My Third “Techie” – well the last of them!

[Qwin]

Started the veneering process, it's American Black Burr Walnut.
Spent ages thinking about how the pieces would be cut from the sheet. I ended up making paper templates and laying them out on the sheet, just to make sure they would all fit butted up together, this was essential to get a continuous grain pattern over the surfaces. When it was all laid out I only had 50mm extra veneer on the length and 5mm on the width so no room for error. I found the Burr much harder to work with than ordinary Walnut, it's brittle and cracks easily.






Got a few more pieces on, the pattern running across the panels seems to work well so it was worth the effort.
I previously used iron on veneer that had the hot melt glue already applied to the back, it was a creamy yellow in colour and I found it difficult to disguise the joint lines on edges, especially noticeable on darker woods.
This time I used plain veneer and a separate sheet of clear EVA hot melt, that came on a backing sheet. You tack it to the back of the veneer with an iron, peel off the backing and iron it on to the job. The film of glue is a lot thinner and combined with the clear colour makes a neater joint.
The wood grain looks drab at the moment, eventually it will get a coat of Danish oil. which will really lift the colour.

[keiths]

This is gonna look fabulous Ken

[The Grand Wazoo]

I think we will all be stunned by how that will look after oiling. Make sure you put some real elbow grease into burnishing the last coat of oil - effort there pays real dividends.

[Qwin]

Chris - yes plenty of elbow grease used already. I am going to use Rustins product line and start with their neutral grain filler thinned with their Walnut stain rather than turps to get a colour match (their recommendation) then after rubbing down (again) several coats of Danish oil to penetrate the wood and lift the colour. The final top coat, subject to a test piece proving compatible will be Rustins Plastic Coating. This is a clear varnish with a catalyst activator; it sets rock hard in 2 hours. This coating is designed for furniture, dinning tables etc and they even do a rubbing compound for it so it can be burnished to a mirror finish. That's the plan anyway, subject to no reaction with the Danish oil, this should give a very durable finish.

[The Grand Wazoo]

My preference would be to leave the oil as the top coat but just work it and work the bejeezus out of it, to get the required finish but that's just a reflection of my personal feelings about wood. A plastic coat is much more practical I know.
Either way, it's going to look fantastic!

[Qwin]

That's the veneer all done, the pattern wraps round to, and includes, the underside chamfers, the base will be Black to match the well. This has had a second coat to cover up my scrapings, made when trimming the veneer around the aperture. I will have to leave it for now as the grain filler won’t be delivered till after Easter and it really needs it. The burr veneer has cracks and pin holes, which are part of its make up, they will all have to be filled before oiling.

[Gordon Steadman]

That's the veneer all done, the pattern wraps round to, and includes, the underside chamfers, the base will be Black to match the well. This has had a second coat to cover up my scrapings, made when trimming the veneer around the aperture. I will have to leave it for now as the grain filler won’t be delivered till after Easter and it really needs it. The burr veneer has cracks and pin holes, which are part of its make up, they will all have to be filled before oiling.

Nice bit of grain matching there - looks great. Looking forward to seeing this finished.

[DarrenHW]

[Qwin]

I nearly balls’d up the veneer

I hadn’t read the instructions fully for the filler/dye.

You only add the dye to the grain filler if you are going to dye the whole thing afterwards, which obviously I'm not, don't want to degrade the nice natural look of the wood. Good job I did a tester before I tackled the deck, it stained the wood around the filler. If I’d scrubbed the filler across the grain it would have coloured the veneer. The filler is too light in colour to use out of the tin.

No harm done - I will do what I've done in the past – Give the whole deck a good coat of Danish oil to bring out the colour and sink deep into the wood, keep applying it till it stops soaking it up then wipe off any surplus and let this dry fully overnight at the very least. Then put some Danish oil on the veneer and rub with some fine wet or dry abrasive till it works up a paste from the wood, then use this to fill the grain. Let it dry for 24hrs then rub down with some very fine wet or dry and a little Danish oil to remove any smears of paste and clean off with a lint free cloth. Finish with a couple of coats of Danish oil. When dry you can add Polyurethane varnish on top if you want a deep gloss finish, or leave the Danish for a more natural look. I will be using a two pack catalyst varnish over the Danish which dries very hard and tends not to sink over time. It can also be polished with rubbing compound, so any minor scuffs picked up during use can be polished out. You can't use rubbing compound/T-Cut on Polyurethane varnish.

[Qwin]

The deck has had a couple of coats of Danish Oil applied with a lint free cloth and it certainly brought out the colour. This shot was taken outside and it still looks quite vivid, indoors the darker grain looks almost Black.
One more coat and it will be ready for the varnish - trying for a piano finish on this one.