Spalted Holly and maybe-walnut box WIP.

[frugal]

I figured it was time that I posted a WIP of a couple of the projects I have on the go.

A year or so ago a couple of friends gave me a pair of branches from a holly tree that their landlord cut down. When I split it open I discovered that rather than being the very pale white I was expecting, it was figured and spalted. I wanted to make a box for her birthday in response. So I have until the middle of March to complete this.

The sides of the box are going to be made from some of the wood I go from the auction at Pugh's. This was originally described as Oak and I was going to ebonise it to really contrast with the holly, but looking at the maybe-walnut it looks like it will contrast enough.

There is a chip out of the veneer on the holly, but I do not need the lid to be as wide as it currently is.

The plan is to rebate the lid so that when it is put together the lid will be perfectly smooth along the top.

 

[PowerTool]

Wow :shock:
Some amazing figuring you've got there - and I agree,it will be enough contrast as it is.

Andrew

 

[frugal]

Wow :shock:
Some amazing figuring you've got there - and I agree,it will be enough contrast as it is.

Andrew

I was surprised to find any figuring at all. Everything I have read about holly says that it almost never has figuring and it is almost pure white. I have two logs, each of which will give me dozens of veneers all like this...

 

[OPJ]

Stunning timber! I look forward to seeing it all come together. :wink:

 

[Lord Nibbo]

I've never veneered anything so I'm watching with interest and I've never used holly it looks nice stuff.

 

[frugal]

I've never veneered anything so I'm watching with interest and I've never used holly it looks nice stuff.

This is the first time I have ever veneered anything either. I bought a bunch of veneers at Yandles last spring byut they have just sat in a draw for the time being.

teh holly I cut to about 2mm thick veneers (I did not trust myself not to mess it up if I cut it any thinner).

The first lessons I have learnt are:

1 - Make sure that all of the veneers are the same thickness or the clamping pressure will not clamp some of them properly.

2 - A couple of Irwin quick clamps and two old chopping boards do not make a very good veneer press.


I spent quite a while plaing and sanding the board after veneering to get it all level and smooth, and quite a while lifting edges of veneers and inserting more glue :?

I did breifly look at vacuum veneer solutions, but I do not have £300-400 spare.

 

[frugal]

Lesson 3 - if the wood has twisted slightly since you thicknessed it then you will never get the mitres accurate enough

Not only did the wood twist, but as I tried to glue it up (with the wrong sort of clamps) it slipped overnight and the upshot is that I needed to cut the lid off with a bandsaw and now I need to make the sides again

So now it is gong to be a reclaimed oak and holly box :wink:

As I currently have the blades out of my thicknesser for sharpening this could take some time.

 

[OPJ]

Sorry to hear that you're struggling with this box-build. If the wood has twisted after being machined then, that suggests to me that it either wasn't dry enough when you started or, it's been left in a damp (workshop?) environment since then, which has caused it to pick up moisture.

For what it's worth, I know Lee Valley sell a small vacuum-press for veneering jobs like this. Although I can't find it on their website right now, you suck the air out with a small hand-pump. I read about it in GWW a few years ago. Although there's nothing like it available in the UK, I reckon it's possible to make something yourself, if you can find all the necessary parts... :wink:

 

[Steve Maskery]

For small jobs like this you don't need lots of pressure, but as you have discovered, you do need contact all over.

I've not tried this myself because I have an AirPress, but I have little doubt that you could use those clothes-storage bags. I saw some in Debenham's just this week for only a few pounds. I think you suck out the air with a vacuum cleaner. I should think that you could even do modest former work with them, too, such as a box lid.

When I next go into town, 2114, probably, I'll pick one up and have a go myself.

Cheers
Steve

 

[frugal]

Sorry to hear that you're struggling with this box-build. If the wood has twisted after being machined then, that suggests to me that it either wasn't dry enough when you started or, it's been left in a damp (workshop?) environment since then, which has caused it to pick up moisture.

I think it was partly that the wood twisted, but it was aggravated by me being impatient and hoping that I could force it back into shape thus causing more damage and problems.

Hopefully the reclaimed oak I am using now will be better behaved, it has been sitting patiently in the workshop for 4 years, so it should have acclimatised by now.

 

[frugal]

This week Frugal finally 'gets' wood movement

I have rebuilt the sides as oak and put a groove in the top for the lid and the bottom for the base. As I have not yet got around to sending my thicknesser blades off for sharpening I flattened and thicknessed the oak by hand (which was a really fun thing to do, but I would not want to do it for everything). I managed to get it completely flat and all to withing 0.1mm of the same size all over each of the 4 sides.

Then I brought in the lid to show SWMBO something and left it in the back porch overnight rather than taking it back out to the garage...

As you can see the veneer has shrunk and turned the nice flat top into a roller-coaster ride. Obviously the wood was not as dry as I thought and it reacted badly to being brought into a centrally heated room. The photos were after a couple of days inside after a couple of weeks in the workshop after gluing.

I had always assumed that as the workshop is dry (no condensation on the walls or floor, unlike the garage at our last house where you needed to paddle to get from one end to the other) that the humidity would be the same in the house and the workshop. I had assumed that it really would not matter where it was kept as it would not really have an effect. Wrong!

pipper thinks I. I had better bring in the other pieces I am working on and see what effect they have. So I brought in the sycamore box, and the cherry table as well as the oak sides of the holly box. Fortunately the cherry has not moved at all in 3 weeks (which is good as it is going to be a bed side table for my daughter). The sycamore box sides have moved a little bit, but not too much. Unfortunately my nicely flattened and thicknessed oak box sides have about a 1mm bow across their width which is not enough to throw them away, but just enough to be a real pipper flattening, especially as I have already mitred the ends...

So I tried to cut some more veneer from the holly log, but this time a bit thicker (about 5mm), however this cracked down the centre as there was a bit of a branch line in some of the wood.

Last night I went out and veneered up the rest of the holly, but this time at 1mm (I which I was quite impressed that the bandsaw managed). This is currently sat in a pair of stacks in the back porch to see what happens to it. One stack is already bowing quite a bit, the other looks a bit more stable. There is some lovely figure in this stuff as well, so I am hoping that third time is the charm.

How long should I leave the veneer to settle? If the rule of thumb is one year per inch, and the veneer is 1mm thick does that mean I need to leave it 15 days?

There is a recipe by Richard Jones on his website to soften and flatten veneer, so I think I will give that a go in a couple of days to see if I can avoid any of this batch cracking when I apply it.

In the mean time I am off to the hardware shop in town tomorrow to find double sided tape to hold down the sides whilst I flatten them.

 

[wizer]

SHISER!

I can't comment on the veneer. But I think in future you should do one of 2 things. Either season the wood in the house before the project starts and bring it in after each session OR If it's not moving in the WS then get it done before you bring it in. Then you can introduce it slowly to the CH house and you should be ok. The 2nd option is riskier, obviously.

 

[frugal]

SHISER!

I can't comment on the veneer. But I think in future you should do one of 2 things. Either season the wood in the house before the project starts and bring it in after each session OR If it's not moving in the WS then get it done before you bring it in. Then you can introduce it slowly to the CH house and you should be ok. The 2nd option is riskier, obviously.

Yeah, this little episode has driven home the real need to acclimatise the wood. I had always assumed that it was a perfectionist thing and that in the real world it didn't matter that much. Boy was I wrong