Veneers are extremely thin sheets of wood that can be used to cover or decorate a wooden base. Just as wood is unique and not always uniform, so is veneer. These paper thin veneers are often described according to their source. They can be called crown, burr, burl, butt, ray, birds-eye, curly or striped, for instance. Inlays, on the other hand, serve to decorate table tops and wooden doors. Although they were historically created by highly-skilled carpenters, they can be bought ready made today.

The basics of veneer

Using veneer as a finish instead of solid wood does not imply a loss of character. A sheet of veneer may contain knots, splits, insect holes or ragged edges. Straight grain veneers are cut from a tree trunk across the growth rings. This results in large sized veneer with ‘stripes’ down the length.

Burrs or bulrs are cut from growths on trees, allowing for dappled finishes. Butts are cut from the base of a tree, which results in wavy patterns. Crowns, which are cut from the top of a tree, have Y-shaped patterns. Birds-eye veneers are cut from hardwoods that have died or have been damaged. This results in all sorts of strange patterns.

Veneers can be dyed, as they have been for around a hundred years. The veneer is saturated with a dye. The coloured veneer can then be incorporated with other coloured veneers or with natural wood veneers.

Using veneer

Pairs of veneers can be used in all sorts of ways to create different patterns. It’s important to keep them in order as they are cut. To use the veneer, it will have to be dampened, pressed and edged with gummed tape. Ask your supplier to show you how to achieve this or do some research before you begin.

Motifs

Motifs can be used to decorate furniture. Thin sections of coloured wooden inlays can be used to form an edge or a line. This is called stringing and it can be an attractive finish for panels and edges. Ribbon-like patterned strips can be use to great effect on the join between different woods. This is referred to as banding.

Inlay motifs are made from dyed and natural coloured veneers. These decorative marquetry designs are often laser cut. The wood can be scorched with hot sand to create a three dimensional effect. Geometrical veneer designs are called parquetry.

As said, motifs were traditionally created by skilled carpenters. Of course you could make them yourself by hand if you are so inclined. This could be a cost effective and rewarding route to go if you have the time.

Once you’ve prepared drawings for a project, you can put together a life-size mock-up using sheet wood or any rough wood. This will involve setting up all your machines and tools and deciding on what wood you’re going to use. From there you can purchase your materials and your wood. Be sure to take your time when choosing your wood. Check the condition, grain, edges and size. From there you can start working on sawing and planning your well considered wood.

Choose flawless planks of wood

Whether you use solid wood, rough-sawn boards or prepared boards and sections, you’ll still have to saw the wood to size. Head to your wood supplier and choose desirable wood that isn’t skew or twisted in any way. Also check for wormholes, diseased edges, twisted grains or too many knots.

Check that your chosen board meets your size requirements. It should be wide and thick enough to allow for planing on all sides.

Saw before you plane

Most carpenters use a table saw or a circular saw today but a large hand ripsaw was traditionally used in the past, where the aim was to cut a parallel line to the grain.

A circular saw, band saw or hand saw can be used to cut a waney edge, once a line has been drawn. When you have one well sawn edge, you can adjust the rip fence of the table saw in order to get it parallel with the blade. The distance between the blade and the fence should be equal to the width of the board. Allow for the width of the saw blade and planing waste.

Planing

Surface planing a board refers to the planing of the face edge and the face side so that they are at right angles to one another, as well as smooth. A power planer or a planer thicknesser can be used to achieve this.

Pass the board across the cutters repeatedly while holding the board down flat. Once the face side is smooth and flat, move the guard out of the way. Hold the face against the fence and pass the wood through.

This straight-legged little oak coffee table project may interest you if you’re a DIY enthusiast. It consists of a tabletop (550 x 550 x 18 mm), a rail (370 plus tenons x 65 x 18 mm) and four legs (360 x 50 x 50 mm each). There is an optional inlay motif (150 mm in diameter) but don’t let that scare you. It’s easy enough to order one as there are hundreds of ready-made inlays on the market.

Preparation

Start with the legs by cutting and planing them to the correct size. Work on the rails next, making them 460 mm, which is a little longer than they have to be. To create the tabletop, you’ll need four boards of equal width. Leave them longer than required at 560 mm. Use a try square to make sure that the edges are square to the faces.

Tabletop

When arranging the tabletop boards, check that the direction of the end-grain rings alternate so that one curves downwards and the next one curves upwards. Try and blend the grain pattern and colour of adjacent boards and then label them in the correct order. Practise clamping so as to check the joints before gluing and clamping the boards together.

