Inlay edging for outside and inside of sides

I decided on making some modifications to the sides of the cabinets, more so the internal faces.

Internal timber wenge edging will be run around the edges of the sides and just above where the connection points are for the ikebana base and top drawer base.

I wanted to create a kind of small boarder around the sides and base. The wenge is very dark so any gaps due to the joint connections not going together properly as well will be kind of hidden. This type of design if out by even .5mm or a deg the parts will not go together 100 percent properly and will reveal gaps.

The bottom edging that is above the ikebana base panel and the edging under the top drawer base will drop about 2mm into where the panel joint is. Doing this means that if the panels are slightly off they wont show some of the figured maple veneer.

So currently the edgings are 16mm these specific edgings will be 18mm.

I have also decided on changing some of the connection methods. The current ones I'm using right now I believe will cause too much of a head ache. Instead of using one spline for the joint I'm thinking of using biscuit joints or either dowel joints. The only thing with the dowel joints is that they will need to be totally 100 percent lining up to one another.

I wanted to use some of the left over maple offcuts from the counter veneering. Due to the timber being from the crown of the tree these left over pieces have become very bowed and twisted.

First I need to get out the twist so this is identifying the high points first.

When running over the jointer you want to drop the cutting depth as much as possible but raising the in feed table. When running it over the jointer you don't want to put any pressure on the board you want the jointer to do the work its self. If you put pressure on it all you will be doing is pressing down the cup and cleaning that which will just spring back when coming off the out feed table.

You basically want to make the ends flat which you can use as a reference point when running through the thicknesser. Once this is done you than run the other side through the thicknesser at .5mm increments. First you want to measure both cupped ends starting from the base of the table to the top of the cup.

You basically want to get the other side as flat as possible. You will get to a stage where you need to cut off the ends of the sides due to the cupping being too bad and not being able to get any thing out of it. It really depends on what thickness you want to get out of it. Once you have done this you can go back to cleaning the over side which has the cupped channel.

In this case scenario you will loose a bit of timber till you get to the stage where you can see what you can work with. I left this piece at 6mm in thickness before machining the other side. I'm planing on getting these down to 2.5mm at the end machining stage to be used as the inlay edgings or some of the sakura inlay work.

I want to leave enough thickness so I can send them through the drum sander to clean up the chip out due to the alternating grain.

Once I have cleaned up these boards and have gotten to them to the thickness that I'm happy with I will be placing weight on them to prevent further cupping and twisting.

( mod drawings will be shown later)

Marking out the sections for the inlay for the sides. Now this is not all the inlay for the sides the other sections will be added when the final cuts are made to get the sides to their finished width. The inlay sections that sit above the ikebana base and below the top drawer base need to be totally accurate to one another.

the inlay strips are 18mm wide. They are a little bit wider since the panel will sit over 2mm over it so only 16mm of it will be seen. I have done this so if the cabinet ikebana shelf or top drawer panel is slightly out you wont notice.

Before starting the cuts I made sure to mark my sides as to what was my inside edge, outside edge, top bottom and which was left or right.

Test the cutting depth of the saw. I want the inlay rebates to be about 2.5mm in depth.

making the first cut on the sides.

Top and bottom inlay sections placed in for the Ikebana panel and top drawer panel.

Cleaning out the rebate sections with the saw getting rid of most of the waste.

main waste cleaned out from inlay rebates.

Its not so much the outside ends of the inlay rebates that have to be totally identical to one another its more the middle point connect section.

Cutting out the top section rebate for the maple inlay to go into for the outside of the sides of the cabinet. This rebate section is 25mm wide. Not all of these will be seen only about 16mm of it the other section will have some of the top molding sitting over it.

Slits made to prevent blow out when cleaning out the waste. There was a little bit of split out, probably should have used painters tape to prevent this even though there is not that much.

Cleaning out the bulk of the waste sections.

I have decided to use the router to clean out the rest since using the chisel with the cabinet base took too long.

I had a few cuttings but most of them were too big or too small. I decided on using the 12mm straight cutter even though it was a little bit blunt. This would not matter that much since most of the waste is removed and its only removing a small out.

