Darryl Keil Last Activity 2024-10-10 3:42 PM
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Paul

Posts: 4

Joined: 2009-01-03
Location: Morristown AZ

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Subject : Veneering a Checkerboard
Posted : 2009-01-03 10:02 AM
Post #35166
Hi! I'm pretty new to veneering and pressing, but I have some scrap curly maple and walnut veneer left from some projects and thought it would be fun to make some checkerboards. I remember in shop class in junior high some kids making checkerboards by gluing strips of walnut and maple together, then crosscutting them and flipping them so a checkered pattern was formed. I would like to do that with veneer.
How would I go about this? Should I make a 2-ply first with the proper (light and dark) glue to prevent the wrong color bleedthrough on the veneer? Then cut strips and press them onto another piece of veneer (making a 3-ply) which could then be cut into strips, flipped, and pressed onto the oversize substrate? (I'll do a solid edge)
Your thoughts? Thanks!


 
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craig tufankjian

Posts: 308

Joined: 2004-02-01
Location: syracuse ny 13208

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Subject : RE: Veneering a Checkerboard
Posted : 2009-01-03 10:43 AM
Post #35167 - In reply to #35166
hi paul,

i hope i explain this right... here goes....

first determine the size of the square. 2 or 2 1/2 are normal. make yourself a shoot board. this consist of a piece of mdf with a fence screwed to the long edge. lets say 8x 20. now cut a piece of fiberboard to the size of the square you have chosen. either 2 or 2 1/2. this will be used as a guide to cut your strips.

take your first piece of veneer and joint one edge. after this is done butt the jointed edge up against your shoot board fence and lay your guide strip on top of the veneer and proceed to cut your strips. maple and walnut until you have the desired amount.

now you should have all your strips cut to the exact width. start to tape all the strips together. at this point you should have a striped lay up.

now joint one edge of your lay up so it's perfectly square( use a framing square). take the jointed edge and butt it up to the shoot board fence just like you did when you made the original strips. place your guide fence on top and proceed to cut the desired amount of strips. you should now have checker board strips and not stripes.

now start to tape the checker board strips together to for the field, alternating the strips for the desired effect. you should always end up one square extra on the ends. as you look at your ends you should see a maple squre, the next row will be empty the next row will be a maple square and so on to the end. you do not want to ahve a lay up that line up on the end as you will need these extra squares to trim the field perfectly square.

at this point i would two ply the lay up. as you have chosen to add a solid wood border there is no need to square up the lay up yet.

i normaly add an inlay strip and a veneer border then two ply the whole thing. a suggestion for an inlay strip would be a simple 1/4 inch dyed black costello. but there are countless inlay strips so the choice is yours. try to stay away from a repeating pattern inlay as they never look good on the mitered corner unless you designed your field around the inlay first (i'll try to attach a photo of what i mean)
Attached file : CB1-14.jpg (17KB - 87 downloads)
Attached file : parqu2003_0329anpic3.jpg (11KB - 71 downloads)
Attached file : parqu2003_0329aopic4.jpg (11KB - 72 downloads)
Attached file : parqu2003_0329appic5.jpg (12KB - 69 downloads)
Attached file : Chess board B.jpg (9KB - 77 downloads)
Attached file : Chess board C.jpg (17KB - 79 downloads)



 
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BigRob777

Posts: 142

Joined: 2008-05-26
Location: Newark, DE

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Subject : RE: Veneering a Checkerboard
Posted : 2009-01-03 12:59 PM
Post #35168 - In reply to #35167
Please keep in mind that I'm still a beginner at this. If the veneer pieces are large enough, the way that I'd do this is (see credit below), to veneer up two pieces of mdf, or hardboard with veneer on both sides. One dark and the other light. I'd then cut them into 2-3/16" or 2-11/16" strips. I'd stack them and clamp them together. Then I'd joint one side, and then the other, so that the strips were 2" or 2-1/2" wide. I'd glue them together, alternating light and dark, so that you have a striped board. I'd then cut them cross-ways into the same width as the first time and joint them to the 2 or 2.5" widths, so that you have strips of squares.

Next I'd glue them up, flipping every other piece lengthwise, so that you have your grid. I'd then glue them to a substrate and frame them with either light or dark rabetted wood, like a picture frame, so that the back shows a rim of 1/2" or more of the trim wood and the rest is the substrate. To balance, you may need to glue another piece to the back, so that the board doesn't cup.

Now here's the part that I don't know (other than the final backer just mentioned). How do you clean up the edges, without losing any stock, prior to framing it?

Credit: I've seen something like this on either Norm Abram's "The New Yankee Workshop", or David Mark's "Woodworks", but it's a bit hazy in this faltering brain of mine. I don't think that they balanced the board with a backer though.

Thanks,
Rob


 
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Don Stephan

Posts: 825

Joined: 2003-07-18
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

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Subject : RE: Veneering a Checkerboard
Posted : 2009-01-04 7:45 PM
Post #35171 - In reply to #35168
Rob:
I find veneer much easier to joint and trim than MDF or other substrate, so I'd prefer to work just with the veneer rather than the veneer glued to a substrate. Second, if assembling a checkerboard from pieces of MDF it would be very problematical to get all the strips glued together perfectly so the the corners and surfaces all match. Just my opinion.


 
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Paul

Posts: 4

Joined: 2009-01-03
Location: Morristown AZ

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Subject : RE: Veneering a Checkerboard
Posted : 2009-01-04 4:42 PM
Post #35169 - In reply to #35167
I understand what you're saying and it makes sense. Since the end squares on either side of the board are different, you can just flip strips and not have to cut off the end ones if you wanted to... Your boards look very nice!
What about catalyst color and bleedthrough? I like the Unibond! That is one reason I was thinking about doing a 2-ply first. I could glue up the maple with light and the walnut with dark before cutting the strips. I didn't know how 2-ply would handle with all the taping and cutting. Your thoughts?


 
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Don Stephan

Posts: 825

Joined: 2003-07-18
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

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Subject : RE: Veneering a Checkerboard
Posted : 2009-01-04 7:52 PM
Post #35172 - In reply to #35169
Paul:
Not to overlook another good source, you might look in your public library for books on marquetry. I recall seeing how to make checkerboards described in several over the years.
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