So ya think you're a wood worker?

This guy's got more patience and steadier hands than me!

Go to page 3 to see the final product.

Dan

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?208929-a-job-completed-27-caddilac&highlight=cadillac+veneer

Not only is he an excellent craftsman, but he has more patience than I can even imagine. And no, I don't think I'm a woodworker now. I've done a few pieces like a lighthouse and caged ball, chain links, but nothing like that. Thanks for sharing!

That dash is unbelievable. Wow!!

The car is atrocious. If I had built the dash I would cry the day it was installed.

WOW! That is fantastic. Not a fan of the color scheme, but, that dash is great.

I used to work for a company that die cut all manner of specialty things. My first thought when I saw that pattern was scan it and call Praxair for a rotary die.

Sometimes, when you are a hammer everything looks like a nail.

If you read, the OP says that the car on pg 3 IS NOT the one he was doing work on, just an example of what it will look like installed.

Nice work. Is it bad that I like the nickel version better though?

Read the whole thread. It looks very nice but I don't see any fancy wood working.
1. Coat metal piece with adhesive.
2. Steam piece of veneer slightly thicker than needed.
3. Press veneer onto metal piece and allow to dry.
4. Sand/scrape off excess veneer.

Inlaying the brass hardware for a patch box into a gunstock required a lot more precision than that.

Hal wrote: Read the whole thread. It looks very nice but I don't see any fancy wood working. 1. Coat metal piece with adhesive. 2. Steam piece of veneer slightly thicker than needed. 3. Press veneer onto metal piece and allow to dry. 4. Sand/scrape off excess veneer. Inlaying the brass hardware for a patch box into a gunstock required a lot more precision than that.

Thought steps 3 and 4 were more speculative. Right along with the alternative scenario speculation of a matching cut off roller. Thereby pressing in the just cut pieces.

Intricate yes, but fancy wood working skills? No.

It is a form of veneer work called marquetry. It has been around for thousands of years.

Google images on marquetry

It's really not that unique a skill (although it is no longer prevalent- it is now done with lasers).

Not claiming I can do it- I can't. But I know people who can.

Great examples can be seen in virtually every issue of Fine Woodworking magazine.

When he was still alive, my Grandpa could do that. He replaced a leg of a very intricately inlaid sideboard that he got for free because the leg was missing. I can't tell which leg he replaced. I inherited it, but it's staying with my parents (who inherited the house) until my son is old enough that he won't destroy it.

Wow! That is beautiful.

I have a friend with a '27 Cadillac convertible that has been under reconstruction for years. No, he is not doing the work himself. Says it was not one of his better investments.

foxtrapper wrote:

Hal wrote: Read the whole thread. It looks very nice but I don't see any fancy wood working. 1. Coat metal piece with adhesive. 2. Steam piece of veneer slightly thicker than needed. 3. Press veneer onto metal piece and allow to dry. 4. Sand/scrape off excess veneer. Inlaying the brass hardware for a patch box into a gunstock required a lot more precision than that.

Thought steps 3 and 4 were more speculative. Right along with the alternative scenario speculation of a matching cut off roller. Thereby pressing in the just cut pieces. Intricate yes, but fancy wood working skills? No.

Pretty much, though with a 2 axis laser you could do the same thing in less then a day's worth of work.

Some of the mass custom market guitars that I have seem have better inlay all done on CAD/Laser/Router then this.

NOT saying this is how it was done, but if I had a budget of about 5k to get this done, here is what I would do:

Scan pattern with laser scanner. Load into solid-works to create file format download to laser cutter slap that sucker on the dash.

Have lunch.

Now, as to the guy who did the first one!

NOHOME wrote: NOT saying this is how it was done, but if I had a budget of about 5k to get this done, here is what I would do: Scan pattern with laser scanner. Load into solid-works to create file format download to laser cutter slap that sucker on the dash. Have lunch. Now, as to the guy who did the first one!

This is the correct way to do it, you can even account for the kerf from the cut in CAD.

I don't know if the finished product fits the car, seems glossy and thick for 1927.

Maybe it's Pebble Beach quality and I don't know any better.

914Driver wrote: I don't know if the finished product fits the car, seems glossy and thick for 1927. Maybe it's Pebble Beach quality and I don't know any better.

Are you talking about the last pic, on page 3 of the thread? 'cause that's not the guy's work, he was showing it as a different car that had "simulated wood" put in since real wood was too much work. I believe the third photo on the first page is the finished product.

If I had a budget of $5K, there is no way I'd use a laser.

SVreX wrote: If I had a budget of $5K, there is no way I'd use a laser.

Why not? Lots of contractors out there to do the work if you send the files.

Beautiful work! I'm going to make a guess at the original process: I'm thinking the basic method was the same, but the metal inlay and the wood was thicker, maybe .008-.010. added to the .019 he mentions. The wood was softened, pressed and glued in the way he describes, then the whole thing was sanded till the metal appeared. Much more margin for error when producing 4-5k pieces. Still a very impressive piece of work!

NOHOME wrote:

SVreX wrote: If I had a budget of $5K, there is no way I'd use a laser.

Why not? Lots of contractors out there to do the work if you send the files.

Because, to a trained eye (or semi-trained, like mine), there is a really big difference in the look.

A laser cut is too machined looking. It looks fake.

A $5K budget will easily buy the real thing, hand inlaid, exceptionally well done.

I've spent 3 decades in historic restoration work, and can see the difference easily.

It would be like trying to pass off a photocopy of a Picasso as the real thing.

BTW- that one is not laser cut, it's done by hand. Yes, I can tell.

I can't tell about the glossy one on page 3- Photo is not high enough resolution.

Ron David had about 125 hours in it - $5,000 is almost enough if he's giving a discount for a long, interesting project.

Laser-cut wood is beautiful. The pattern and char it gives is distinctive. I'll probably decorate a lot of things with it when I get old. That's not what this job was about.