I did a test cut on some scrap mdf to get the right cutting dept with the router bit. Once I got the right depth I locked off the router.

I used a bit of mdf as a straight edge for the router plate to go up against, basically a router fence. From the inside edge of the rebate to the router fence measured at 74mm. From the edge of the router bit to the edge of the router plate measures 74.5mm. That last .5mm I will be cleaning out with my chisel.

I will show comp drawings for this but I decided on adding some more inlay sections in and removed some others. The ones I removed were going to be covered up with the drawer box guides so having inlay there would defeat the purpose.

The very bottom inlay section would be sitting just under the ikebana base and the top one would be sitting under the top carcass panel. Now these inlay sections did not need to be super accurate in alignment compared to the others since the connection point would not be seen since it would be covered up from the drawer division.

Since being a 12mm cutter I had to do two passes for the 18mm wide rebate. This meant measuring from the fence to the edge of the rebate at 74mm, than when finished making the first run measuring from the router fence again to the edge of the rebate at 69mm. This meant that .5mm was left at each end of the rebate which I would later on be cleaning out with the chisels.

I decided to try and machine out the main rebate waste with the router. It machined quite well its just that since not having a duct collector for it chip out sections tend to get in between the router fence and the router base. I had to often stop and clean out the waste since to avoid knocking the router out of alignment from the fence.

Now that most of the waste was all cleaned up I had to do the final clean up by removing the .5mm waste left at the bottom of the rebate edges. I used one of my paring chisels and my brass mallet to clean this out.

Double checked to make sure that the rebates were all line up properly.

Cleaning begins. Clamped down the panel to the work bench to prevent it from slipping around.

Band sawing down the inlay strips I have over sized the width by 2mm which I will sand down through my drum sander at my work shop. I place a board over the 'T' fence because at the bottom of the 'T' fence there is a gap where the inlay strips can slip into when cutting.

This was one of the off cut pieces of maple from the counter veneer stock that I machined down to get rid of the cupping. What I'm doing here is making some 25mm wide strips for the top inlay section for the sides on the wenge face. although the strips will be cut to 26mm wide than sanded down to 25mm in my drum sander before gluing down into the rebate.

Thicknessed down the inlay strips to a sanding thickness which was 3.5mm. The inlay rebate was 2.5mm in depth. I would be sanding these inlay strips in my drum sander as well to get rid of scratches and chip outs.

Cutting the strips to 26mm wide on the band saw.

I began thicknessing the other cupped off cuts of maple from the counter veneer stock. This followed the same steps as the last piece. These flat top sections are from the thicknesser. I had to lightly dress the other side to get some flat surface area to work off.

Lightly dressing on jointer first to get some flat surface area before putting through thicknesser. When going through the thicknesser I had to use the sled to prevent the rollers from crushing the material also I dropped the speed of it so it would machine better and only when down by .5mm increments with each pass.

Ripping off the curved sections that may not really get used. The larger pieces are totally flat and I have left them at 5mm in thickness. The other strips I will try and use first for the other inlay strips before touching the wider stuff. Most of the thinner strips can be used just will need to remove a bit of stock to get to use able material. 

Began sanding the inlay strips of wenge for the sides. Since the inlay strips were quite thin I had to bunch up a few when placing through the drum sander to increase the surface area on the tracking belt. I needed to do this so the inlay strips would not tip over when being fed through the drum sander. I needed to take these down to roughly 17.7mm. The inlay rebates were 18mm. I wanted a roughly tight fit but not too tight where it would be cumbersome to get into the rebate and have the chance of snapping the inlay strips, but also not too sloppy where you would see gaps.

Once the inlay strips fitted into the rebates correctly I need to sand down the thickness of the strips a bit. Currently the inlay strips were at 3.5mm and the rebates were about 2.5mm I only wanted about .5mm protruding over the rebate just enough to still be given clamp pressure when the cauls go over it but also not too much where it was going to be annoying to clean up.

Test fitted all the pieces and they are now ready to be glued into the rebates.

I coded the inlay strips since some of the inlay strips were fitting to specific rebates differently to others.