Mortises

Begin working on the mortises by marking the mortise positions on the legs. Cut the mortises with a mortiser so that they are 10 mm wide. They should also be deep enough for the adjacent mortises to meet up on the inside of the table leg. Cut a mortise 12 mm deep in the top end of each leg so as to take the haunch part of the tenon.

Tenons

Use a compound mite saw to cut the tenons. First make trial cuts on both sides of the end of a tenon to ensure the right depth. Use a waste piece to show the blade’s position. Finish off the tenon by making repeated overlapping cuts in the wood. Finally, use a bandsaw to cut the haunch and mitre the ends.

Measurements for the mortise and tenon are as follows: the haunch should be 12 mm long, the tenon 10 mm thick and the rail should be set back 5 mm. Allow for a 45 degree mitred end.

Frame

Once you’ve labelled the parts and checked that the joints work, you can plane off the sharp corners. Sand the pieces smooth and then apply varnish before sanding lightly again. Apply another coat of varnish but be sure not to varnish the joint areas.

Use wood blocks to protect the workpiece. Set the clamps and then glue and clamp. Lastly, check for squareness.

Inlay

Cut a recess in the tabletop’s centre with a router and circle attachment. Glue the veneer inlay and clamp it with four G-clamps. But first place layers of paper over the inlay and top with plywood. Attach the top to the frame with four expansion brackets and sand the inlay flush with the top.

A design works if it manages to balance a creatively inspired idea with functionality, whether it is a turned vase, an over-the-top chair or a classic eight-seater table. The quickest way to know if an idea will work is to sketch it out with a pencil. You can then adapt the drawing to improve any shortcomings or change it as you see fit. Seek out inspiration if necessary and then prepare scaled working drawings for a smooth-running project.

Get inspired

Artists look to their personal experiences and interests to draw inspiration for their new creations. These inspirations may come from spending time in nature, visiting museums and galleries, reading magazines, from dreams or romantic love. Whatever your interest may be, research and inspiration can add new understanding and richness to your work.

Visit exhibitions, shows and stores that move you in some way. Read books, take photographs and make notes as you go along. If any interesting thought or image comes to mind, record it in a notebook even if it is in the form of doodles.

If you have a particular design in mind, like a lamp for instance, develop an obsessive interest in the subject. Look at all angles and then sit down to think about the details. What size should it be? What type of material do you wish to use? Consider the colour, texture and fixings.

Prepare

Sketch out your ideas and any other options you’re considering. Once you have a good idea of what you want, you can do a feasibility study and work out the associated costs. From there you can arrive at a design that is aesthetically pleasing, challenging and functional.

Develop your sketches to the point of having a good working drawing. Then prepare scaled working drawings on graph paper or on a computer with a 3D program in order to map out the exact construction of your piece. The size of the end product will give you a good idea of how to scale the drawing.

You may have to spend some time re-working the drawing until you have a master plan that addresses the plane view, cross-sections, front and side views.

Steam-bending is an ancient woodworking technique, as seen in traditional Windsor chairs for example. Alan and Gill Bridgewater explain that the method ‘brings about such a transformation that it is almost magical. One moment you have a straight piece of wood, and the next, after subjecting it to lots of steam, you have a beautifully carved piece of wood.’ They explain how steam-bending works and how to build your own steam box in their book Encyclopaedia of Woodworking. Safety warnings are also issued.

The workings of steam-bending

Certain woods like ash and beech can be made pliable by steam. This is ‘because of the unique shape and structure of their cell walls,’ explain the Bridgewaters. Once the wood fibres are soft, they can be ‘eased into a shape by being bent over a former.’ The wood will then keep its new shape once it is cool again.

Success factors

There are five main success factors when it comes to steam-bending. These are the wood type, when the wood was cut (length of time), how thick the wood is, the length of steaming time and the curve in question.

Bending wood is more easily achieved if a broad curve is the end goal. Green and thin woods need more steaming time. The Bridgewaters add: ‘Steam-bending is one of those techniques where there is no other way forward than to learn by trial and error.’

Steam box building

You can make a simple steam box at home. The Bridgewaters suggest a box with internal dimensions of 180 cm x 15 cm x 15 cm: ‘Make it from a double skin of exterior-grade plywood, with a 75 mm cavity filled with fibreglass loft insulation. Design it so that there is a steam feed pipe entering from beneath in a central position.’

You will also need a safety vent on top and a door at the front end of the steam box. Construct a metal box for the boiler.

