Wood movement in veneer

I decided to go in a different direction for the top. I had a nice piece of camphor wood waiting for an opportunity like this. So after some slicing up, resawing and gluing, we have a new table top. I really quite like the end result and the grain in the camphor is very striking.

Camphor wood top

Finished hall table #2

Finished hall table #2

If you like this table, or any of my other work, I’m starting to sell some pieces on etsy. So, take a look at my etsy store for details.

I’m using “hide glue” for this process which is also known as animal glue. Yes, it’s literally made from bits of (dead) animal tissue, essentially cellulose. Animal glue has been used for many thousands of years and is perfect for veneering.

The basic process is to hydrate the glue granules with water, head it up to 60-80C and brush it onto the surface. The glue become tacky as it cools (which only take a few seconds). This provides the initial stickiness you need to lay down and position the veneer. Over the next few hours, the glue’s moisture evaporates and it pulls the two pieces of wood together forming a very tight bond.

What I love about it? It’s very forgiving. Just heat it up with a hairdryer or iron and it goes soft again ready for you to adjust.

The problem with it? It stinks!

Hide Glue warming in the pot

The veneering

The piece had lots of twisting grain and knots causing it to “bubble” up in places. Essentially, some parts of the wood had expanded more than others. To soften the wood I used a mixture of water, glycerine and denatured alcohol. I covered both sides of the veneer in this concoction, sandwiched it between two pieces of plywood, and waited. After a few hours, it had decided to give up and was laying perfectly flat. Time to rumble!

Splash on the glue, lay down the veneer, slide it around a little and then use a veneer hammer to push out all the excess glue. The video below shows this process from start to finish.

The result

The table is coming along nicely. Some more finessing and finishing to do and we should be done and dusted.

Dry fit of the table with top

A colleague from work, Michael Green, provided me with a very nice piece of birdseye featured Huon Pine veneer. I’ve designed this table around that piece.

First up however is rough cutting the parts from a slab. I’m using one of the English Elm slabs I bought at auction a few years ago. Cutting up the slab took a fair bit of work and heavy lifting but after a good day’s work I got the result I was after.

Rough cut parts

To join the legs to the aprons, I would usually rush to the Festool Domino. This time I decided to cut some sliding dovetails. Some time spent at the router table and then with a chisel in hand produced an ok result. The fit is quite solid but not great enough to be exposed to viewers. This image is probably the last you will ever see of it before it gets covered up with the top.

Dovetailed corner

With the basic frame pieces done, I started work on finessing some of the shape. This began with tapering the legs. I used an inside taper, the same style I was taught at my course. The end result is quite pleasing and really gives the whole piece a light feel to it.

First dry fit

Moving onto the top, I had a number of options in mind. After playing around with a few pieces I’m settling on framing the huon pine top. The frame will be flush with the legs. This means I will need to plane the aprons down slightly so the frame can give a subtle shadow line around the piece. I’ll do this part once I have the frame cut to precise size.

Framed top - clamped in place

As with their dining table, this one is designed by Steven Hanson (the guy who built their home). It is build using 100% recycled/reclaimed Australian timbers … Victorian Ash (lighter) and Queensland Spotted Gum (darker). A simple finish of Scandinavian Oil and a very thin layer of wax tops it off.

Here’s a video showing the last half of the build.

Finished Hudson coffee table

Final inspect by Stanley

Last night was my first night at the Briars as a member of the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society (MPAS). The Briars is a 96 hectare historic park in Mt Martha. As well as a 1840s Homestead full of Napoleonic memorabilia, MPAS has its observation site based there.

After a bit of a chat with some other friendly members, setting up our scopes and doing something called “polar alignment” I was ready to start playing. The view through the StellarVue 105 f/6.3 Triplet APO Refractor is quite gorgeous. I decided to mount my basic Nikon D40 camera onto my scope and see if I could get some photographs.

Now, these definitely aren’t the best photos out there and I’m a little embarrassed to post them publicly given the spectacular images some people are producing these days. BUT … I’m quite happy with my first result and it will be a good reference point for me in the future to see how I might improve.

Great Orion Nebula

One of the most photographed sights in the night sky. This photograph by comparison could be classified as really bad, but for me, it was my first shot so I’m happy none-the-less!

