Wanted, Person With Skills!

[JanetAnne]

At home we have a coffee table. Yes, don't we all, but a local chap used to build these and donate them to the hospice shop to raise funds etc. They are beautifully made and he built a number of them over the time but he is now, sadly, no longer with us. I guess he was a retired cabinet maker or similar.

Anyway, the point of all this is that we get a lot of use and pleasure from playing on this little table and so we want to put something similar into JanetAnne. 

And here is our problem. There is always something more urgent, more important, more time consuming to ever get to actually make all the parts needed. There are 124 parts plus the crib board ( which we already have) and so I wondered whether there is someone out there with time who would be interested in getting involved?

[ChrisB]

What you need is someone with not only Marquetry skills but who can choose the correct veneers to stand up to the harsher environment that you would encounter on a boat. 

[BrundallNavy]

I made something similar to this at school and it's not for the faint hearted. Have you thought of the IBTC as they run cabinet maker courses and might do one as a project for cost.

Doug.

[ranworthbreeze]

6 minutes ago, brundallNavy said:

I made something similar to this at school and it's not for the faint hearted. Have you thought of the IBTC as they run cabinet maker courses and might do one as a project for cost.

Doug.

Hi Doug,

I did similar to you, also at school a chessboard in the center of a coffee table, a lot of work getting everything square with no gaps. It is very similar to making up laminated boards in the other topic.

I like the thought of IBTC and maybe a project.

Regards

Alan 

[TheQ]

Many, many, years ago I made something like that, unfortunately with my lack of skills, it took a very long time to get It right. It will be many years before I would think of trying to do it again. There are a great many more important things to do first, like finish the cockpit floor and fix the windows...

[Viking23]

I can't comment in detail, as the pictures are not visible.

If you look at the true cost of making something like this, even if you valued your spare time at the minimum wage, it would be a lot of money. The only way, in my opinion, is to get the satisfaction of having done the job yourself. This may involve learning new skills, and why not?

I have done many jobs around the boat and home, that done as a hobby gives you great job satisfation, however, if you just looked at the number of hours, you could not justify doing the job at the real cost. 

Well I would do something like that for the immediate family, more especially the grand children, or if I supported a local charity or our local church, then you don't look at the cost. You do it for love. 

A way forward might be to scour the charity shops, get something close, strip the varnish or french polish and rebuild it. There is some great quality furniture out there made from conventional hardwoods.

You just need some imagination.

 

Richard

 

 

[deebee29]

Hi Richard

The pictures are still there. if you click on the rectangles they will open the picture.

This problem should be sorted once the transfer is finished (there's a massive amount of pics from 10 years of the forum) so it's taking a long time running in the background.

[Viking23]

1 minute ago, deebee29 said:

Hi Richard

The pictures are still there. if you click on the rectangles they will open the picture.

This problem should be sorted once the transfer is finished (there's a massive amount of pics from 10 years of the forum) so it's taking a long time running in the background.

Thanks for that, the pics do work and..... WOW !!  I wish I had the patience to do that...

The father in law did a marquetry tray of birds flying over water.

One he didn't start, was a broads yacht on the river. I think I might have that stored away somewhere...  In fact it might have been a present we bought him, must be 30 + years ago.

Hmmm... could or should I start that?  More importantly... could I get around to finishing it?

I think I need to find it, and see how the veneers have faired before considering that. If the veneers are ok, they will certainly be well seasoned. 

If all was ok, I could be convinced to do this as a project, and place the progress on the forum! I will need a lot of convincing lol.

Wife said she doesn't want sawdust in bed lol... 

Could be an Autumn / Winter project..

Best regards, 

Richard

[JanetAnne]

You dont sleep in the bed in winter then?

[JanetAnne]

Viking you are brilliant!!!

Have just ordered a solid wood chess board kit and a similar backgammon board kit.

When you said marquetry kit all became clear.

Well done

 

 

[Timbo]

If the veneers are warped with age they can be saved by wrapping them in damp newspaper and popping them between two cauls and clamping the whole lot up. The cauls I use are blocks of 3/4 inch plywood wrapped in felt material and then wrapped again in two Tesco carrier bags.

I use veneers when I'm making boxes and bought a job lot from a chappie in Ireland. Consequently, I have to flatten my veneers a week before starting work.

Veneer glue in the kits is rubbish. I read a load of guff on t'internet about using hide glue but found in the end good old Titebond II PVA to work the best, particularly when working with 'burr' veneers. The glue seepage through the burrs mixes with the sanding dust when you sand and fills the little holes etc with a better colour than any of the preparatory fillers available.

[johnb]

I made a coffee table at school, by the time I got it home I had 9 pieces of wood! And I have got worse at woodwork and many other things since. It was recently suggested that all tools should be confiscated from me-by a friend. 

[Viking23]

3 hours ago, johnb said:

I made a coffee table at school, by the time I got it home I had 9 pieces of wood! And I have got worse at woodwork and many other things since. It was recently suggested that all tools should be confiscated from me-by a friend. 

Who remembers the cascamite powdered glue?

You mixed it with water, and one of the tricks we soon learnt was adding saw dust to it to thicken it, more like a filler, lol... Filled all the gaps in the joints lol.

I could do mortice and tennon, dovetails, halving joints, and my challenge,  sloping haunch mortice and tennon.

The main secret to good joints is well seasoned wood and very sharp chisels.

Richard

[Jbx5]

Hi Richard yes I remember cascamite  well as mixed up many cups of it during my apprentice joinery time..

As with learning any trade it really does set you up in life for doing jobs around the house without having to think about it.

But marquetry is a real special game, tried it once and although it looked ok never again.

 

John

[johnb]

I seem to remember the wood glue was boiled beads of some description. I was never convinced this would work and have remained cynical re wood glues ever since. I reckonise the joints described above also the gaps between them. Perhaps that was the problem. Solved now after over 50  years of puzzlement on the  Internet through which  I have also managed to cause chaos on a number of laptops etc. 

[grendel]

the boiled beads would have been an animal glue, from boiled down animal hides I seem to recall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_glue

[johnb]

Is that supposed to work?!!??

[grendel]

it was what we had to use when I learned woodwork at school.

[VetChugger]

Its also what my Dad used. Cast iron glue pot with a liner placed on a gas ring. Took ages to "cook" and the stink was memorable! Never emptied the thing and just kept adding more of the infernal beads!

[addicted]

this is not necessary relevant but   connected with cabinet making. My father was a cabinet maker  specialising in long case clocks and in the 1920s he was asked to make a grandfather clock for the king of Spain which was 10' tall. when it was shipped out somehow they managed to break a foot off it and it was sent back to dad to repair - 3 times! after the Spanish civil war ,he was curious to know if it had survived.

 

 

Carole

[SteveO]

You can still buy animal glue from a number of outlets, including Amazon. I have a pot somewhere in the garage, but it would probably take a month or a happy accident for me to find it. We used to use it at school during wood-butchery lessons and I still like the smell of it.

Having tried marquetry once and taken ages to achieve a very so-so result, I don't think I'm up to the challenge in this case.

Cheers

Steve