Note: Steam box building is potentially dangerous. Work with care and keep a fire extinguisher in the vicinity, just in case.

If you have a chair with a gaping hole where a seat should be, don’t toss it without considering the possibility of making a new upholstered seat. Check to see that there are any holes for hand caning or a groove for webbing. If there aren’t, chances are that a padded seat is required. If you’re keen to take on the project yourself, you’ll need an old pressed wood base or a new piece of plywood, as well as upholstery fabric.

Construct the patterns

Use a pencil to trace around the seat on a large sheet of paper. Remove the seat and draw another line two inches outside your first outline. After that, draw another line half an inch inside your original line. Use the outside line to cut your fabric and the inside line to cut out a foam rubber pad.

Use the pattern you made for the fabric to cut a pattern out of strong brown paper. This will serve as your under-seat pattern. Position the seat onto the brown paper pattern so that it is centered on the paper with the bottom side down. Fold the 2-inch border over the top of the seat. This will later be covered with the upholstery fabric. Use masking tape to secure the paper.

Cut, glue and staple

Cut the padding for the seat according to the smaller pattern. Place some quick setting glue onto the right side of the seat and glue the padding by pressing it down firmly. Now use the larger pattern to cut your chosen upholstery fabric to size.

Place the cut piece onto a work surface so that the right side faces down. Centre the seat on the fabric so that the padding touches the wrong side of the material. Fold a corner of the material over the back of the seat. Pull the fabric hard so that it is tight and staple the opposite side. Do the same with the remaining corners.

Working from one corner to another corner is more effective than working in a circular way. Once the corners are stapled you can staple the in-between spaces. Make small pleats to do away with the extra material in the corners.

Tack and finish

The seat is now ready to be placed right side up into the correct position in the chair. Use wire brads to tack the seat in place. Wire brads are very small nails. To finish the chair, you will need a piece of gimp, which is an upholstery trim. Cut the trim an inch longer than the seat’s circumference.

Place the trim onto your work surface so that the right side faces down. Spread a thin layer of fabric glue across the underside. Pick the trim up very carefully and press it over the small nails. Begin at the rear centre then work around the seat so that you end up at the back again. And finally, secure and trim.

Gaining an understanding of the different characteristics of different woods is an important step when it comes to the craft of woodwork. Spend some time in a wood supply store or a hardware store that has a display of finished and raw wood. Examine all the samples carefully as you touch them. Compare the different grains and natural colours and how these colours react to different stains and finishing oils. Alternatively, take some scrap wood home and do your own comparison tests.

Comparison tests

Do your own comparison test at home by putting the same amount of penetrating oil on different woods. Some woods will absorb more oil than others. Different woods will also absorb the oil at different rates, too. Smash different pieces of wood with a hammer in order to see how they will wear over time. Cut same-sized pieces of different woods and take note of the difference in their weights.

Your comparison tests will help you choose the appropriate wood for a specific function. The tests will also show you how different woods react to different finishes. This will give you a good working knowledge of how the same oil or stain will give a lighter or darker finish, depending on the wood you’re working with. This will give you the ability to choose your final colours with confidence.

Keep in mind, though, that new wood will take colour differently to the same variety of old wood. New wood will have lighter shades than old wood. You may have to use two different shades of oil to blend new wood into old wood. Experiment with old and new scraps of wood of the same variety. Also experiment on old and new pieces of wood of different varieties.

Characteristics of different woods

Birch, hickory, holly, mahogany, maple and oak are hard woods. Butternut and pine, on the other hand, are soft woods. Medium density woods include ash, beech, chestnut, poplar, satinwood and tulipwood. Cherry wood has a medium to hard density.

Light and creamy woods include ash and pine. Beech, holly and butternut are light brown and rosewood is black-brown.

Having the ability to repair damaged furniture gives one the opportunity to furnish one’s home at a fraction of the price of new pieces. Old pieces also add distinction to a home as their basic construction is often found to be superior to modern factory merchandise. Many philosophies exist as to the best restoration techniques. These include complete renovation, attending to essential repairs only and keeping the original state wherever possible. Regardless of the method, certain precautions should be taken when restoring furniture.

Woodworking ‑ protection

It is essential to wear safety glasses to prevent the possibility of chemicals splashing into your eyes. Use a respirator with an organic vapour filter to avoid breathing in fumes. Wear a dust filter if you’re going to be doing any dusty work.

