Now earlier I complained about how the cordless saw was borderline useless. I found the battery drained way too quickly and the saw couldn't keep up. Now I took one of the batteries and charged it all day yesterday and used it this morning. It worked great, I was able to complete all my cuts with absolutely no problem. I'm using the cheap charger that came with the saw that has no indicator on it, so its hard to tell if the battery is full charged. I think the batterys need to be trained.
After finishing all the cross cuts I took all the boards into the warm confines of the basement. Laying them out on the saw horses, I relabeled the boards on the very ends so that after I stained them I would still be able to identify the pieces. I lightly sanded the sides of the boards and got them read for applying wood veneer edging.Veneer Edging
When I first did my book case I was very skeptical about wood veneer edging. I didn't think it would look too good, and more importantly, I didn't think the glue would hold it. I figured I would have to apply wood glue, clamp it awkwardly, have to clean up glue residue and all in all just really hate the process that would end in poor results.
When applying the veneer you will need the veneer a sharp utility knife, a J roller and an old iron you never attend to use on cloths again (we would also except "a new iron that you never attended to use on cloths in the future"). For the most part the whole process won't ruin the iron but it will tend to get scratches, glue reside and a few burn marks on the base. None of which will look good transferred to the your clothes.I'm applying veneer to the wine rack area of the built in. This area has the sides of the boards exposed. The other areas of the built in will have moldings, but I want to make it easier to take out and insert bottles.
The sides are 3/4" MDF and the insides are 1/2" MDF. I had 3/4" veneer left over from the bookcase project. I applied that to the sides of the 3/4" MDF and then hauled my sick ass all the way to the hardware store. When I got there, I found that they did not have any 1/2" red oak veneer. Infact, it looked like they didn't even make the stuff. So I bought a roll of 3/4".
Applying the veneer is pretty easy. You first want to heat up the iron to a fairly low setting (cotton is best). While it is warming up, roll out your veneer and measure 1" longer the the length you need. You then work from one diretion to the other. I use my left hand to to center the veneer while my right had follows with the iron. I apply light preasure as I work across the edge. You don't want to keep the iron in one place so as to not burn the veneer or cause the adhesive to bleed through.
Once you make it all the way across, use a utility knife to cut off the excess on each side. You then want to use your J-roller to apply preasure to the edging to seal the glue with the edging. Once its applied, use a fine grit sand paper (180) to clean up the edging. You then have the lovely faux appearance of a solid oak board, at MDF/Plywood prices.
Now for my case with the 1/2" board and a 3/4" venner you want to do the same steps, but then take a fresh razor blade and carefully shave off the sides. Now they do make a special cutter that will do it, but that little uni-tasker costs 18 bucks, so I kick it old skool. Now you have to be carefull with shaving the veneer by hand because the grain will split easily. If you do by chance split it, you can easily iron it back in place. However if you take a chunk out, say a few spirtual curse words and start over.To remove the botched venner you basically do the application in reverse. Right hand applying iron moving backwards while left hand lefts scolding, gooey veneer. I find muttering to myself eases the pain.
Staining
With the edging applied, I started staining. Like I said earlier, I'm only doing one coat of stain and two coats of polyurethane. I put a coat on the pieces and will let them dry over night before I flip them and apply the single coat to the second side.
Day 5: finished cutting the boards, applied veneer edging and began staining.
cost: 2.41 for more veneer edging