Scope: StellarVue 105 f/6.3 Triplet APO Refractor
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 2 x 30 seconds
ISO: 1600

Great Orion Nebula (M42 / NGC 1976)

Tucanae 47

One of my favourite sights in the night sky. Looks like a single star with the naked eye but on closer inspection it’s a collection of stars (globular cluster) some 120 light years wide! This photograph unfortunately is quite out of focus and has a fair bit of drift present. All items to keep practicing at!

Scope: StellarVue 105 f/6.3 Triplet APO Refractor
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: Single 30 second
ISO: 1600

47 Tucanae (NGC 104)

Saturn

One thing I quite enjoyed seeing but didn’t get a photograph of was Saturn. Rising quite late, it was the last object I viewed that night. What a spectacular sight. The view through the StellarVue was incredibly crisp. I had to push the magnification a bit to get a larger view but even then it was surprisingly bright and clear. For those number inclined …

Normal viewing through the StellarVue:

105mm aperture
f/6.3 focal ratio
661.5mm focal length

With the 2x barlow & a 6mm eyepiece:

1.323 metre focal length
Magnification of 220x

All in all, a quite successful first light for me as a MPAS member.

My virtual family tree

What software am I using?

I researched and tried a small variety of genealogy software which is out there. In the end I settled on a product called Mac Family Tree.

It is extremely easy to use and seems to be quite powerful too. One of the most important features is that it is GEDCOM compatible. GEDCOM is a file format used to transfer genealogical data between various products.

One thing I intend to do with this GEDCOM format is to export it from Mac Family Tree and run it through a kind of website generator which will turn all the data into a navigable website for my family to use.

I also like this product because it can store all manner of factual information (e.g. dates, places, events) as well as more fluid types like stories, images, files, etc.

It displays a whole variety of reports and charts too which have already helped me pick up on some interesting facts and statistics occurring in my family.

What have I discovered so far?

There are some quite interesting stories about my maternal grandparents, my maternal grandfather and his father in-law. Discovering this didn’t require any digging through national archives. It was simply reaching out and asking people for any interesting stories and things they know.

Well, my grandparents were married by proxy. My grandfather had already moved to Australia (Queensland) and my grandmother was still in Italy. Before she would come to Australia she insisted that they get married. So they did, and it happened on opposite sides of the world.

My maternal great-grandfather (on my grandmother’s side) was Italian. In 1909 he jumped onto a boat and travelled to the USA to visit a family member there. He came through the Ellis Island port in New York so his entry records are available online. He was 29 at the time and travelled by himself from Sicily.

My maternal grandfather also had an interesting time during war times in Italy, but more on that another day.

On my father’s side, at my grandmother’s recent funeral, I saw a picture of my great-grandfather. The picture would have been taken in the late 1800s. The similarity between him, one of my uncles and my father is quite striking. Even more striking is how similar he looks to Mark Twain!

What’s next?

My next step is to fill in as many of the facts as I can. Mainly birth and death dates and locations. With this information I should be in a good position to start searching for various official documents like birth certificates and military records.

Language learning

I am aiming to reach a conversational level of proficiency with both Czech and Italian.

Over the years of listening to Italian (and speaking small amounts of it) I have acquired that intrinsic feel for the grammar and structure. Improving my Italian will be a matter of “becoming comfortable” with it and learning more vocabulary, rather than learning any formal rules and the like. The most difficult part for me will be to better understand and separate the various dialectical differences spoken amongst my older family members.

My learning of the Czech language will take a slightly different course. I still need to become more comfortable with the sound and rhythm of the language. Much more vocabulary and significantly more real life conversational practice is required. I also intend to watch more Czech films this year which should be fun.

Woodworking

James Krenov at work

I have already done a small number of commissions but I don’t want to take on too many of them. There are just so many other styles and things I would like to explore at the same time. I do intend to make a few pieces of “fine furniture” and sell them. Either smaller things like boxes, picture frames and lamps, or larger things like hall tables and cabinets.