Consider wearing protective gloves and clothing when working, especially if you’re using harsh chemicals. Also, use plenty of old newspaper or fabric to protect your work surfaces.

Woodworking ‑ tools and materials precautions

Store your refinishing materials in a cool, dark place. All unused glazes and chemicals should be labeled correctly. Don’t pour chemicals down a house drain. Rather dispose of them at a recycling centre. On the other hand, rather throw paint and chemical soaked rags away than keep them.

Keep tools and solutions out of the reach of animals and children. Contact your local poison control centre should anything be ingested. Have the number of the centre nearby at all times.

Ventilation

Proper ventilation is essential when it comes to using bleaching solutions indoors. Avoid combining such solutions with other chemicals like stripper and ammonia as you could end up with lethal fumes. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions and pay special attention to any warnings.

You can ventilate your working area by facing a fan towards an open window. Get yourself outdoors immediately if you feel strange. Alternatively, work outdoors if possible. Even though water-based fumes aren’t as strong as oil-based fumes, they can still make you feel light-headed when they react with varnish and paint.

Also, avoid drinking alcohol while you’re working with potentially toxic fumes as the combination may leave you feeling ill.

Wood can be bleached if its natural dark streaks detract from its natural beauty. Wood can also be bleached in order to remove stains that have built up over the years, for example, an old desk may be ruined by ink stains. Stripping can help but it doesn’t always remove all the residue from an old stain to the point of being able to use a lighter refinishing colour. A regular household bleach will often take care of staining problems.

Clean the wood

Before a wooden piece of furniture can be bleached, it must be cleaned. Start by removing the old finish and grime that has accumulated over time. Make sure that old greasy spots and old bits of varnish are removed otherwise you’ll be left with a patchwork effect once you’ve bleached the wood.

Sand and bleach the wood

Once the wood has been well stripped and cleaned, it should be sanded so as to open up the pores. A hard wood will take longer to bleach than a soft wood. Use a regular household bleach to brush down the wood. Apply more bleach every half an hour so as to keep the wood wet. Be careful not to overbleach the wood, though, as you’ll end up with a grey cast which will be difficult to fix.

Bleach the wood outdoors or in a well-ventilated room. The process will go faster if you work in the sun. To protect yourself and your clothing, wear old clothes and a pair of rubber gloves.

Rinse the wood

Once you’ve lightened the wood as far as it will go, rinse the bleached area with water. Check the stain and if you’re not happy with the result, you could try using household ammonia to lighten the wood further. Apply the ammonia for a few minutes before you rinse the wood again.

Sand the wood

The surface of the wood may be rough due to the water having raised the grain. In order to smooth it, sand the surface again until it has the finish you wish for. You may find that some of the stains have remained, in which case accept them as part of the character of the piece.

Do the lights in your house flicker? Does the toilet flush when nobody is there or have you had an encounter with doors shutting themselves? If so, this is ‘no seasonal attraction for those who delight in fright: It’s your own home,’ writes Roy Berendsohn for Popular Mechanics. ‘Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, the noises you hear in the dead of night still give you the heebie-jeebies.’ No fear, here are a few nifty fixes to explain away some creepy happenings.

Spooky house syndrome

Popular Mechanics refers to the spooky house scenario as SHS. But as Berendsohn points out, those at PM are matter of fact: ‘When things go bump in the night, we reach for our toolbox and get to work.’

Flickering lights

Don’t break into a cold sweat thinking you’re in a scene from Twilight Zone if the lights begin to flicker, you hear a strange crackling sound and suddenly everything is pitch black and quiet. Check it out or call an electrician and you’ll probably find that outlets have died or circuit breakers have tripped.

Wild wiring fixes

If spliced wires have come apart you can fix them by using the right-size wire connector: ‘Line up the stripped wire ends so they are parallel; twist on the connector, turning it clockwise. Give a gentle but firm tug on the splice to check that it’s sound.’

If your house has aluminium wiring, problems may be caused by thermal expansion and loosening at splices, switches and outlets. The wiring may need replacing but first check all the connections.

A shot light fixture can be caused by using a too-high wattage bulb. Replace the fixture and install a bulb with the correct wattage.

Psycho smells and slime

If there’s a despicable smell coming from the sink, it doesn’t mean a shower scene from Psycho. It’s likely to be a plumbing or sewerage system problem. You may have to re-plumb but then again, the solution could be as simple as clearing a vent stack with a plumber’s snake or some wire.

Slime from an overflow channel doesn’t have to give you nightmares. It can be flushed away with some bleach or mildew killer.