Rekiwi's Blog

A couple of years ago, my wife handed me a woodworking magazine. "Can you do this for our closet doors?" she asked, pointing to a beautiful frame-and-panel room screen with different, spectacular veneers in each panel.

Several thoughts popped into my head:

1. My wife is interested in a woodworking project.
2. The closet doors would look awesome.
3. I'd get to purchase a frame-and-panel router bit set.
4. I've never done veneer before and I'm a sucker for a challenge.
5. I'll get to purchase wood and lots of pretty veneer.
6. I'll need to reorganize the garage to do this project.

I've spent the intervening time gathering tools, searching out sources for veneer and veneering supplies, buying wood, and building a movable wood/tool rack to make some room in the garage.

Not many dealers are willing to sell interesting veneers a piece or two at a time. It's taken 18 months of searching and acquiring to meet my thin-wood needs.

A few weeks ago, those needs were met and all possible excuses and objections evaporated. I've spent nearly every spare moment squishing 8-1/2" x 17" panels of 1/4" MDF in my rudimentary veneer press. It's amazing what you can do with some 2x4s and some threaded rod.

I now have all 32 panels glued up and the results have been pretty stunning, even before applying any finish. This week I'll transition to milling the wood for the frames. I rough cut the blanks a few weeks ago so the individual pieces could acclimate and do their twisting and warping before I machine them. They've been laying in ordered stacks, taunting and titillating me with their potential.

While I'm working on the frames, I'll also be rubbing down the panels with polyurethane. My wonderful wife listened to me brainstorm some compact, secure way to store a bunch of panels as their finish dried. She watched as I sketched out a few ideas with pencil and paper. Then she dived into the playroom and stuck together a compact, secure, and expandable drying rack out of Duplo blocks.

If you can't wield genius yourself, I guess the next best thing is to marry it.