Basics of Woodworking

Professional touches

Usually the final touches like rounding off the edges give a job a more professional finished look. Even the plainest looking piece of furniture looks new and interesting with a few of these touches. A table, for example, is usually made from an attractive veneer glued down to chipboard or blockboard. Exposed chipboard edges would look most unattractive, so a wood edge is added to match the veneer and make the table look as if it is made of solid wood.

There are many ways to add these finishing touches to make your projects look professional.

Rounding and bevelling

When the edges and corners of timber or plywood are left square and sharp, the' board tends to look slightly clumsy and unfinished. Round the edges with glasspaper, a file, or with a small plane to make the wood look softer and fed nicer to touch, Rounded edges are also safer for children Table edges, for example, are quite sharp and feel nicer if thev are slightly rounded. Sometimes it is enough to remove the sharp edges with glasspaper

Bevelling is easily done with a few strokes of a small blockplane. When cutting across end grain, plane in from both ends towards the middle to avoid the wood splitting at the corners.

For an even more professional look you can `shape' the edges with an electric router which is easy to use. Refer to page 42 for instructions and safety hints on using the router.

You can buy inexpensive cutters for the router which will- not only round or bevel the edges perfectly, but will also make coved, fluted and even rebated edges. Each cutter does one particular job and soon you will build up a variety of cutters much like a set of drill bits, to give you a wide choice in decorative touches.

You just run the, router along the edge of the wood. The cutter itself usually has a small extension which runs along the edge to guide the cutter along. Push the rou ter firmly along at the right speed and in the right direction so that the cutter cuts 'into' the wood.

If you are putting a moulded edge on all four sides, such as a drawer front for example, first cut across the ends-and then along the sides, so that any wood which splits as you finish the cut along the edge is removed by the next cut.

With a bit of practice you can make your owl mouldings for applying as decorative touch on doors and furniture, or for making your own picture frames. Make a simple moulding like this one out of any hardwood such as ramin, making a first cut with a cove cutter and a second one with a rebate cutter.

Applying strips and mouldings

Plywood, blockboard and chipboard are quit( inexpensive to work with. They are sold with beautiful veneered surfaces such as oak mahogany or birch but the edges are always unsightly. There are various ways to cover the edges to give a neat professional finish. The easiest way is to use special iron-on edging strips. These can be bought from do-it-yourself shops in several woods, usually mahogany, tea or oak. They are made to match the surface veneers of the boards and come in standard widths. The glue on the back is The old. fashioned animal glue which melts when a hot iron is run along the surface and sets again in a few seconds as it cools.

Solid. wood strips can also be nailed to the edges. These can be rectangular softwood strips, available in various thicknesses, or, they can be mouldings. A very attractive shape is the half-round moulding which is .available in widths from 9mm to about 25mm and can be nailed directly to the edges of sheet materials;

Set the nails, fill the holes and sand before finishing with paint or stain.

To give your work a really finished look, use router cutters to make decorative mouldings. The photograph shows some of the routers available and the shape of cut each makes. The detailed drawings of two cutters show the different types of effect you can achieve; the router on the left does not give as wide a cut as the one on its right. For detailed instructions on routing, see ***)

For finishing the edges of sheet materials use iron-on edging (inset, right), softwood strips or half-round moulding depending on the desired .effect. The second two are nailed into place.