TECHNIQUES- CHAPTER ONE
A Simple to make, Stair Step Design
This sample chapter shows you how things are clearly written up to make things easy to follow along with clear step by step photos... A person could almost create this design by simply looking at the photos and checking with the text write-up for explanation of details or dimensions.
In this chapter we will be learning how to create wood art by gluing together different hardwoods to create various patterns. This will allow a person to create wood material in which they will then be able make beautiful items that will allow them to apply their creativity, talents and imagination.
I have read books that presented this concept in such a format that a person would need to be an engineer or have a major in trigonometry in order to understand it.
This chapter will be devoted entirely to the creation of various wood designs and easy methods of creating them. Other chapters will be devoted to using these wood designs in various projects.
AN EASY WOOD ART DESIGN
We will start out with an easy to create design that is very attractive although you won’t think so as we start this design. This is about as easy as it gets, starting by gluing two boards together (can’t get much easier than that).
Cut a piece of walnut and a piece of maple (or oak), 24” long and both 3” wide which after edge gluing gives you a board 6” wide. You could also use any two contrasting woods. These are a little over ¾” thick but the thickness is not really relevant in this operation. Next, edge glue the two pieces together. I prefer to put a piece of wax paper over newspapers when gluing. The newspaper prevents glue-up on your work surface and the wax paper prevents your project from becoming glued to the newspaper. I prefer to use yellow carpenters glue for my projects and having tried many different brands, I fail to find any difference in the results. I buy my glue by the gallon and have found that a used mustard bottle serves very well as a dispenser. So far, couldn’t be easier but it doesn’t sound very attractive. Hang in there.
For practice, if you want and you don’t have any contrasting hardwoods, use two pieces of a pine board and stain one piece the color of walnut. This will give you an inexpensive way to try this out. My experience has been that you put a lot of time and effort into a project, the cost of the wood may be your least consideration. Particularly when you make veneers out of your glue up, the cost per project drops way down, regardless of which hardwoods you use.
PHOTO1-1 Edge glue and then clamp the two boards together.
I have read books that presented this concept in such a format that a person would need to be an engineer or have a major in trigonometry in order to understand it.
This chapter will be devoted entirely to the creation of various wood designs and easy methods of creating them. Other chapters will be devoted to using these wood designs in various projects.
AN EASY WOOD ART DESIGN
We will start out with an easy to create design that is very attractive although you won’t think so as we start this design. This is about as easy as it gets, starting by gluing two boards together (can’t get much easier than that).
Cut a piece of walnut and a piece of maple (or oak), 24” long and both 3” wide which after edge gluing gives you a board 6” wide. You could also use any two contrasting woods. These are a little over ¾” thick but the thickness is not really relevant in this operation. Next, edge glue the two pieces together. I prefer to put a piece of wax paper over newspapers when gluing. The newspaper prevents glue-up on your work surface and the wax paper prevents your project from becoming glued to the newspaper. I prefer to use yellow carpenters glue for my projects and having tried many different brands, I fail to find any difference in the results. I buy my glue by the gallon and have found that a used mustard bottle serves very well as a dispenser. So far, couldn’t be easier but it doesn’t sound very attractive. Hang in there.
For practice, if you want and you don’t have any contrasting hardwoods, use two pieces of a pine board and stain one piece the color of walnut. This will give you an inexpensive way to try this out. My experience has been that you put a lot of time and effort into a project, the cost of the wood may be your least consideration. Particularly when you make veneers out of your glue up, the cost per project drops way down, regardless of which hardwoods you use.
PHOTO1-1 Edge glue and then clamp the two boards together.
After the glue has done its job (I usually let mine set for four hours or overnight), the next step is to cut pieces at an angle from the board. I will use my miter saw but they could be cut just as easily using a table saw or a radial arm saw. The reason I made the board 6” wide was so I would be able to make the cuts using the miter saw which has a 12” blade. The other consideration is that if your glue up exceeds six inches, you may not be able to cut it into veneers unless you have a band saw that can cut wood thicker than six inches. Because these two pieces ended up being 6” wide, the largest angle I could cut was 30 deg. with the miter saw. If you are using a table saw, cut it at a 45 deg. The angle is not critical. Using the miter saw, start by cutting the corner off.
PHOTO1-2 Cutting off the end of the board
I next place a stop block on the saw so I can make cuts 5/8” wide. I then cut off ten pieces, 5/8” wide.
PHOTO1-3 Cutting off a 5/8” piece.
By placing the ten pieces back together and aligning the edges straight with each other I get one pattern. These pieces are not glued together and are just placed into position to form a design.
PHOTO1-4 Design with ends aligned.
PHOTO1-5 Making ¼” cuts
PHOTO1-6 Placing the 5/8” and ¼” pieces together.
By realigning the pieces back to the first configuration we had as shown in PHOTO XX, we can now place the ¼” wide pieces in between the 5/8” wide pieces but with the walnut pieces reversed so they are next to the maple. This will result in a striking design which appears to be two sets of stairs. There again, they are perfectly flat on top, although they appear to be three dimensional. These pieces have not been glued together yet at this stage.
