New Pedestals - Build Log

[jaxenro]

Started on another pair of pedestals so I thought I would show the steps I go through

This will be a rather simple pair in two tone wood. The core is a 5/8" poplar square dowel overlayed with burl wanlut veneer the appliqued details will be madrone burl veneer.

The first picture is a rough sketch of what I am working towards although my designs tend to evolve as I build them, the second shows my "high tech" veneer press, basically two C clamps and a scrap piece of wood clamped to a table. I just use aleene's wood glue nothing fancy as the veneer pieces are fairly small

Edited August 25, 2022 by jaxenro

[jaxenro]

A little trimming and sanding to get the long sides flush and I flip it and do the opposite side. Then the other two sides, I just overlap the veneer at the corners it is thin enough it isn't obnoxious. So two pedestals I do eight sides one at a time.

I cut the core slightly oversize when I get all four sides done I will sand the ends square and even them up for length. Not difficult just a little tedious

 

[jaxenro]

One done one to do they go quick I started this morning. One of the good things about small size is you can use expensive materials and they aren't that costly. A piece of burl walnut full size would be prohibitively expensive but I spent about $20 on seven sheets of  4" x 6" so enough burl to do this is only $3 or less. This allows us to use richer materials in ways that would never work on full size pieces without breaking the bank

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by jaxenro

[jaxenro]

Time to true up the ends and sand both to a consistent length here I am using my handy dandy tool from MicroMark. Sand, turn, sand, turn, sand turn, etc. By keeping it square to the tool and constantly turning it sands the ends at a 90 degree angle all around

Both main blocks are done and covered tomorrow I will start the appliques

[jaxenro]

Making the main appliques I simply cut a rectangle to the corect length then sliced off pieces the correct width. I decided to go with large side panels as opposed to three individual strips like the sketch in order to showcase the beauty of the madrone burl better. Then just a little shaping with the sandpaper to smooth and round the corners and they are ready to glue

[jaxenro]

One side done seven to go. Work like this isn't difficult just tedious. I couldn't resist dding a drop of oil to see what the finished product will look like, staying away from any areas still to receive glue. The burl walnut turns almost black under the oil and gives a nice contrast

[Medieval]

Joel you are a genius with wood. Thanks so much for sharing process!

[jaxenro]

Thank you but it isn't anything you couldn't do yourself and probably better than me. You just need to break it down into components and do each component before assembling the whole

Edited August 26, 2022 by jaxenro

[havanaholly]

I wonder how it would look reversing the cut outs, and also doing it intarsia.  I just love wood!

[jaxenro]

The two main pillars are done just need a little sanding tomorrow I will start the bases

(reversing the cutouts would be amazing and I had thought of that. If I had one of those computer guided cutting machines I imagine I could veneer the base with the madrone and cut something like a neoclassical vase shape out of the center of the walnut so the madrone would show through the cutout)

 

[jaxenro]

For the base I cut two 3/8" thick slices of 3/4" poplar square dowel. After squaring them up I will veneer the sides and top with walnut
 

[jaxenro]

Trimmed and sanded on the left top still raw on the right but the bases a covered in walnut

[jaxenro]

Not exactly what I planned and I rushed a few areas I should have taken more time on but they were a fun little build. Here they are covoered in the first really heavy coat of oil in about 12 hours it will have all soaked in and completely disappeared