There are three things I do want to build this year:

1. A Krenov style cabinet
2. A new André Jacob Roubo workbench
3. Another hall table

Brain food

A couple of months ago, I finally found a Masters Degree I was keen to undertake. My interests are a little esoteric so finding a degree which is broad enough to hold my interest has been a challenge. The Masters in Organisational Dynamics seems to cover a number of aspects I am interested in as well as provide enough flexibility to keep it interesting for me. Cognition, psychology, identity of self, learning theory and meditation are all part of it.

Unfortunately they have cancelled the degree for 2011 and will be recommencing it in 2012 under a new banner.

The National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia (NIODA) is a spin off of the Organisational Dynamics department at RMIT. They kick off the new degree in 2012 so I need to find something to study and keep my brain going this year. I’ve been toying with the idea of a Psychology (diploma or certificate) so I will see where that takes me in the meantime.

Citizenship

I was born an Australian citizen and have Italian heritage. One day I would like to move to Europe and even live in Italy for a while. To do this easily, I will need to get my Italian citizenship.

Now, for those of you against the whole “dual-citizenship” caper, let me tell you these two things:

1. I believe every naturally born Australian should partake in an Australian Oath of Citizenship, or at least have an option to affirm their allegiance when they turn 18.
2. I am an Italian citizen and have always been one since I took that first breath after birth.

Italy is one of the few nations who bestow citizenship jure sanguinis (right of blood). So as long as one of my parents was still an Italian citizen (i.e. didn’t renounce their citizenship) when I was born, then I am automatically an Italian citizen. It doesn’t matter than I was born in Australia.

So, I just have to fill in the requisite paperwork and then apply for my EU passport. Easy!

Other stuff

All the other stuff which is currently occupying my thoughts and will hopefully lead somewhere soon …

• Get bike riding again
• Commence and publish online a family history (i.e. of my own family and ancestry)
• Build a deck, pergola, garden beds and tidy up the backyard overall
• Meditate more and meditate regularly

Using plywood to test various proportions for the door frame.

The top rail of the door frame will feature a slight curve (to match the side panels). I built a template from plywood and then used this to route the curve onto the mahogany. Once I was happy with it, I cut the curve into two (one for each door) by cutting away the centre portion. This “missing piece” will be replaced by the vertical parts of the door frame.

The top door rail ready to be routed against a plywood template I made earlier.

I had intended to hand cut the mortise and tenons for the door frame. Before I realised however, I had already cut the parts to size and didn’t leave any additional wood for the tenons. So I had to resort to my Festool Domino to make the joints. I was a little disappointed by this but the end result should be almost the same.

The frame needed a little planing to ensure it fit snuggly within the carcass. At this stage I’m not too fussed about getting a perfect fit as I haven’t purchased hinges or glued up the carcass yet.

I intentionally made the doors a little wider so that I could plane them down to fit perfectly.

After some initial planing, it was time to stand back and look at how things are evolving so far.

I began with a large piece of Eastern Mahogany which I had lying around in the workshop waiting for the right project to come along. The face was already quite flat so I started by planing the edge with one of my new HNT Gordon planes.

Once I had a nice square edge to reference from, I cut this piece up to make the sides, top, bottom and shelf. With the sides placed flat on my table, I used my router to cut a few grooves to hold the top/bottom and shelf in place.

Since this piece will have two doors, the middle shelf needs to sit back from the front edge. Therefore I had to make sure the groove didn’t go all the way to the front as that would leave a nice hole next to each door frame.

A little tweaking of the joints and we have a simple carcass of a cabinet.

The carcass as it currently is feels quite “boxy”. Before finishing up for the day, I put a curve on the top of the two sides. To draw the curve I held a pencil at the end of a long piece of string. I pinned the other end of the string down to the bench and then used it as a large compass. After making a template for the curve I used my router and a template bit to cut the sides. The result is quite nice. I was actually quite surprised the impact such a small detail has had on the piece already.

If you get the chance, check out some of Jonathan Coulton‘s other music. It’s actually pretty good and cleverly humorous.

Some of the lyrics for you below. This is pretty true of my life right now and probably for most woodworkers out there.

If you need me
I’ll be downstairs
With the shop vac
You can call but I probably won’t hear you
Because it’s loud with the shop vac on

But you’ll be OK
Cause you’ll be upstairs
With the TV
You can cry and I probably won’t hear you
Because it’s loud with the shop vac on