Ripped and dock some scrap timber that I had in the work shop to use as clamping cauls to press down the inlay strips.

To make the inlay strips easier to get into the rebates I lightly sanded the glue face edges a bit.

I taped blue painters tape to the edges of the rebates to prevent glue getting onto other areas of the veneer. This would make clean up so much quicker.

I also cut some baking paper to act as a barrier between the inlay strip and the caul which would prevent the caul from sticking to the job if glue got onto it. I used tight bond 3 and brushed it into the rebates.

I placed the caul onto of the inlay strip and one on the bottom as well and clamp up with the 'F' clamps. I used a caul on the bottom to prevent clamp damage to the wenge veneer.

Both ends are done and the middle strips will be done tomorrow. Although the middle strips will be clamped up differently since I don't have any long depth clamps to reach further in. This will only be clamped up for about 2 1/2 hours as thats really all it needs plus I don't want to leave the painters tape on for too long since the adhesive from the tape penetrates the veneer quite easily and is a pain to clean off.

This was just a dry run to make sure it was going to work. I don't have any long neck depth clamps so I decided on using a clamping technique that I used earlier when I was gluing up the plywood for the base.

The two beams are made to have a slight convex curve. applying pressure at the ends with clamps will create downward pressure at the middle where the highpoint is.

Masked off the faces near the edges of the rebates where the inlay strips were going to prevent excess glue spilling onto the veneer faces. I sanded the internal edges of the inlay strips to make it easier to get the inlay strips into the rebates.

Applying the glue into the rebate sections.

Clamped in the inlay strips. These will need to be left for about 2 hours for the glue to cure. I used tight bond 3.

Sanding down the maple inlay strips for the top outside section. I just wanted the inlay strips to just slightly stick out of the rebates. I only wanted them to sit just high enough where they could easily be cleaned up with a cabinet scraper than be lightly sanded.

Masked off the veneer faces near the rebate sections with blue painters tape to prevent excess glue going onto the veneer.

Applied the glue and taped down the inlay strips into the rebates.

Placed down butchers paper and placed down the clamping caul and clamped the inlay strip down with the 'F' clamps.

Inlay strips clamped down and will be left for 2 hours for the glue to cure. 

Had to open the doors of the work shop. Space is quite limited in my workshop. Since it was a pretty sunny day I placed a drop sheet over the wenge. Sun light to the wenge will make it lighter in colour. this can happen within a couple of hours depending on how sunny it is.

Making the stop cuts for the panels. The stop cuts were set to 2mm. The inlay strips will be 2.5mm just providing enough over hang which can be cleaned up with a card scraper. The stop cut also prevents any grain blow out.

I made sure to do the test depth on some scrap timber first.

The stop cuts were for the inlay rebate sections for the outside and inside faces for the back joint.

Stop cut being made on the internal face ( maple face)

Stop cut being made on the external face ( wenge face)

Used the router to remove the rest of the waste from the inlay rebate. I made sure to test the depth on a scrap piece of timber first. I needed to have this set to a depth of 2mm.

The inlay rebate on the maple face is wider than the inlay rebate on the wenge face. This is because of the 43 deg slant. Removing a depth of 2mm from the maple face will increase the bottom of the rebates surface area where the wenge face will decrease. The inlay faces will have the same width when the last 1mm is taken off the back edge again.

This time I decided on using a 19mm wide cutter. I left a little bit of waste near the edges of the rebate which I will clean out by hand later on before placing in the inlay strips.

 Cleaned out small waste sections with mallet and chisels for inside and outside faces.

Masked off end sections of inlay rebate with painters tape to prevent excess glue going onto panel face.

The glue I used was tight bond 3. Taped down the outside and inside inlay strips into their rebates. I wanted to press both strips up at the same time since each one was going to help one another when coming to clamping due to increasing clamp surface area.

Used baking paper to prevent clamp cauls from gluing to panel. The clamp caul was used to spread out the clamp pressure evenly across the whole inlay strip.

This is what I meant by one another adding to each others aid in clamping. Now this back angle will need to be cut again to remove the excess left over from the inlay strips.

This will be left for over 2 hours.