Marc:Today I'm going to make this fancy
little picture frame for Nicole.
(fast paced music)
I'm using figured maple veneer, wenge,
and solid maple as my veneer substrate.
And I'm also using this amazing, exotic,
afzelia wood that I got from David Marks.
I hope I'm pronouncing that right.
I start by milling the maple using the jointer
to flatten one face and one edge.
And then I use the planer to make the other face
parallel to the first.
The final thickness of the maple was about
7/8 of an inch and that's one of the great
things about milling your own wood from
rough stock.
You usually end up with thicker material
in the end.
Now, using the drum sander, I clean up
this great afzelia home sawn veneer.
This is perhaps one of the most beautiful
woods I've ever laid my eyes on.
And that's exactly why it's going in
Nicole's frame.
By the time both sides are smooth, I'm at about
1/4 inch in thickness.
And while I'm here, I'm bring the wenge down
to an 1/8 of an inch.
And now it's time to prepare the veneer.
With a straight edge and a razor blade,
I clean up one edge.
It usually takes several passes to get
all the way through.
I then use one of my maple frame pieces
as a guide for cutting each piece of veneer
to the appropriate width.
My piece of maple is actually double wide
and that saves me some time and effort.
After the veneering is done, I'll split
each piece of maple down the middle, ending up
with a total of four frame pieces.
So I only need to cut four strips of veneer.
(funky music)
So here I'm using a couple of
scrap two by fours as a veneer press.
And to improve the distribution of clamping
pressure, it's always a good idea to line
the inside of the press with something
relatively soft like cork, newspaper or,
in my case, adhesive backed felt.
That's really all I had on hand at the time.
And, surprisingly, this worked very well.
So here's how the sandwich is going to go together.
The sold maple in the middle with
a maple veneer on each face.
Followed by a [call] on both sides.
Now, normally, I would never use
a water-based wood glue for veneering.
Some people like it, but I don't.
Introducing water into the equation can
sometimes spell trouble.
So I usually stick to the urea resin glues.
But since this frame is so small, I really don't
have any majors concerns about movement
and moisture so standard PVA glue it is.
A liberal coat on both the veneer and the
maple substrate will do the trick.
I like to secure the veneer with blue tape,
just to stop it from slipping in the clamps.
Now, clamp the heck out of it.
I put as many clamps as I can fit on there
and try to alternate them up and down.
That'll promote even distribution of pressure.
And the next day I take the sandwich apart
and admire that beautiful maple veneer.
And next I clean up one of the edges
with a block plane.
And with the clean edge up against the fence,
I clean up the other side perfectly parallel
to the first.
Then at the band saw, I slice each veneered
piece of maple in half to get my four frame pieces.
I used the band saw because I want to maintain
as much width as possible.
And a thin curve for the band saw blade
is perfect for this.
And now it's time to glue on the trim.
The order of the trim will be a 1/4 inch
afzelia, followed by 1/8 inch wenge,
followed by the veneered maple, and then
another piece of 1/4 inch afzelia.
And to save time, I'm going to glue up
two frame pieces at the same time.
Just be sure to mark which faces receive glue
and which ones don't.
You don't want to accidentally glue
your two frame pieces together.
So here's a quick tip for you.
Our trim is about 1/8 of an inch oversized
in width.
So, to center the veneered frame pieces,
I prop them up about a 1/16 of an inch
using blue tape and a thin strip of veneer.
And now I can start assembling the sandwich.
Notice that I'm using a couple of random
pieces of scrap to distribute the pressure
on the outer edges as well.
And you do need to be careful here because,
with all that glue, those pieces really like
to slip and slide around.
Have I mentioned that I like clamps?
After a few hours I take the assemblies out
of the clamps and start cleaning everything up
with a block plane.
Just don't go to far here.
A tear out, at this point, would be disastrous.
With a dado blade installed in a table saw,
I create a rabbit on the inside of the frame pieces.
That's going to hold the clear glass
or plastic, the artwork, and the backing material.
Also notice that I'm using a sacrificial
fence here.
This allows me to bury part of the dado blade
into the fence and my rabbit can go right up
to the edge of the work piece.
Using my router and a chamfering bit, I put
a small chamfer on both the inside and outside
edges of the frame pieces.
And at the miter saw, I cut each frame piece
to length while also creating the 45 degree miter.
For extra reinforcement, I'm going to add
a domino loose tenon here.
Alternatives would be biscuits, dowels, or
a simple spline.
Gluing up the frame is pretty straightforward
when you have reinforced miters.
Just add glue, add your dowels, your splines,
or in my case, dominoes, and hammer it home.
Now, even with reinforcement, you can still
clamp the frame out of square.
So it's important to check.
My frame happens to be slightly out of square.
So to fix it, I use another clamp on the diagonal
to force the frame in the direction I want it to go.
This is the same thing that we would do
for an out of square piece of case work.
Work's like a charm.
Once the frame is dry, I sand the entire thing
to 180 grit.
And now, the moment I've been waiting for.
Time to apply the finish.
I selected some pretty flashy wood here
and I'm really excited about how the finish
is going to bring out the vibrant color
and figure.
And nothing does that quite like an
oil-based wiping varnish.
Oh yeah.
That's the stuff.
I like to brush on a pretty liberal coat,
let it soak in, and then wipe off the excess.
Now this frame was meant to house a very special
Christmas gift for Nicole.
I had some custom artwork made up for her
and decided that a custom frame would be
the only way to go.
So I drop in the Plexiglas first and remove
the protective film.
Then I add the art, followed by 1/4 inch
plywood as a backer.
And the whole thing is secured using
some plastic clips that I picked up
at Rockler.
Now, for those of you who don't already know,
Nicole and I are big fans of the World
of Warcraft game, and those are our toons
enjoying a beautiful sunset in Azeroth.
And, yes, I'm a gnome.
(guitar music)