Monday, August 3, 2009

flat curves

got some pictures of the showcase cabinet i finished in may. i think it went well, and i really enjoy the interplay between glass and wood. so much so, that my next project may have something to do with that very thing. unfortunately, my next project is a little ways off right now. claire and i just bought a house and it needs immediate attention and money. so august is looking like renovations, and then six weeks of work away from home, and then setting up a shop in the basement. not an ideal basement, but it appears that i must work with what i got.





9 comments:

Nick Brygidyr said...

Looks awesome dude. I'll attempted curved doors with glass on my next project, since my last attempt crashed and burned.

one thing i was wondering about were how the substrates are made. you start off with plywood with it already shaped off a template...then glue on some 1/8" poplar bent over the curves for the bake-ins? then veneer over? somethign like that?

jbreau said...

exactly that

LORD GODFREY said...

Great photos of an amazing piece.

Congrats on the house too to you both! Let me guess, Claire qualified for the mortgage? Jacques is all grown up now.

Jason2730 said...

Great looking piece.

Could you please explain what the advantage of the poplar bake-ins is?

jbreau said...

the idea behind the poplar bake-in is to have a buffer, that is trapped between veneer, in between the applied edge and the plywood. it is not entirely necessary, but is much nicer to fit to then plywood is, and it is probably marginally stronger.

yes ian, claire qualified, although, i'm on the thing as well. now, it's just all about energy audits and renovations. it looks like it'll be the basement for me.

Jason2730 said...

Judging by the pics from the Inside Passage School website, the bake-ins are often splined. Is this always the case. For example, are the bake-ins in "flat curves" splined?

Nick Brygidyr said...

the main reason you'd use bake-ins is because ply-wood is layers end-grain and edge-grain. when you apply glue to ply wood, the layers swell differently, so you will probably end up with gaps when you glue on your edges. when you have a bake-in, it's all long grain, and the fibers swell the same. another advantage is that planing a bake-in edge is way cleaner and easier than planing a ply-wood edge. you also give the glue a better "bite" with solid wood instead of just ply-wood

it's a lot more work, but its worth it. as to splining bake-ins, i wouldn't since it's going to be veneered over anyways, the glue joint is strong enough.

then again i've only been at IP for a week so what do i know =p

Nicholas Nelson said...

NICE! The colors look great in your photos! Mine are like sucked of color >:o
Yours is a very nice cabinet.
Congrats on the house btw. Too bad you'll be out of the woodwork "action" for a while I'm pumped to see what you come up with next!

jbreau said...

yeah, most bake-ins are not splined. the splines are probably from something else joinery related.

i thought that i would set up in our new basement, but it rained yesterday, and i had puddles. bummer. the quest continues.