Shooting veneers...

I left off with a good selection of soft maple veneer slices. These veneers are narrow or a little over half the width necessary for the cabinet panels. I need to double them up to create the wider sheets necessary for the cabinets. One long edge of each of the slices needs to be jointed as it will mate with another corresponding narrow slice of maple. I carefully select and match the slices to form pairs; these pairs are somewhat similar in grain and graphics to present a cohesive expanse of veneer. The technique I use to create a perfectly matching edge which can be used to join the two halves is to fold the veneers over and joint them simultaneously. This techniques serves to create a matching joint regardless if the edge is perpendicular to the face, although it is. It is a time proven technique, I didn't invent it, just glad someone thought of successfully doing it this way! The shooting process is quite straightforward. Clamp the two veneers together at one end and hold the other end, or clamp both ends, your choice. I use a wood handplane with a square body, this works well along the surface of my bench.

I have to say this part of the cabinet construction is very enjoyable. Creating all the bits and pieces I will need to assemble the cabinets ensures that the components are uniform and correctly matched in grain and graphics. Word of advice, be very generous with markings when building multiples. All the components I an creating will be used in one or the other cabinet and matched accordingly. Also, the orientation of the grain of each of the veneers sheets is important. Grain orientation should be in the same direction for certain reasons, the main reason is that the grain direction affects any handplaning and scraping operations. The chatoyance of the woods is also dependant on how the grain is oriented and having two reversing slices of veneer together can create a strange effect in the right light. Next I will begin to assemble these veneer slices to form the wider sheets of maple veneer.