By realigning the pieces back to the first configuration we had as shown in PHOTO XX, we can now place the ¼” wide pieces in between the 5/8” wide pieces but with the walnut pieces reversed so they are next to the maple. This will result in a striking design which appears to be two sets of stairs. There again, they are perfectly flat on top, although they appear to be three dimensional. These pieces have not been glued together yet at this stage.
PHOTO1-7 Gluing the pieces using a glue brush.
Before you start to glue the pieces together, carefully check that each piece is in its proper position. It is very easy to misalign the pieces. While gluing one piece at a time, it’s easy to turn the piece in your hand and then gluing it into the wrong position. Check each piece before you attach it. Nothing like spending hours on a project and then realize you glued a piece in wrong. Been there, done that. After applying the glue, slide the piece back and forth across the new piece to spread the glue. While gluing a lot of pieces together, as in this procedure, I prefer to clamp them together after gluing only half of them. This allows you to clamp them together before the glue becomes too dry. Use a clamp in the center and gently tighten it, being careful to not knock the pieces out of alignment. Do not over tighten at this time as you may cause the pieces to slip their alignment. Place a clamp at each end and tighten. Now go back and further tighten the clamps. When done you should have two sets of glued pieces and after drying you can then glue them into one piece. However, as you go through the project section of this book you will find projects that do not require a piece of wood that large and may prefer to leave them as two separate glued up wood designs.
Before you start to glue the pieces together, carefully check that each piece is in its proper position. It is very easy to misalign the pieces. While gluing one piece at a time, it’s easy to turn the piece in your hand and then gluing it into the wrong position. Check each piece before you attach it. Nothing like spending hours on a project and then realize you glued a piece in wrong. Been there, done that. After applying the glue, slide the piece back and forth across the new piece to spread the glue. While gluing a lot of pieces together, as in this procedure, I prefer to clamp them together after gluing only half of them. This allows you to clamp them together before the glue becomes too dry. Use a clamp in the center and gently tighten it, being careful to not knock the pieces out of alignment. Do not over tighten at this time as you may cause the pieces to slip their alignment. Place a clamp at each end and tighten. Now go back and further tighten the clamps. When done you should have two sets of glued pieces and after drying you can then glue them into one piece. However, as you go through the project section of this book you will find projects that do not require a piece of wood that large and may prefer to leave them as two separate glued up wood designs.
PHOTO1-8 Gluing half of the strips together.
PHOTO1-9 Gluing the two sections into one piece.
CUTTING OFF THE ENDS……
Rough sand the glue up to make the surface flat, prior to cutting the ends off, 60 grit
Sandpaper in a hand oscillating sander works good for this.
If you went with the first design as shown in PHOTO 1-4, you can cut off the ends at a right angle. However the nature of the beast of the second design puts the pieces together leaving an angle on the ends. This requires you to find the proper angle to cut off the ends.
Using a straight edge, draw a line across the edge of the end pieces to establish the cutting line. Since I am using a radial arm saw, I raised the blade to be above the cutting line and adjusted the angle to co-inside with the line. I then locked the angle in place, lowered the blade and made the cut. I then flipped the laminated piece and cut the ends off the other end at the exact same angle.
CUTTING OFF THE ENDS……
Rough sand the glue up to make the surface flat, prior to cutting the ends off, 60 grit
Sandpaper in a hand oscillating sander works good for this.
If you went with the first design as shown in PHOTO 1-4, you can cut off the ends at a right angle. However the nature of the beast of the second design puts the pieces together leaving an angle on the ends. This requires you to find the proper angle to cut off the ends.
Using a straight edge, draw a line across the edge of the end pieces to establish the cutting line. Since I am using a radial arm saw, I raised the blade to be above the cutting line and adjusted the angle to co-inside with the line. I then locked the angle in place, lowered the blade and made the cut. I then flipped the laminated piece and cut the ends off the other end at the exact same angle.
PHOTO1-10 Cutting off the ends.
PHOTO1-11 Finished laminated block.
Here is a picture a Cutting Board created in the PROJECTS SECTION using the laminated block created in the above write up. In the project section, you will find projects that can use thicker pieces of glue ups and other projects where thinner pieces may be used. It is sometimes a waste to use a thicker piece of your glue-up that you have spent a lot of time, effort and lumber cost when you can resaw your glue ups into thinner pieces and use as a veneer. We will see how to do this at the end of this section.
REMEMBER: This is the TECHNIQUES SECTION...
The PROJECT SECTION shows how to use these different laminations into various beautiful projects... Such as Cutting Boards, Lazy Susans, Banks, Boxes, etc.
Another Cutting Board created in the PROJECT SECTION.
Here is a picture a Cutting Board created in the PROJECTS SECTION using the laminated block created in the above write up. In the project section, you will find projects that can use thicker pieces of glue ups and other projects where thinner pieces may be used. It is sometimes a waste to use a thicker piece of your glue-up that you have spent a lot of time, effort and lumber cost when you can resaw your glue ups into thinner pieces and use as a veneer. We will see how to do this at the end of this section.
REMEMBER: This is the TECHNIQUES SECTION...
The PROJECT SECTION shows how to use these different laminations into various beautiful projects... Such as Cutting Boards, Lazy Susans, Banks, Boxes, etc.
Another Cutting Board created in the PROJECT SECTION.
