Tansu

[Jamie Buxton]

Chris, you mention edge-gluing the two pieces of veneer together, and then gluing it to the substrate. If you do it in that order, you have to be very fussy about the edge-gluing step. If the two pieces of veneer get a little out of alignment in spots, when you put the glued-up piece down on the substrate, there will be little voids along the glue line. A better way to go, IMHO, is to just veneer-tape the two pieces together, and glue that to the substrate. You're sure to get a nice thin glue line between the veneer and substrate.

[Chris Padilla]

Jamie,

I was watching David Marks and that is how he does it but just in case, I did order some veneer tape with my veneer glue order because I read on that site that they do it exactly how you're suggesting. I'll be experimenting a bit and see how things turn out because I'm sure to screw up a couple panels here and there as I venture down the veneer slope...is it slippery like the hand tool hill??

[Jamie Buxton]

...as I venture down the veneer slope...is it slippery like the hand tool hill??

It isn't slippery in quite the same way. On the tool side, you get the basic tools -- veneer press, glue, tape -- and that's pretty much it. It is the materials side which can get you. There are all sorts of wonderful veneers out there -- species you've never heard of, figures you've never seen. It is very tempting to buy veneer on speculation. Heck, it is very tempting to make furniture just because you've found some strange but gorgeous veneer, and you can't just let it sit.

[Bill White]

Don't know how tall ya want the divider to be. If not too tall, maybe "bunn" feet?
Bill

[Ben Davis]

A couple of things to consider:

(1) For the legs, I really think that 4 short (4" - 6") legs that are tapered / shaped on the inside faces would look outstanding. It would really balance the piece. The thicker bottom makes it too bulky IMHO.

(2) DJM also joints the edges of the veneers again before glue-up. Don't forget that part!

[Neil Clemmons]

Chris -

A couple of places to look for inspiration...

Given you live in the bay area, you can get some inspiration from Berkeley Mills - they make amazing Tansu's - to the tune of $31,000 plus. Awesome showroom if you're ever in the area with lots of handmade furniture.

http://www.berkeleymills.com/Product...68.aspx?cid=47

Have you looked at Room & Board? http://www.roomandboard.com

They too have furniture in style you are considering so they may offer some design ideas. They also have a showroom in San Francisco and a good catalog for ideas, measurements, etc.

Good luck - I like the direction you're going -

neil

[Chris Padilla]

Bill, wifey still wants it as close to the floor as possible but w/out visible feet.

Ben, wifey overrules you and me put together! Roger on the edge-jointing...I did note that if I do it his way. Lottsa learning will happen with this project.

Neil, $31k+?!?!?! I may be in the wrong business! I'll point SWMBO to both sites...they are always inspirational and good for ideas no doubt.

[Chris Padilla]

Well, I know y'all have been waiting for me to update this thread so here goes.

It is kind of amazing the process one goes through for a project. I've been mostly doing "prep work" in order to finally reach the project but it is all fun as I move down the line.

My original piece of walnut lumber wasn't going to be enough to make it so I searched and found a 10'+ plank of 8/4 around 11" wide that would give me plenty of wood for this project.

However, even my magnificient MM FS41 elite 16" J/P aircraft carrier wasn't up to the task of handling this tree without *some* help! Well, actually, it was fine with it...*I* wasn't!! haha

So I picked up some Incra rail and went to town drilling holes in my J/P (and eventually my BS). I had these outfeed/support tables that I picked up from Woodpeckers a few years ago that mostly lived bolted to the Incra rail on my TS but as I got to staring at them, I thought that they would be great on my J/P and my BS. They are 18" wide by about 54" long IIRC. They also fold up and hang nicely on the wall when I don't need them.

Anyway, so a few shots of the work I did to get them set up on my J/P.

[Chris Padilla]

So the next step was to face plane or face joint my 10' chunk of walnut.

It sure came out purty but you sure get a work out lugging this thing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

[Chris Padilla]

I wanted to highlight this section of the walnut plank that I just face planed/jointed. Maybe it'll help you avoid a somewhat costly mistake I made in preparation.

Notice the knot and the split heading out of it toward the edge of the board? Well, I was fully aware of it when I bought the board and the guy knocked a couple board feet off my cost when I moaned and groaned about it.

What I should have done was cut the board right there at the split before I did anything else but being "smart", I wanted to keep the board as long as possible for as long as possible (did that make sense?? )

What this cost me was:
(1) Unnecessary work hauling a 10' board around
(2) Lost thickness in milling because I had to get the WHOLE 10' milled up whereas 2 ~5' sections most likely would have yielded more lumber due to various cups and warps throughout the rough lumber
(3) "Lost Time" in adding support tables to my J/P*

* - perhaps recoverable when in the future I may actually need to mill 8'+ lumber

Had I thought things through better with how I planned to use this lumber, I think I would have been better off and a lot further along...I think!

[Scott Coffelt]

What about stainless steel 1/4" rods going veritcally through the back.

[Chris Padilla]

Scott, I tried to sell her on copper rods (we have some copper table tops in the room so I thought it would be a slam dunk) but no go so SS really ain't gonna fly either.

[Chris Padilla]

So obviously after the face planing/jointing is to get the opposite side parallel so that involved, again, getting the planer bed able to accept the same support tables.

I had to make a spacer to bring the bed out beyond the body of the planer. Lucky me, I had a sandwich of plywood almost ready from a previous, many years ago project. You might notice the slighly yellowish color of the 3 3/4" piece of ply surrounded by two whiter pieces of 3/4" and so 1 glue up on either side of the old sammich and I had enough of what I needed.

Oh, in case you're wondering, I used my BS to slice up the 5 ply sandwich.

Geez, can I get to my project yet??!!

[Todd Crawford]

I sketched this up a couple of years ago before our remodel and it was on my to do list. We have a little more storage now so it hasn't surfaced in a while. This is what I was planning on building.

[Chris Padilla]

Todd,

That looks very nice! This one was born from something my wife wanted to buy at, *cough*, IKEA, *cough* that I wouldn't hear of and then she found the baskets and here I am....