially in solid timber, my knowledge of veneering was somewhat limited and basically comprised of veneering MDF or plywood for the bottom of boxes using my trusty old book press.

However on my way to CCD at Cheltenham this year, Peter Sefton kindly showed me around his workshop, stores and shop and explained in detail what I could expect on his Veneering & Laminating Course (4 days) and so I signed up and attended in December with 3 other woodworkers. I'm sure many of you will have attended one of Peter's open days so you will know what a fantastic set up he has, but for those of you who haven't, check out his web site which will give you some insight: http://www.peterseftonfurnitureschool.com
Anyway the course is a mixture of theory and practical work as per the prospectus and is centred on making a tray as can be seen on Peter's site.http://www.peterseftonfurniturescho.../veneering_and_laminating_4day_short_courses/
I won't bore you with a day by day account of the course but simply post some pictures to hopefully give you a feel.
Gluing lipping onto an MDF base board

Formers (poplar) for laminating black walnut handles

As part of the course, we experimented with lining the formers with parcel tape and cellulose sanding sealer

The black walnut (construction veneer thickness 2.3mm) glued up and clamped

One of the many good things about the course was that Peter was more than happy to explain how jigs and formers were made and these formers, which he had other students make on a machining course, were made using this jig

Having set the laminated handles aside to dry, the next stage was to chose some veneers. Essentially, if Peter had the veneer in stock you could use it for your project. We had a huge array of veneers to chose from and a brief glimpse is

We also could chose a contrasting veneer to use as a banding and the ebony at the bottom caught my eye

The course covered how to cut veneers (accurately), shoot and sand edges and I think most of use were happy with a scalpel once we got the knack of angling it correctly (or at least most of the time).
Veneers (birds eye maple) chosen for the centre of my tray

Veneer joined and taped for the back

As I'm at the maximum number of attachments, Part 2 will follow.

Glynne

 

[Glynne]

Continuing the story, banding veneer (left oversize as more manageable) taped to border

The top coming together

And finally all taped

3 of us elected to use Peter's veneer presses (Peter in action!)

and 1 elected to use a vacuum bag

The end result before any sanding and finishing

I obviously need to work on some of my joints but for a first attempt I'm very pleased.

Overall I would highly recommend the course and a couple of the guys had either been on one of Peter's previous courses or had signed up to a future one. As well as learning about veneering and laminating (and you come away with handouts on the theory), the really good thing for me was that you could ask about absolutely anything to do with woodworking and you got an answer. None of this come on a future course and I'll tell you, your question was answered there and then and so between us, we covered machining, hand tools, sharpening (with no squabbles), timber & veneer supplies, jigs etc.etc. We were all invited to take as many pictures as we wanted of the workshop and tools and even when I was taking a few shots of the shooting boards under the benches, I was immediately offered the plans. The whole atmosphere is incredibly friendly with Sarah (Peter's wife) chatting with the students and Sam (workshop) and Pete (shop sales) just adding to the whole experience.
If you have some pennies after Santa, you could do a lot worse than signing up to a course.

Glynne

 

[Duncan A]

I've seen some of Peter's students work and now your lovely table top - all of which is a very good advertisment for his courses. Way out of my league but who knows - one day perhaps.

Duncan

 

[Steve Maskery]

Glynne, that's a really good walk-through of the course.
Can I make a suggestion? Can you cut and paste your two threads together? You are limited to 10 images per post, not per thread. That way all your story will be in one thread.
If you can't, perhaps one of the very nice mod gentlemen could do it?
It's a really good story.
S

Mod edit;- Done CHJ

 

[Glynne]

That's a good suggestion Steve. I'm guessing I make an original post and then reply straight away to it with the extra images?
Thanks to CHJ for combining them.
Duncan - apart from veneering fairly bland oak onto MDF (8" x 6") I had'nt done any veneering so it's tribute to Peter rather then me. If you want to get a step increase in skills, a course is the way to go.
I spent 5 days with Roger Berwick (Dodge on the forum) a couple of years ago and 4 days with Peter recently so don't wait too long until you think you're ready as it sort of devalues the training if you know it already.

 

[Alexam]

An excellent report Glynne. Looks like you not only added to your wealth of knowledge, but also had a great time. Well done. Must have a look at your tray next time I pop over.

That's a very good start to a Happy New Year

Malcolm

 

[Peter Sefton]

Hi Glynne

Thanks for posting the pics and overview of the course, we have been box making this week and veneering with some Burr Oak. The long course students are back on Monday with all their designs for the bigger pieces, should be fun!

Cheers Peter