Quicky experimental Tambour - very long with lots of pics.

[Nick W]

How much effort does it take to move it?

Not a lot. The kitchen scales say about 5kg when lifting it from the bottom, and of course it gets lighter as you go up. Very little friction.

And does it want to slam open or shut for you too?

Yes. To reduce this tendency make the tambour as long as possible so that there is some balancing wieght hanging down at the back, or add weights to any part of the tambour that hangs over the back.

I was also curious if it would have been possible to slice through the glued on veneer from the back side between the slats?

Yes, but why make life hard for yourself. It's much easier to rip the veneer when ripping the slats (which you have to do anyway), and because the veneer won't be seen it doesn't matter that the grain becomes non-continuous.

For those who don't fancy veneering - leave it all out, and paint/stain/oil/whatever the tambour instead.

Sorry for the late reply - been away for the weekend.

 

[Inspector]

I was also curious if it would have been possible to slice through the glued on veneer from the back side between the slats?

Yes, but why make life hard for yourself. It's much easier to rip the veneer when ripping the slats (which you have to do anyway), and because the veneer won't be seen it doesn't matter that the grain becomes non-continuous.

Thanks for the reply, however your answer has me puzzled. Your picture sequence shows you clamping all the slats, gluing the veneer to them, and then slicing through the veneer with a straight edge and knife to free them up . Which doesn't quite jive with the answer you gave. (Play a bit hard when you were away during the weekend? :wink: :wink: ) I realize now that slicing form the back with the salts flexed open might not give as straight and clean a cut as your method, but it seemed at first to be simpler.

 

[Nick W]

Ah, yes, I misunderstood you.

The problem is that you either need a long thin blade, or you need to flex the tambour quite a bit, and risk splitting the veneer before the blade can get at it. I did try a long thin blade (No 11 scalpel blade), and it flexed - into the slats, which, being MDF cut quite easily of course. This is fine if you don't mind wobbly slats I suppose, but it's not what I was aiming for.