[ger21]

Here's a few pics of my kitchen project, going on about 5 years. I'm not going to stop this time until it's done. It's nothing complicated, just lots of veneering. I have a few panels ready to be veneered this weekend, than a few more to close off above the wall cabinets. After that I have a small built in, a tall pantry cabinet, and an island. Just finished the glass doors Monday. I'll try to take a few pics while building and veneering.

[dertsap]

thats pretty neat . how do you accomplish that type of finish ? it s kind of tiger hide looking

[Jason Marsha]

Well its good to see someone is going to finish their kitchen project soon as mine is really lagging. The wife is resisting my efforts to V-Carve my kitchen doors with a design.

Jason

[ger21]

thats pretty neat . how do you accomplish that type of finish ? it s kind of tiger hide looking

What you're seeing is the figure of the wood. It's birch, but they call it flame birch due to the figure. It's actually pretty inexpensive for how cool it looks. How it looks in person, however, varies greatly depending on the lighting. The camera flash tends to bring it out a bit, although it does look like the pics in the mornings and evenings from natural light. It's much more subtle at night with the lights on.

[widgitmaster]

Looking good Gerry!
That's a nice view of your workshop through the kitchen window!

[CJL5585]

Ger,
Beautiful job with the veneer. Love the flamed birch. Got a link for the supplier of the veneer?

What type of glue are you using in the veneering process? Rolling it out, clamping with pressure?

I tried the contact cement route as used for Formica, but it developed small air pockets later on. Don't know why.

Jerry

[ger21]

The veneer was from Certainly Wood, www.certainlywood.com

Also got a little flame birch hardwood from Sandy Pond Hardwoods, who are no longer in business.

All the doors are 3/4" MDF, with 1/8" hardwood edges. The veneer on the back of the doors is plain birch I got from Ebay.

I use Titebond cold press veneer glue in a homebuilt vacuum press. See www.joewoodworker.com for info on building a press. I also bought some glue from them, but haven't used any of it yet.

Contact cement does not work well with veneer, because it remains flexible, and woods constant movement will cause it to get loose over time.

[Geof]

It looks pretty spectacular.

But I hope you realise your main problem in the future will be paying for eating out because you don't want to mess up your lovely kitchen by actually cooking in it .

[ger21]

If anyone's wondering, the aluminum on the wall was made of individual squares, the same way a checkerboard is made. A long time ago at work, we did a job with this aluminum laminate, and we had a lot of 30"x30" scraps left over. They sat in my garage for about 6-7 years until I had this idea. I used contact cement to glue them to 1/2" MDF. Then ripped them on the table saw into 4" strips, with alternating grain directions. Then I glued the 4" strips together, with a biscuit between every square, staggering every strip by one square to get the 45° angle, until I had large panels. I rough cut the edges with a jigsaw, and used a router with a bearing guided bit and a straightedge to trim them to finished size with nice clean edges. If I recall correctly, the wall under the window was done in about 4 pieces. The wall is about 15ft long and I didn't want to risk it breaking while moving it into place.

[ger21]

Looking good Gerry!
That's a nice view of your workshop through the kitchen window!

Nope, my garage is only half that size.

[jemmyell]

Gerry, Very nice cabinet job. I have been doing a lot of reading on Sawmill Creek getting ready for a kitchen remodel. I am going to do a hardwood floor refinish first as soon as my new workshop is fully operational.

-James Leonard

[turmite]

Hi Gerry,

Beautiful veneer work and beautifu veneer. I have a question for you not related to cabinetry but related to veneer. Do you know if anyone has ever used slow set low viscosity laminating epoxy to veneer with and to the point that the vacuum can actually pull the epoxy through the veneer?

I have a box of beautiful veneer from CertainlyHarwoods that is sitting here doing me now good and I though I might give it a try.

BTW love the fact you don't want to waste good materials and figure out a way to use them.

Mike

[ger21]

I read a vacuum veneering forum occasionally, and have read there that people have used epoxy for veneering. Whether or not it will pull through the veneer probably depends on the veneer. I have a bunch of Anigre I got on Ebay that I plan on veneering with epoxy. I also want to use a thin coat op epoxy to seal the veneer and bring out the figure before using a water based finish. I read about this somewhere where a luthier finished guitars that way. A very thin coat of epoxy (actually wipe off the excess I think) followed by water based lacquer. The water base finishes are great, but don't give you the depth that lacquers do. The epoxy gives you that depth.

I have epoxied some aluminum sheet (more scraps) onto some 1/4" plywood in my vacuum bag, and it worked fine.

Btw, the reason I saved those scraps is that full sheets go for about $10/sq ft.

[wolfdagon]

I really like the aluminum backsplash. What kind of finish does the aluminum have that makes it contrast like that when you rotate alternate squares?

[ger21]

It's brushed aluminum.

I'll take a few more pics in the next few days, as I finish up the rest of the cabinet doors. I have all the cabinets installed except the island, which is going to wait a little bit while I tear out the tile floor and put down a new one. I'll probably start that in about two weeks.

[todd71]

Hey Ger,
Did you ever finish your buddy's basement?

[ger21]

I just built the bar. The homeowner was doing the rest himself. As far as I know, the granite on the bar is done, but the basement is still not finished yet.

[ger21]

Here are a few doors and drawer fronts Trimmed to size after veneering. I glued the 1/8" edges on last night, and will have them sanded and ready for dying today. Should have them hung by the end of the week.

[cabnet636]

is that a verticle router in your shop ? work looks good! my kitchen is in third year. i built a panel saw from one of the woodworking magazines a long time ago



jim

[ger21]

is that a verticle router in your shop ?

Nope, it's a home built panel saw. The router is buried in the corner, waiting on the kitchen to get done. Although I do plan on using the router to make the crown moulding. The molding will be veneered MDF. Carve the MDF and a female form on the router, and veneer.