Carpenter journeyman exam with the help of Mr. Beam Lasercutter

Today we present the result of Heike's carpenter journeyman exam. At the Surface, She was actively supported by our Mr. Beam. Heike was so kind and answered some questions about your successful work.

When you see your piece, you immediately notice the patterned surfaces. What's the big deal?

The body of the sideboard consists of ash, the back wall and push-box floors made of plywood, furnace with plum. Veneer is called wood that may be too few mm thick with a clamped or plywood plate to imitate a full wood plate. But of course you can also put out the veneer, in my case the 0.6mm was thick, quasi puzzle and then glue this pattern on the plates. The technique is (of course without lasers) centuries old and was particularly popular in the Baroque.

At the doors I then used only the bright splint (the outer part of the trunk) and the darker core of the ash, and the reddish brown of the dwarf.

And how did you use Mr. Beam?

With the settings for the veneer laser you have to try a little around, there are unfortunately no exact presets because each wood cuts differently. Eucalyptus furnaces, for example, can hardly be lasered or cooled enormously. I recommend fine colored woods such as pear, apple, plum, birch, maple or beech for the start of laser blasting, because the welded parts are more stable in themselves. Filigree welded veneer parts made of ash, oak, chestnut or ruby break very easily during further processing at the points weakened by the coarse pores. You can put it all back together, but you get annoyed when you process it.

And if you read a lot of veneer like me, you should Occasionally bring laser heads towards a little love and dismantle and clean in time.

Is there anything else to consider?

Important It
is when venerating that you furnace both the front and the back of your workpiece. Even if you may not see the back at all, because otherwise the plate can be very deformed. It is also necessary to Growth direction of the wood watch and see that all the parts you want to glue together have the same orientation.

Speaking of gluing. This works best in the Fixed parts with adhesive tape. The tape can then be removed after gluing. I recommend here to test first, from my own personal experience, how well the respective adhesive tape detaches itself from the wood. Otherwise, you sit there for hours rubbing glue residue from your work.

You can glue the resulting puzzle with normal white glue, which is distributed as thinly as possible on the carrier plate.

And is this feasible without a carpentry workshop?

I had to borrow my veneers, of course a professional veneer press is available, but up to a certain size this is also relatively easy with screw driving forces, top and bottom on the workpiece a coated plate to distribute the pressure of the screws evenly and apply as many screws as possible with as much pressure as possible.

Now we've talked a lot about veneer, but not about the whole furniture! How did you come up with that idea?

To be honest, the idea of veneer work came first, and then I made up the surrounding furniture. I realized that I would like to have as much space around me as possible with the Mr. Beam. And there the front doors offered themselves.

I was told from all sides that you have to be careful with patterns because you get tired of them quickly, so I for sliding doors which can be used on both sides. One side with a flat pattern, the other side just plain. The doors are designed in such a way that they can be lifted upwards and then, rotated around your own axis, you can put them back in the other way around. All in all, I've built three doors. So then, if I am a pattern suffering, I can vary or turn both doors on the simple side and then have a very uneventful, classic piece of furniture.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Design of the sideboard. And of course with feet! I think a nice piece of furniture belongs to feet. I don't have free-hanging stuff mounted on the wall. With shelves and kitchen cabinets, I make an exception.;)

What else could you do with Furnier and Mr Beam?

As already indicated, large areas are a problem in the hobby area. I can well imagine, for example Name or door signs, jewelry, game boards or parts for board games, wall decorations, boxes, etc. There are few limits to fantasy. It is really pleasant to put lines on the wood that do not completely cut, but only mark. It is very easy to put extra contours or internal drawings inside the individual parts without making the subsequent bastion more expensive.

You don't always have to produce flat surfaces. For example, you could also take a base of light wood and then adjust accents from darker veneer, which then stand out easily. For example, in the jewelry sector, that would be a good idea. (If the parts are small enough, then my hint to always have the furnace front and back can be neglected.)

You can also approximate welded pieces where you heat sand in a pan and put the pieces in the sand with a tweezer and wait a while. Properly placed and removed in time, this results in an almost three-dimensional effect.

I am quite curious whether under #madewithmrbeam in the next time some veneer work with appear!

Many thanks to Heike for the interesting insight. On the Instagram account "grauzonenidee" could admire her further work.